Rail Station, Sand Dunes, Cactus, and COWBOYS!

Mojave National Preserve, California (92 degrees, blue skies with some really cool clouds)

Kelso Depot and Visitor Center

We left our campground and took a off road Jeep trip to the Kelso Depot, a quiet oasis rail station in the middle of the desert.  

Getting there was half of the fun. It was also challenging and enjoyable  and a five star blue sky day. The train station used to be a thriving rail stop in 1924 until 1962. Staff, conductors, and railway crewmen stayed in the Depot and their was also a busy restaurant on site. It was recently restored by the Park Service and it's an interesting place to visit.  

Train passing by entrance

You certainly didn't want to get in trouble in this town.  The picture below is of the local jail.   

Jail "House"

We left here to attend a ranger led hike at the Kelso Dunes with Ranger Bob.  The sand dunes are over 600 feet tall are very vast but it was the endless blue skies  and wispy clouds which really took my breath way. These are known as singing dunes because as you slide down them you can hear strange moaning sounds. None of us climbed the dunes due to the heat.

/Ranger Bob demonstrating some of the magnetic rocks 

Along our way we were amazed by the wide variety of cactus.  Elevation changes are frequent and the type of vegetation changes frequently.  Here are a few examples.  

It was a great road trip and we had a nice pot luck dinner together afterwards.There are some good cooks in this club.

The next morning we headed out again to view some lava tubes (more about the tubes in my next post). Just as we were turning the corner a large herd of cattle came down onto the road along with three cowboys in white shirts on horseback. The preserve has several ranches which are allowed to run their cattle and ranches within the park. It was fun to watch real cowboys in action  We didn't have to wait long but some of us certainly didn't mind the delay. :)

THE END!