Mojave Desert Trails
Florine Lawlor
Photos by Leslie Payne and Wynne Benti

Just a jeep ride beyond the Las Vegas strip, where millions of tourists rarely think of yesterday, is the Mojave Road, blazed in 1775 by Padre Francisco Garces, and later traveled by thousands seeking their fortunes in California's fields of gold.

In her newest book, MOJAVE DESERT TRAILS, forty-year Las Vegas Sun columnist and fourth generation Las Vegas native, Florine Lawlor, author of OUT FROM LAS VEGAS: ADVENTURES A DAY AWAY, takes us to the magnificent Mojave Desert between the Southern Sierra Nevada and Las Vegas.

MOJAVE DESERT TRAILS is Lawlor's guide to some of the most interesting geologic, historic and lesser known sites found in the Mojave’s enchanting and remote landscape. Endless vistas, high-walled canyons carved by water and wind, Joshua tree forests, sand dunes, rugged mountains, abandoned settlements and a magnificent railroad depot await curious readers and weekend desert wanderers.

Readers will be able to find their way along the Mojave River at the site of what once was Camp Cady, a fort settled to protect travelers along the Santa Fe and Mormon Trails en route to San Bernardino and Los Angeles. They can camp amid the eroded volcanic formations of Rainbow Basin Natural National Landmark then drive the long loop through the charcoal-colored mesas of the Black Mountains Wilderness Area.

In Afton Canyon, they will find rare riparian habitat that provides some of the finest bird watching opportunities in the state while also serving as a gateway to the old Mojave Road.

Prospectors and miners left their marks in the land and mountains of the Mojave, with mine shafts and yawning glory holes. While some left with pockets full of gold, others lost everything, including their lives.

It’s all here in MOJAVE DESERT TRAILS, a must for any outdoor adventure seeker or the armchair traveler devoted to the rich history of the great American West.

Mojave Desert Trails
128 pages
ISBN 1-893343-03-3
$11.95

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