Mojave Road — Soda Dry Lake to Afton Canyon via Government Holes and Rainstorm Mine (Classic Interior Segment)

The Old Government Road — marketed cleanly as the Mojave Road today — was a critical 19th-century supply and mail route across the Mojave Desert, and this central segment between Soda Dry Lake and Afton Canyon is where the history is densest and the terrain most varied. You drop onto the Soda Dry Lake playa east of Baker, cross several miles of cracked white alkali flat that turns to soup after any rain, and push west through Government Holes — hand-dug desert wells that kept men and animals alive on this crossing for generations. The run into Afton Canyon drops you into a genuine desert gorge cut by the Mojave River, with red and tan walls rising 300 feet over a braided sandy wash that requires multiple river crossings when water is running. The Rainstorm Mine ruins nearby add another ghost-town layer to a drive already thick with atmosphere.

A stock high-clearance 4WD will handle this in dry conditions, but the Afton Canyon wash crossings demand caution after any rain event — check conditions with the BLM Barstow field office before you go. Aired-down tyres help on the playa and in the canyon sand. No permit is required, but a Friends of the Mojave Road map is worth every cent and widely available. Best season is October through April — summer heat here is genuinely dangerous, with temperatures regularly above 115°F. The BLM campground at Afton Canyon is one of the better free desert camps in California and makes an excellent base or endpoint.