Mojave Desert things to do. Trails, ghost towns and hot water.

The Mojave sits between the Great Basin Desert to the north and the Sonoran Desert to the south. It reaches into four states: California, Nevada, Arizona and Utah. Most of it is in southern Nevada and southeastern California.

How big is the Mojave Desert?

The U.S. Geological Survey puts it at roughly 44,000 to 50,000 square miles, depending on where you draw the line. The Park Service rounds it to almost 50,000 and calls it the smallest and driest desert in North America.

It runs from below sea level in Death Valley to Mount Charleston, near Las Vegas, at about 11,900 feet. The Joshua tree is its signature plant.

Is Las Vegas in the Mojave Desert?

Yes. The City of Las Vegas says the Las Vegas Valley lies within the Mojave Desert, with about 4.2 inches of rain a year.

Is Pahrump in the Mojave?

Yes. The USGS counts both Death Valley and Mount Charleston in the Mojave, and Pahrump sits between them, in the valley below the Spring Mountains. You do not drive to the Mojave from Pahrump. You walk outside.

Mojave Desert map with cities

• Nevada: Las Vegas, Pahrump and Beatty.
• California: Barstow, Baker, Needles, Randsburg and Tecopa, with Mojave National Preserve in between.
• Arizona: the Kingman country. The Bureau of Land Management’s Kingman office manages part of the Mojave there, plus the Grapevine Mesa Joshua Tree Forest.
• Utah: St. George, on the edge of the Red Cliffs National Conservation Area, where the Mojave meets the Colorado Plateau and the Great Basin.

The Mojave Desert Land Trust, based in Joshua Tree, California, has protected 132,347 acres of desert land and banked seed from 354 native plant taxa in its Mojave Desert Seed Bank.

• Climb the Kelso Dunes: 3 miles round trip and about 600 feet of climbing. The dunes boom when the sand slides.
• Crawl into the lava tube: a metal ladder down into a lava tube off Aiken Mine Road.
• Climb the rings at Hole-in-the-Wall: the 1.5-mile Rings Loop goes up Banshee Canyon on metal rings set in the rock.
• Tour Mitchell Caverns: limestone caves in Providence Mountains State Recreation Area, inside the Mojave preserve. Tours run Friday through Sunday and holiday Mondays; the park closes in July and August. Adults pay $20.
• Drive the Mojave Road: an old wagon road across the desert, usually three days in a 4x4.
• Walk Afton Canyon: known locally as the Grand Canyon of the East Mojave, and one of three places where the Mojave River runs above ground all year.
• Drive old Route 66: Mojave Trails National Monument holds its longest undeveloped stretch.
• See Death Valley: the lowest, hottest corner of the Mojave.
• Soak at Tecopa Hot Springs and walk a ghost town or two.

Dirt bike trails near Pahrump

Visit Pahrump names Carpenter Canyon Road, Wallace Canyon Road and Wheeler Wash as good trails for beginner and intermediate riders, with harder double-track between the canyons. Carpenter Canyon climbs through the trees with views of the Pahrump Valley. Wheeler Pass, which comes out at Indian Springs on US 95, is a favorite of experienced 4x4 drivers.

The Nevada Division of Outdoor Recreation publishes a Pahrump OHV trails map. Where the trails border wilderness, only hikers and horses go past the boundary. An off-road bike registered in another state gets 15 days in Nevada without a Nevada registration; the rest of the visitor rules are on our dirt bike riding page.

Sand

• Big Dune: about five square miles of sand that rises about 500 feet, off Valley View Road 95 miles north of Las Vegas on US 95. Stay limit 14 days.
• Dumont Dunes: 7,620 acres of big bowls and steep climbs on Highway 127 north of Baker. A weekly pass is $30, or $40 on holiday weeks; a season pass is $90, or $120 with holidays. Every vehicle needs a flag, and a green sticker or a plate.
• Nellis Dunes and more: the close-to-Vegas areas are on our Las Vegas dirt bike trails page.

California riding areas

• Rasor: rolling hills and dunes southwest of Baker, between I-15 and the Mojave preserve. The Mojave Road runs through it.
• Stoddard Valley: a 53,000-acre open riding area just south of Barstow.
• Johnson Valley: 96,000 acres southeast of Barstow, home of the rock-crawling “Hammers.” About 53,000 acres are shared with the Marine Corps.
• El Mirage: 27,275 acres and a dry lake west of Adelanto. A daily pass is $15.

In California, an off-road bike from another state that is not registered at home needs a non-resident green sticker. More West Mojave riding is on our Randsburg OHV page.

Mojave Desert jeep trails

Mojave National Preserve has hundreds of miles of unpaved roads, open to street-legal vehicles only. The big one is the Mojave Road. Afton Canyon and Rasor are staging spots for 4x4 touring into Mojave Trails National Monument, where vehicles stay on designated routes.

Mojave Desert motorcycle riding

A plated dual sport can ride the preserve’s dirt roads; a green-sticker dirt bike cannot. The details are in our Mojave preserve vehicle rules. For road and dirt ideas around Death Valley, see our Death Valley motorcycle routes.

Mojave Desert ATV tours and rentals

We do not rent ATVs; we run supported dual-sport rides near Pahrump.

Pahrump and Las Vegas are both in the Mojave already. These are the drives to the places worth seeing:

• Tecopa Hot Springs: about 35 miles from Pahrump, under an hour.
• Rhyolite ghost town: about 80 miles from Pahrump, an hour and a half.
• Baker, the door to the Mojave preserve: about 85 miles from Pahrump, two hours by Highway 127; about 90 miles from the Strip, an hour and 40 minutes.
• Kelso Depot, the middle of the preserve: about 135 miles from Pahrump, two hours and 45 minutes; about 90 miles from the Strip, under two hours.
• Afton Canyon: about 115 miles from Pahrump, three hours; about 120 miles from the Strip, two hours and 40 minutes.
• Calico Ghost Town: about 140 miles from Pahrump, a little over three hours; about 145 miles from the Strip, two hours and 40 minutes.
• Randsburg: about 195 miles from Pahrump, four hours and 20 minutes.

