Beth and I planned a week in Death Valley National Park for our Spring Break, and decided to take the scenic route there, stopping for a night at the Kelso Dunes in the Mojave Desert Preserve. From our home in Chandler we traveled west on Interstate-10 to the little town of Desert Center, about half-way between Blythe and Indio. I've only stopped in Desert Center once before - it's an odd place in the middle of nowhere, and it would seemingly be a natural place to have gas stations and traveler amenities, but it's locked in a time warp, as though it was still 1960. We had a nice lunch at the cafe, which is on the town's main drag. The lone gas station is a scary dump and that's probably why most people, me included, gas up in Blythe or Indio and give Desert Center a miss. From Desert Center we went north through the eastern reaches of Twentynine Palms and had a quick visit to Amboy Crater on historic Route 66. This is a fairly recent (last thousand years or so) lava eruption, leaving behind a symmetrical caldera and many square miles of black lava. Afterwards we finally made our way north to the Kelso Dunes area, located about 15 miles north of Interstate-40 off of Kelbaker Road. We'd put on over 400 miles on the truck and it was about 4 in the afternoon when we arrived. We found a nice camping spot and settled in for the night. The Kelso Dunes were immediately to our north, and we watched as dozens of kids & teens ambled up to the very top then attempted to ski or 'sand-board' down the slopes, with varying success. They looked like they were having fun.

Early the next morning we drove back about a mile to the main parking area and followed a nice trail through the desert scrub about a mile until it gave away at the base of the dunes. Soon, we were tramping over the soft sand, following the hundreds of footprints left from yesterday's crowd, as we made the steep grind toward the top. Route finding is very easy and Beth and I eventually found our own separate paths to the ridge, meeting together after being split for about 20 minutes. From here we walked up the final portion to the top, from which we had wonderful views out over the deserts and surrounding peaks. The sand was cool under our feet and near the top, it was at its angle of repose - any little disturbance sent down a torrent of fine soft sand, which flowed nearly fluid-like. It was very entertaining! We stayed at the top for about 30 minutes.

Coming down we chose to go straight down its south face - a very steep wall of sand, probably a good 40% grade. But in bare feet, we took long loping steps and let our feet sink into the sand up to our ankles as we skidded a good 10-12 feet with each step. It was sort of a combination ski/glissade and it was loads of fun! And each time we made these steps the dunes themselves groaned and rumbled, a unique event for which these dunes are known for. We probably descended about 500 feet in 10 minutes. Once down onto the flatter parts we walked out the last of the remaining sand and back onto the trail to our truck. Despite the early morning hours I enmded up with a pretty hefty sunburn. From here we drove up a few miles to the old railroad town of Kelso. In its heyday it numbered nearly a thousand people but nowadays it has maybe 20. It features a beautiful train station that is the town's centerpiece. It apparently functioned up until the 1980s when the railroads decided to stop stopping there. Since then it's been maintained but not used for anything. I recently read that the Mojave National Preserve people plan to refurbish the site and make it the Preserve's main visitor's center. If they do then that will be great. It really is a neat little place. There's just enough 'ghost-town' remnants to make the place interesting.