Mojave National Preserve

You know how many times I have driven past the Mojave National Preserve and not stopped in to check it off my list? Me neither, but it numbers at least a dozen times. This time around, there was no driving past it. Not only was in on our way, it was the shortest way, and I desperately wanted to at least drive through it (with it being a road I had not traveled before).

It is desert, of course, but I must admit it has a draw to it that a lot of other desert land does not. It was not until we passed nearly all the way through (from North to South) that we stopped at the Kelso Visitor’s Center and took the tour of the exhibits. The visitor’s center is in an old train depot – something Kerri brought up as being unique to other visitor’s center she had been in… I agreed – and gave us our first peek at a map of the area. We were really skipping past the whole area with the trails, camping,  and other recreation, but the desert mountain pass kept us company as we continued South towards Joshua Tree National Park. We both agree that when we area back in this area (probably will be in a few months) that we would like to stay some time in the preserve and see more of it.