A Mojave Desert road trip from Pahrump

A one-day loop of about 255 miles and six hours of driving, before stops:

1. Pahrump to Shoshone: about 27 miles. Detour to Tecopa for a soak.
2. Shoshone to Baker: about 57 miles down Highway 127, past Dumont Dunes.
3. Baker to Kelso Depot: 34 miles south on Kelbaker Road. Kelso Dunes is 8 more miles south.
4. Kelso to Cima: about 19 miles on Kelso-Cima Road. The Teutonia Peak trail is on Cima Road.
5. Cima to Primm and home: Morning Star Mine, Ivanpah and Nipton roads to I-15 at Primm, then north on I-15 and over Blue Diamond Road to Pahrump.

No gas is sold inside the Mojave preserve. Fill up in Pahrump or Baker.

Drive times are from a routing service, rounded.

Rhyolite, Nevada

A gold boomtown four miles west of Beatty. The Cook Bank Building is called the most photographed ghost town building in the West, and the bottle house is built of glass bottles. Day use only, no camping. See our Rhyolite ghost town guide.

Calico, California

A silver town from 1881, abandoned in the mid-1890s when silver lost its value. Walter Knott bought it in the 1950s and restored it. It is now a San Bernardino County regional park, open daily 9 AM to 5 PM, closed Christmas Day.

Randsburg, California

Our Randsburg guide covers the gold camp on the west side of the Mojave.

Kelso, California

The railroad town’s depot opened in 1924 and now serves as the Mojave preserve’s visitor center. More on Kelso Depot.

Abandoned towns near Pahrump

The Nevada camps closer to home are on our ghost towns near Las Vegas page.

The closest soak to Pahrump is Tecopa Hot Springs, about 35 miles away. The water comes out at about 102°F with no pumps, and carbon-14 dating puts its apparent age at about 28,000 years. Day passes are sold at the campground office.

Every place to soak in Tecopa, and who sells a day pass, is on our Tecopa hot springs page. For more soaks in the region, see hot springs near Death Valley.

History note: Zzyzx, on Soda Dry Lake in the Mojave preserve, started as a mineral springs resort. It is now a California State University research station, and the preserve says the campus is not open to tourism.

Mojave National Preserve

Three developed campgrounds, open all year: Mid Hills at 5,600 feet, Hole-in-the-Wall at 4,400 feet, and Black Canyon for groups and horses. Mid Hills and Hole-in-the-Wall are by reservation only. Roadside camping in previously used sites is free, with a 14-day limit. Details on our Mojave preserve camping section.

BLM dispersed camping

In Mojave Trails National Monument, dispersed camping is allowed on BLM land except in the Afton Canyon area and the main Amboy Crater parking lot. Stay up to 14 days in one site, then move at least 25 miles. No permit or fee. Afton Canyon Campground has 22 sites at $6 a night, first come.

Camping at the riding areas

Camping is allowed anywhere in the open areas at Dumont Dunes and Rasor, up to 14 consecutive days, and Big Dune has a 14-day stay limit.

Calico

Calico Ghost Town has a campground and 10 cabins that sleep four, at $75 a night.

Long-term average highs and lows for Pahrump and the Las Vegas airport, rounded:

• January: Pahrump 57°F / 27°F. Las Vegas 57°F / 35°F.
• February: Pahrump 63°F / 32°F. Las Vegas 63°F / 39°F.
• March: Pahrump 68°F / 37°F. Las Vegas 70°F / 45°F.
• April: Pahrump 76°F / 43°F. Las Vegas 78°F / 52°F.
• May: Pahrump 85°F / 52°F. Las Vegas 88°F / 61°F.
• June: Pahrump 95°F / 60°F. Las Vegas 99°F / 70°F.
• July: Pahrump 102°F / 67°F. Las Vegas 105°F / 77°F.
• August: Pahrump 100°F / 66°F. Las Vegas 102°F / 75°F.
• September: Pahrump 93°F / 57°F. Las Vegas 95°F / 67°F.
• October: Pahrump 82°F / 45°F. Las Vegas 81°F / 55°F.
• November: Pahrump 67°F / 34°F. Las Vegas 67°F / 42°F.
• December: Pahrump 58°F / 27°F. Las Vegas 57°F / 35°F.

Pahrump gets about 4.7 inches of rain a year and Las Vegas about 4.2. In the Mojave preserve, most rain falls November through April, summer monsoon storms bring sudden, heavy rain, and May and June are the driest months. Strong winds blow in fall, late winter and early spring.

Higher means cooler. At 4,200 feet in the Granite Mountains, July averages 90°F. Our ride runs Saturdays from September until it gets too hot. For the low country, see Death Valley weather.

It is not either-or. Death Valley is part of the Mojave Desert: its low, hot, dry heart.

• Lowest: Death Valley’s basin drops to 282 feet below sea level.
• Hottest: 134°F at Furnace Creek on July 10, 1913, the world record. July highs average 116°F.
• Driest: under 2 inches of rain in an average year.
• The rest of the Mojave: generally between 3,000 and 6,000 feet. Mid Hills, in the Mojave preserve, sits at 5,600 feet, where summer days run 60 to 100°F.

Mojave National Preserve is 1.6 million acres of the eastern Mojave, set aside in 1994. See our Mojave National Preserve guide and our Death Valley guide.