Stoddard Valley OHV Area West

The coordinates provided take you five miles further down a miserable road than necessary. I came in at night and didn't want to risk setting up in the wrong location, or getting stuck, so I followed all the way. Big mistake. The road is a washboard the like I've never seen before. Instead of bumps and dips every few feet the wave pattern was extended to about 10 - 15 feet, with a relative increase in wave size. Instead of the annoying but normal grinding sound and vibrations, you're rocked up and down, back and forth, as if you're fighting treacherous waters. Not pleasant. Campers don't come to OHV areas for the beauty, it's for convenience, so don't go further than you need. And if you're coming for the OHV area that's at the coordinates I'm providing as well.

That out of the way, it's an OHV area, so noisy and dusty. The ground is mostly hard packed dirt and sand, but some areas could be problematic. A trickle of boosted Verizon and no T-Mobile. Windy. Do yourself a favor and don't come to the Mojave desert in the spring.

It was a wide open space of dirt/sand. The wind was blowing pretty hard when we got there making quite a dusty mess. When the wind died down, it was much more enjoyable. Plenty of space and solid ground for a large rig. As one would expect, the dirt bikers started going before 7am on a Saturday.

I want to explain how we got there. We were traveling north on RT 15 towards Barstow, I punched in the coordinates. Per the prior review and how the GPS navigated us, we were to continue heading to Barstow to then head east and south on Barstow Road (aka 247). All was good except this was out of the way for where we wanted to be. So, when I saw signs on Rt 15 for an OHV area, I figured it would also have free camping there and not be out of our way. We took the exit for Outlet Center Drive, the Stoddard Valley OHV area is short way east and on the right. There very well may be parking on the eastern part of the area from Barstow Road. I am just saying there IS parking on the west side from Rt 15.

Picturesque view of the surrounding mountains. The dirt road off of Barstow Rd was in fairly good shape and most of the land there is somewhat flat. Being an OHV area there was some noise but not excessive. It seemed to be the busiest on the weekends. I have no serious complaint about the OHV area and phone reception was good. I enjoyed my stay.