You heard me – Zzyzx. Pronounced Zi-Zix. The last entry when all geographic place names are listed alphabetically. Anyone who has driven the I-15 stretch from LA to Vegas knows that mysterious, middle-of-nowhere offramp to ‘Zzyzx’. It finally tempted us and this time we took the exit to explore all that Zzyzx has to offer.

But first we had unfinished business in Afton Canyon. Since we couldn’t pass the Mojave River in our truck when approaching from the west, we hopped back on I-15 and took the exit to the east end. This time we were easily able to get into the canyon where we checked out a few ‘Mojave Sites of Mystery’ – and old mine site with unique stacked rock walls and a buried railcar, supposedly left there after a derailment on the nearby tracks. I’d love to learn more if anyone is familiar with either of these sites.

After wrapping up our Afton exploration it was time to check out Zzyzx. Heading south from the freeway, the road dead ends after a while at the former site of the Zzyzx Mineral and Heath Spa, now the Desert Studies Center. There’s a surprisingly large pool with a fountain and lots of ducks, some nice facilities, and a view across the dry Soda Lake. As an extra bonus we spotted several sheep in the nearby rocky mountainside.

With half of the day left we grabbed lunch at the Mad Greek in Baker, then headed in to Mojave National Preserve. Our target for the afternoon was the Cow Cove Petroglyphs, a site that I’ve heard is one of the best in California. After a bit of wheeling down sandy roads we left the truck and hiked about a mile cross-country to a volcanic bluff.

For about an 800 foot stretch along this bluff, the rocks are crawling with the Native American rock art. Most of the images are abstract, though a Rock Art book I have guesses on meaning about many of them. It is by far the finest set of petroglyphs I’ve seen in both quality and quanitity (including variety). It’s not a secretive location – there is plenty of information online about how to find them – but they are just far enough off the beaten path to keep them protected from overuse.

After the glyphs we had a bit of daylight left, so using our many maps and my GPS we figured out where the Evening Star Mine was. We’d seen a picture of some neat ruins at the Zzyzx Desert Studies Center and as it turns out, it was right along our way. Just a short distance on high clearance track from Cima Road and we found ourselves at an enourmous headframe and crusher. There were also several deep and scary looking vertical pits. We later learned that this was a tin mine.

We ended the day at Mid Hills Campground where we would camp for two nights. To be continued in the next entry…

Afton Canyon, Zzyzx, and Cow Cove Petroglyphs (11.23.2008)

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