Desert roads between SoCal & Vegas

[shamoo]

No question or major point to this post, other than to share a random experience. Has anyone here explored the expansive desert roads between SoCal and Vegas? Every time I’m in the area, I look out and wish I had extra time to explore, but I’m usually with family and/or I need to get somewhere.

Last week I was headed to an IT conference (Crowdstrike’s Fal.Con, anyone else go?) and decided to head out early and give myself time to explore. Charging to ~90% at the Barstow outlets, there was an entrance into an OHV area. I had my 22" wheels w/Michelin (115s gasp!) and not my Ram 2363 w/KO2s but I intended to just stay on sand/gravel and not try anything crazy. The main issue I had was the charging locations. There's one big one right when you get into Vegas (and many in town) and one in Barstow. In between there's ~150 miles of nothing, and that's exactly where the desert roads were. I had to be careful to not take too much time to explore and risk running out of range before the charging stations. Both times (once while headed toward Vegas, and once while headed back to SoCal) I arrived at the charging spots with ~10-15%.

There were a few side by sides playing around in this area as well as a stuck minivan in the sand.

I started to venture out a bit farther and hit these deeper “valleys” that continued for miles. Since they were headed in the opposite direction of Vegas, I turned around.

In the other direction (toward my Vegas destination), there were a ton of trails going almost every direction out into the desert. I selected one of the main paths that headed vaguely in the direction I wanted to go. Eventually it ended up a single trail, that got more and more narrow. Some of the ruts got pretty deep/sandy but it wasn’t an issue for the Rivian.

I continued on this trail for ~30-45 minutes and I estimate I was maybe 5-6 miles away from the main freeway. Probably not smart on my part since I was alone with a single bottle of water and it was 102F degrees. Toward the end, I was forced to go up some pretty steep/rocky inclines to get to a service road. Rivian made it up no problem, so it was mostly just my own fear I suppose.

On the way home from Vegas, I did the same thing. Found some service/desert roads and eventually hit an underpass with someone camped there (it was raining slightly). Looked a little shady haha so I just turned around.

Back on the freeway for a bit and then found Powerline Road and drove on that for a while. In 30 minutes, I saw one other vehicle (Rav4). Based on some research afterwards, it seems I can find connecting powerline specific roads for a LONG time. However, as stated above, I’d still be limited by EV range. My estimates show me arriving home with 25% and I still wanted to do a bit of Cleghorn/Cajon pass closer to home.

One more random trail, which ended up in some construction area way out in the desert so I turned around. Btw, I had my OnX app which showed me where I could go. Helped a ton.

And then I took the trail into Cleghorn for a little while until my EV range estimated I’d be home with 10% . I had wanted to go to Cleghorn for a year or more, but location was never convenient. This worked out since it was on the way home. I took it easy since there were some sharp rocks and I had my 22” tires on road pressures. Was a pretty easy area, so I’ll plan to check it out again another time, or might bring my dirt bike.

Sponsored

 

[Rasputin]

Endless BLM maze out there. Check out the Barstow to Vegas (b2v) motorcycle routes. They can get a little chunky at times, but usually they stay close to civilization. Also there's the SoCal BDR route that runs through Primm behind the solar plant and you can flank the interstate as long as you want on the power line road. The BDR route will take up you north to Shoshone and there's a RAN charger there, but that's out of the way if you're looking to stay closer to the highway. This is all north of 15. On the south side there are good trails through Mojave (Mojave rd) and a couple of other people on the forum that have done them. It gets bigger down there and you'll want to be prepared with water, recovery gear, etc and in my experience it's sandier down there. Tread lightly and send photos!

 

[shamoo]

Endless BLM maze out there. Check out the Barstow to Vegas (b2v) motorcycle routes. They can get a little chunky at times, but usually they stay close to civilization. Also there's the SoCal BDR route that runs through Primm behind the solar plant and you can flank the interstate as long as you want on the power line road. The BDR route will take up you north to Shoshone and there's a RAN charger there, but that's out of the way if you're looking to stay closer to the highway. This is all north of 15. On the south side there are good trails through Mojave (Mojave rd) and a couple of other people on the forum that have done them. It gets bigger down there and you'll want to be prepared with water, recovery gear, etc and in my experience it's sandier down there. Tread lightly and send photos!

Awesome, thanks! After I got home, I did some more poking around on the OnX app and other forums and there's definitely a ton of options.

I also have a Honda CRF300L that I'll explore with when I have the opportunity. So far its been limited to my immediate area (Santiago Peak).

Added a random video too of strung together clips.

 

[Captain JB]

I used to dirt bike in that area decades ago and have only been out there once in my R1S due to the reasons you allude to. If you are playing north of Barstow, there are some level 3 chargers in Ridgecrest/Inyokern where you can charge.

 

[shamoo]

That's the challenge.

This time, I was headed to Vegas for a conference (and this will happen occasionally). These are the only times I'm headed out to that area by myself, so I have time.

There's almost zero chance I'll have an opportunity to do this any other time since I have family obligations (young kids, no time, etc). I don't even get to do off roading/dirt biking 30 minutes from me haha. Although, some weekends I've been getting up at 5am, going for a bit of a drive, and being back just as the family wakes up. That works. But it won't work for an extended desert adventure.

 

[silverxlb]

I usually skip Barstow and charge at Yermo or Baker. And the more sand, the more fun.

 

[UnsungZero_OldTimeAdMan]

I've been to Devil's Hole with a AWD Honda Element. The overland trails are probably child's play for the R1. Closer to Vegas, there are lots of trails on the eastern side of Red Rock Canyon, Bonnie Springs and Mountain Springs. Passable for a lowly Element, until ground clearance and traction became an issue. But, some spots further on might be too tight for a R1.

There's a joke in there somewhere:

Sponsored