Mojave Road — Rock Springs to Afton Canyon via Government Holes and Soda Dry Lake

The Mojave Road is a 138-mile historic trail that follows a Mojave Indian trading route turned U.S. Army supply road — and this central segment from Rock Springs (a reliable desert water source used for thousands of years) to Afton Canyon covers the route’s most varied and demanding terrain. You cross Pisgah Lava Bed — sharp basalt that has been eating tyres since wagons first rolled through — then hit Government Holes, hand-dug wells the Army sank in the 1850s that still hold water. Soda Dry Lake is a white alkali flat so blinding in afternoon sun it looks like snow. Afton Canyon, where the Mojave River briefly surfaces, is a narrow red sandstone gorge that the BLM calls the Grand Canyon of the Mojave — a fair name for a desert that usually undersells itself.

Rated Moderate to Difficult — the lava beds will shred sidewalls on road tyres, and Soda Lake floods impassably after rain. High-clearance 4WD is required; lockers are useful but not mandatory if you have skill and aired-down tyres. The trail is entirely within BLM land, no permit required. Fuel at Barstow or Needles — nothing along the route. Spring and fall are the windows; summer heat kills engines and people alike. Cell service is nonexistent. A Garmin inReach or equivalent is strongly recommended. Camp anywhere on BLM land — the site at Afton Canyon Campground has pit toilets and water.