Afton Canyon
Finally! Alone at last! Here is Afton Canyon Natural Area between Barstow and Baker on 1-15. I am not camped in this lovely spot. It is possible to camp here, but it costs actual money, a total anathema to the Vagabond Tourist, even though the fees are quite reasonable ($6.00 per night, or, if you are old and have a pass, a mere $3.00 per night). Instead of shelling out the 3 bucks, I selected a spot on the desolate plateau directly outside Afton Canyon where, at night, I can watch the ribbon of light as thousands of cars stream down the freeway a couple of miles away. And in the day, I can trike into the canyon, which as you can see is lovely.
We are overlooking the campground…there is an RV in the distance. The road in is suitable for RVs, although there is one steep hill with some loose material that may cause momentary loss of traction. I didn’t see any huge rigs in here, but there were some moderately sized rigs. I would drive my 30 foot class C in (if I were driving it anywhere ever again).
Just up the road from the campground
Maybe 500 feet past the campground, there’s a water crossing. It is passable (a phalanx of about 5 vehicles drove through it 10 minutes before I reached it), but it wasn’t that great for triking. I rode about 1/3 of the way across and the water was deep enough to reach the middle of my wheels and getting deeper…that would be about 12 inches. I imagine it probably wasn’t more than 18 inches deep or so (the bottom was invisible due to mud, possibly stirred up by the 5 vehicles ahead of me, so who knows), but I didn’t feel like getting wet so I gave it up. I’d probably do it in the truck. In fact, I might do it in the truck another day.
Here’s a better view of the crossing. This is the Mojave river, which runs through the canyon.