LandRoverLasVegas
Observer
The other day we took out the 130 to explore Goffs, California in the South East part of the Mojave National Preserve. From Las Vegas we took the US 95 for about 90 minutes until we hit Route 66 where we then traveled West for about ten miles. As soon as you cross over the railroad tracks and some abandoned buildings, you are greeted with the Goffs town sign that welcomes you and says that it was established in 1883 and boasts a whopping 23 residents! I turned up Landfair Road (heading North) from the 66 and I was in the heart of Goffs. The “Mayor” of the depot is Dennis Casibier, who a few years back literally wrote the book on the Mojave Road, as well as other texts on the desert. A older gentleman, he is full of information about the area. In the restored school, he told me about the past of the area around the train depot from the arrival of the “white man”, the demise of the local Indians, the critters, the mines, the trains and the politics of “protecting” “our” desert. Surrounding the schoolhouse (which operated from 1914-1933 for the local population of about 100 at its peak) is a large swath of land that has many artifacts found strewn about. They are all tagged with numbers and you can take a self-guided tour with the book they provide that has information that corresponds to the number tags. There is everything on display from glass bottles to a Santa Fe caboose! You can actually walk up to everything and touch! After saying my goodbyes to Dennis, we headed back to Las Vegas driving North on Landfair Road which soon becomes Ivanpah Road. After a few miles I turned West on Keystone Canyon Trail, essentially a pretty flat dirt road for miles and miles, but what a scenic route! There were more Joshua trees per acre than Joshua Tree National Park! After two miles or so, we turned around and got back and returned to Ivanpah Road North passing Mojave Road. I then hit Nipton road, headed East and landed in the small village of Nipton (pop 55). Nipton was established in 1905 as a train depot where the Salt Lake, Santa Fe and Los Angeles Railroads converged. It had a decent population back then but today very little activity goes on there; although I did get a great burrito at the one and only restaurant in town which is the “El Oasis”. Instead of heading to the I-15 and going up to Vegas the easy way, we chose to parallel the railroad tracks on the service road that also parallels the freeway. It was an interesting way to go to say the least but it was worth the detour and time to see the large area of desert land that only train passengers ever see. We also got to go into a giant dry lake bed that must have been at least ten square miles and got some great shots with the camera!
All in all it was a great day to stretch the D130’s legs, see a bit of historic Route 66, explore a couple of long forgotten desert towns and get some great photos, all within 90 minutes of Las Vegas!
All in all it was a great day to stretch the D130’s legs, see a bit of historic Route 66, explore a couple of long forgotten desert towns and get some great photos, all within 90 minutes of Las Vegas!
