Directly south of Death Valley is one the newest units in the National Park system; the Mojave National Preserve is an area of the Mojave desert with very little development in it.
In the north are the remains of Volcanic cinder cones and lava flows, The area has numerous fault lines and in geological terms these are fairly new.
Near the cinder cones were “Mojave Joshua Trees” which were neither trees or Cactus but a type of Yucca and a member of the lily family yet growing to well over 20 ft tall.
Then after 30 miles or so there is a 3 track railway, and a station building which houses one of the Park visitor centres. 60 years ago this was a busy mining area supplying steel to build ships for the US navy.
We continued to the Hole in the Wall campground, which was next to a strange looking rock formation formed by a steam and magma explosion when the cloud of material solidified rapidly.
The explosion lasted about half a second and solid “cloud” extends about a quarter mile long and 200ft high.
With the aid of steel rings in the rocks we climbed up through Banshee Canyon.
We were amazed at the number of plants growing in the desert.
Out of the Mojave NP we travelled a short section of “Old Route 66” to the Amboy Crater, meeting a couple who were adding their own memento to the shoe tree.
Last active only 500 years ago the Amboy crater is accessible and we were able to climb into crater where I went to the rim edge 200ft above the surrounding desert and lava flow remains.
Elaine in the crater bottom.
