Heart of the Mojave West

The Mojave Desert holds a special kind of beauty, and at Heart of the Mojave West BLM site, you get that beauty in spades. Stunning rock formations paint the sunset in fiery hues, and the vast silence offers a welcome escape from city noise. However, before you picture yourself parked amidst desert serenity, there are a few crucial things to know:

Choose Wisely: As you enter the site, don't be hasty. The first set of four campsites to the right might seem tempting, but trust me, keep going. These spots are notoriously close to a wicked dune that loves to swallow unsuspecting vehicles.

Deep Deceptions: Venture too far and you'll find yourself surrounded by seemingly harmless sandy patches. Don't let the calmness fool you! This soft, deep sand is an expert at trapping rigs, and extracting yourself can be a full-day odyssey (ask me how I know!).

Scouting is Survival: This is not the place for winging it. Before committing to a spot, scout your campsite thoroughly on foot. Check for hidden dips, test the firmness of the sand, and leave yourself ample room for maneuvering. Remember, getting stuck in the desert can be a dangerous and expensive situation.

Respect the Desert: This one should go without saying, but leave no trace. Pack out all your trash, respect the fragile desert ecosystem, and be mindful of fire restrictions. This pristine landscape relies on responsible visitors to maintain its magic.

The Verdict: Is Heart of the Mojave West worth the risk? Absolutely! Just approach it with caution, proper preparation, and advanced scouting. With that, you'll be rewarded with an unforgettable desert experience under the endless Mojave sky. Remember, respect the sand, choose your spot wisely, and you'll have a story (and hopefully not a tow truck) to tell!

Stayed a short overnight off I-40 during a couple long travel days. Use the GPS, it’s not marked and off a dirt road. We are 38’ TT plus F250 Super Duty with no problems accessing. Great night sky, we were the only ones there, there was another rig off the dirt road on the other side as well. We drove around the space to find the most level space.

I stayed here because I wanted to take some night photos of the Milky Way. The sky is super dark, very pretty. I drove east on the dirt road for 3 miles in a Prius and had no troubles while on the road. I turned off into a sandy spot and did get stuck for a bit but was able to get out by sweeping some of the sand away and putting my floor mats under my tires.

There isn’t much to do in this exact spot but across the highway there are amazing rock formations and trails and then further up that road is Kelsey Dunes which is an absolute MUST see. Then you can drive down south for around 20 minutes and see Amboy Crater and keep going and end up at Joshua tree. It’s a nice central location to a lot of things.

ATT cell signal was enough to stream video.

If you come here and have the entire place to yourself, it can be quite enjoyable. I had it all for myself one of the two nights I was here. However, the second night, there were multiple parties who came and parked right next to me. I don't go out into nature to be near people. I had the ranger come harass me claiming I drove over some plants but I didn't. He was just trying to instigate trouble. I get a lot of harassment by the rangers in certain areas due to my complexion despite breaking no laws, being respectful with the noise and obeying Leave No Trace. If you're looking for somewhere private and away from people, I highly do not recommend this place. Also the sand is very deep and there were 3 cars that got stuck here while I was staying. I suggest just driving into the Mojave Preserve and camping there. Plenty of better spots with more privacy and you can take care of your bathroom duties in private, unlike here.

The only plus this place had was full cellphone reception. If you are driving along the 40 and need a place to sleep, while planning on leaving as soon as you wake up, this is an ok spot for the night. If you plan on staying for more than that, not recommended. The temperatures here get extremely hot even in the spring. 100F in early April. Very windy and lots of road noise all hours of the night. I'm not sure who travels the road between midnight and sunrise, but there were a lot of people. Can be scary having cars show up at 2am right up to your campsite

This was our first time boondocking in the desert and now we’re hooked. Easy access, plenty of room for multiple rigs if you’re traveling in a group. If being perfectly level is important to you, you’ll probably be frustrated. Thankfully, we’re not real concerned about that. We had the place to ourselves most of the time. Late in the evening a van did pull in and set up on the other side of the area from us, then left in the morning. We actually appreciated having someone else there overnight since this was our first time desert camping.

There’s actually a decent amount of traffic in the adjacent road, but it’s not too loud, and when there’s no cars, it’s a crazy kind quiet. Plus, we’d never seen so many starts looking so bright. We definitely plan to explore more sites like this in the future. This was easily our favorite night of our 3 week road trip.

The only downside has nothing to do with the spot, and everything to do with people. There’s a LOT of debris and broken glass around, so watch out for that, especially with pets.

Thanks to nearby towers, cell coverage was better than most RV parks we’ve been in, so it’s easy to stay connected, if you choose, and to stream.

This site has plenty of space for larger RV's but we wouldn't recommend staying here with anything larger than a van. The ground is so uneven it took us three attempts to level. We finally had to use leveling blocks on our back tires in addition to raising one whole side. We aren't new at RV'ing or complicated leveling but the hour it took us to level would have been better spent on the road going elsewhere. There was also some broken glass and garbage around the main parking area. If you decide to stay here be sure to budget extra time for leveling and bring plenty of levelers.

The area had some strong winds which helped cool down the RV but also kicked up a lot of dust and brought it into the RV. If you are looking for a location with good cell signal this site did have great service on Verizon. It's also an easy drive to and from the highway. You will hear a road noise from the highway but it wasn't enough to keep us awake at night even with a few windows open.

Easy access, right off the highway. Some vehicle noise but that doesn’t bother us.

As you enter from Kelbaker, there is an area that would accommodate at least 4 big rigs or even group campsites. If you continue to the left, there is one pull through spot off to the side, which is where we camped. That pathway continues a little ways toward Needles Fwy, but those sites weren’t spectacular.

We hiked further up the dirt road off Kelbaker, which goes all the way back through the Trilobite Wilderness area. Maybe only a couple sites up there that would be accessible for larger rigs, but there were some gems for vans and 4x4 tent camping, especially the further you get into the wilderness area. Lots of tire ruts from people getting stuck, so definitely be wary of the sand. We couldn’t do it in our Class A, but if your vehicle permits, you can get way far out in the middle of nowhere.

We’d stay here again. It was clean and quiet with lots of hiking and privacy.

We stayed there last night and have only one thing to add. If you miss the turn-off from Kelbaker Rd, “like I did“. It was a long loong ways before I could find a spot big enough and solid enough to make a U-turn with my 29 ft rig and dingy. The turn off is 1.3 miles from the US 40 exit. And no, I didn’t see the construction vehicles on the right side until we were leaving this morning.