1 - Desert Magazine of the Southwest

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Tuttle Creek Campground [85 camping units],
near historic Owens Lake, has as its scenic backdrop
the weathered Alabama Hills and the crisply
sculptured contours of the Sierras. This
campsite is located in the very shadow of Mount
Whitney and has proven to be the most popular
spot for campers of all BLM sites.
southern desert, near the Imperial
Valley gateway community of Ocotillo.
While its services to the desert recreationists
are just beginning —in the form
of way stations, rangers and maps —
BLM's help to the camping public is
well-established and generally appreciated.
Desert camping sites are maintained
in the Owens Valley, the Mojave, in the
Colorado Desert midway between Indio
Crowley Lake Campground [47 camping units] is
in a setting near Crowley Lake and is a favorite
place for fishermen and their families.
and Blythe, and the almost-new Gecko
Campground in the Imperial (Algodones)
Sand Hills near the Clamis ranger
station.
BLM campgrounds are simple in construction
and operation. All fill a crucial
gap in public camping facilities in the
desert. Before the bureau's campgrounds
system, only a handful of state
parks and two national monuments,
Death Valley and Joshua Tree, offered
shade, water and improved camping
sites.
The bureau's Mojave Desert sites are
located at Owl Canyon, northwest of Barstow,
Mid-Hills and Hole-ln-The-Wall in
the Providence Mountains, and Afton
Canyon, along the Mojave River, 30
miles northeast of Barstow. All have
tables, drinking water and parking pads.
Overnight use carries a $1 fee and a
14-day camping limit is imposed. No reservations
are required currently.
Owl Canyon is adjacent to a spectacular
geological area, the Rainbow Basin.
Both are 12 miles from Barstow over
paved and improved (graded) dirt roads.
The basin is a fossil area dating perhaps
to 30 million years ago, with mineralized
bones of horse, camel, elephant and
many other animals and plants. The
name comes from the multiple hues of
the predominantly sandstone formations.
Mid-Hills and Hole-ln-The-Wall are
unusual for desert camps in that their
elevation permit year-around use. Mid-
Hills is 5,600 feet up in the pinyon pineclad
Providence Range and Hole-ln-
The-Wall is 5,000 feet high. Both are
near the famous Mitchell Caverns in the
Providence Mountains State Recreation
Area. The two BLM campgrounds provide
overflow facilities for the state's
tiny campgrounds at the caverns. As the
other bureau facilities listed here, both
Mid-Hills and Hole-ln-The-Wall include
tables, water, toilets, a $1 overnight fee
and a 14-day camping limit.
Afton Canyon is perhaps the best
known and most heavily used of the BLM
Mojave region sites. Located in the
gorge of the fascinating Mojave River,
the camp is in a rockhound paradise and
also adjacent to the mainline of the
Union Pacific Railroad. Afton Canyon is
unusual among desert gorges in that the
river runs the year around. The Mojave
rises in the San Bernardino Mountains
and flows northeasterly to Soda Lake
near Baker but only in the Victorville
Narrows and at Afton does the disappearing
river generally flow on the surface.
At times there is too much water in
Afton Canyon to permit visitors to cross
into southern canyon branches where favorite
rock collecting areas abound.
Colorado Desert campgrounds are at
Wiley Well, Coon Hollow and Corn
Spring, all in or near the Chuckwalla
Mountains midway between Indio and
Blythe. Wiley Well camp is on the site of
a historic Bradshaw Road stage and
freighting wagon route, used since the
Civil War. Coon Hollow is just a few
miles away toward Milpitas Wash. Both
are favorite camping spots for rockhounds.
Corn Spring, 10 miles to the
northwest, is in one of the few native
palm groves east of the Coachella Valley.
38 Desert/December 1976