Hiking California Desert Parks
Hiking California Desert Parks
Points of interest between Las Vegas and San Diego?
My wife and I are flying into Las Vegas in October then planning a little road trip around Southern California for the following 10 days. Most of our trip will be centred around cities but we'd like to spend a couple days in the great outdoors. We plan to take our time and drive the back roads from Vegas down to San Diego. Can anyone recommend some cool things to see/do between those two cities? We we're planning to stop for at least one night along the way. Some hiking, mountain biking, or any outdoor activity would be nice. There must be some great desert/mountain parks along that route someone can recommend? Thanks
It would be a little bit of a detour, but check out Oatman. It's an old mining town, and would probably be a ghost town but for the donkeys. It's kinda neat, kinda touristy, but not in that fake recreation kind of way...more in the living in the corpse of the old west kind of way. Like Tombstone, but more dilapidated.
There's also the gas station that is probably selling gas for 5.50 a gallon by now. It's like 50 miles from anything.
Then there's the Salton Sea.
I'd suggest heading down 93 from Vegas. That will take you to Kingman. Along the way is Hoover Dam. From Kingman (or hell, before you get to Kingman, if you can figure out where to get off the highway in Golden Valley) you can get on the road to Oatman. Stop in Oatman, then keep going to Mohave Valley. Go south from there to Lake Havasu City. See London Bridge. Buy some ostrich jerky. From there you can either double back 40 miles or so to I40 or you can head south on some rather circuitous highways to I10. (Or if you take a detour east towards Phoenix, depending how far you go you might see some Saguaro cacti. You won't see them in northern AZ and southern NV) I10 will take you just north of the Salton Sea. (If I'd realized it was that close last time I went that way I'd have stopped). Turn south and there are roads leading into San Diego.
Lake Havasu would be a good spot for mountain biking, I think. Relatively flat, lots of trails and stuff. There are some spots along the road west out of Oatman which would be AWESOME for mountain biking (and were actually kind of fun/terrifying in my car, too)
Oh, if you want a good hike, stop in Chloride. It'll be a left off of 93 going south. There is a very rough, very unmaintained road leading up into the hills there, where some nutcase painted a bunch of murals. Chances are you won't have the vehicle or the nerves to drive all the way to the murals, and unless you've got a serious off-roader, you're not making it past them. It might be dry in October (probably will be) but there is a creek that runs past it. Lots of flora...probably some fauna, but I never saw it. Anyhow, Chloride is the place for hiking along that route.
If you want a REALLY long hike, or you want a short hike but have nerves of steel or a 4WD with some clearance, try stopping in Kingman, and going up Hualapai Mountain Road. (it intersects with Andy Devine Rd/Rt 66). There are a couple of parks along that road (it is long, and winding), but when you get to the end, there is a little residential neighborhood. It leads up to a fire trail into the Hualapai mountains. That is an awesome road. It's a challenge to drive in a car. There is a spot right as you leave town where you can park if you want to hoof it. Anyhow the trail system goes on for dozens of miles and has dozens of branches. The spot where I lost my nerve in my Honda last time I was up there is in a rather picturesque forest with some hikable trails.
You WILL see animals up there if you stay long enough. I think it may be mountain lion country, though.
For something shorter, but much MUCH harder on your vehicle you could drive up Stockton Hill Rd in Kingman until you get past Northern. Go a couple of intersections, turn left, and you'll eventually find a trail into the Cerbats. There are lots of bluffs you could climb, or you could bike the trail out past the foothills that face town.
It's hard on a car because of the jagged rocks. They'll chew your tires to pieces.
Oh, and remember: carry LOTS of water in the car. And you want to watch out for snakes and scorpions, of course, but don't forget BEES. And fire ants. They aren't a huge problem like they are in Texas and such, but they are present.
edit: Oh, hell...you don't want to take the road to Mohave Valley out of Oatman, you want the road to Golden Shores. There will be a fork in the road, you want to take the LEFT fork. That's the road that has the interesting terrain on it. Mohave Valley is near Bullhead and Laughlin, though, if you want to see where Las Vegas goes to die.
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