For Four-Wheel Vehicles : New Recreation Trail to Make Loop in the Desert

HART, Calif. —  At the turn of the century this was a booming Gold Rush camp at the foot of the Mojave Desert’s Castle Mountains, 10 miles from the Nevada line.

It’s a town that was.

Old photos show hundreds of tents, scores of buildings at Hart. All that is left is a tall brick fireplace from one of its eight saloons.

Hart is a stop on the proposed 400-mile Ivanpah Loop, a four-wheel-drive recreation-vehicle trail zigzagging through the East Mojave National Scenic Area in the desert bordered by Interstate 15 on the north, Interstate 40 on the south, Nevada on the east and Baker and Old-Dad mountains on the west.

The proposed Ivanpah Loop follows 19th-Century wagon roads, cattle trails, abandoned rights of way, old military routes from the 1850s through World War II, and no-longer-used mining, homesteader and ranch roads.

It passes entirely through federal property administered by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, avoiding private property and off-limit habitats of endangered flora and fauna.

The Ivanpah Loop links Hart, Ragtown, Fenner, Bagdad, Ivanpah and other old mining camps; Lanfair and Maruba and other abandoned desert communities where hundreds of homesteaders lived from the early 1900s through the ‘30s; and Piute Springs, Ft. Mojave, Camp Cady, Rock Springs, Marl Springs, Soda Springs and other 19th-Century desert Army outposts.

Since Christmas, volunteers from the Friends of the Mojave Road and the Southern District, California Assn. of Four-Wheel Drive Clubs have been mapping out the proposed Ivanpah Loop, marking the trail with blue ribbon tied to manzanita and cacti.

Plans for the Loop

This weekend at Nipton, a small historic desert town 10 miles east of I-15 near the Nevada border, the sixth-annual Friends of the Mojave Road Rendezvous will be held to unveil plans for the Ivanpah Loop and to drive a 60-mile leg of the trail.

During the get-together, off-road vehicle enthusiasts will have an opportunity to meet with officials to discuss plans for the scenic route over the remote desert terrain.

“BLM has not yet endorsed the Ivanpah Loop, but we’re not against it,” said Everell G. Hayes, Needles Resource Area manager for the bureau. “The final route has to be worked out. We have conceptionally agreed with the proponents of the route. However, we haven’t agreed to exactly where it’s going to go.”

Hayes added that although some environmental groups are opposed to any off-road vehicle use of the desert, “the BLM has always recognized motor vehicle use as a legitimate form of recreation in the desert with controls where necessary. We think this is an excellent way to utilize and enjoy the desert.”

The Ivanpah Loop is an outgrowth of the restored 130-mile Mojave Road from the Colorado River to Camp Cady, 25 miles east of Barstow. Camp Cady was established in 1860 and abandoned in 1871. The establishment of the road for use by recreational vehicles has been sanctioned by the BLM.

It was through the efforts of Dennis Casebier, 51, associate technical director of the Navy’s Fleet Analysis Center in Norco, that the Old Mojave Road--abandoned more than a century ago--was rediscovered.

Casebier spent 10 years documenting the history of the road from the 1850s through the 1880s, gathering much of his information evenings and weekends at the National Archives in the Library of Congress during business trips to the nation’s capital.

Old Wagon Trail

It took him 10 years to locate the entire length of the old wagon trail used for 30 years by Indians, explorers, soldiers, immigrant parties, prospectors and stagecoach drivers.

The Old Mojave Road followed a prehistoric Indian trail used by Father Francisco Garces in 1776, by Jedediah Strong Smith in 1826 and by pathfinders John Charles Fremont and Kit Carson.

Casebier has written and published 10 historic books about the Old Mojave Road, plus the 259-page hardcover “Guide to the Mojave Road.” The books and guide have been published by his own company, Tales of the Mojave Road, P.O. Box 307, Norco, Calif. 91760.

Casebier has lectured about the historic road to groups throughout Southern California, Arizona and Nevada. Eight years ago, a four-wheel-drive club asked him to lead a caravan along the length of the 130-mile road.

“The caravan was tied together with CB radio. As we drove down the road I described the history of the area, the plants, the animals, birds, everything,” Casebier said. In time he led many similar caravans. It was then he decided to prepare a guide to the road, which was first published in November, 1983. More than 10,000 copies of the books about the Old Mojave Road have been sold since.

In the guide are detailed historical accounts of events that transpired along the road, many written in the words of those who experienced them in the 1850s, ‘60s, ‘70s and ‘80s. Original photographs taken along the trail as early as 1863 are reproduced as well as sketches by historic expeditions. In May, 1981, interest in developing the recreational potential of the trail was formalized with the creation of a group called Friends of the Mojave Road. At that time, the mailing list of the Friends amounted to 25 people. Today, there are 1,300 on the mailing list.

There are no dues, no officers. Periodic Mojave Road reports are sent out. Casebier has been given the title of chairman of the Friends of the Mojave Road.

Friends of the Mojave Road erected small piles of local rock at every point of interest.

“There are no signs. Every effort has been made to protect the road and the desert environs. We are conservatives. Our model is to respect and preserve the desert, not to abuse it in any way,” Casebier said.

Friends of the Mojave Road call the historic trail the largest artifact in America, 10 feet wide, 130 miles long.

Sixteen of the guidebooks are available at the BLM Riverside, Barstow, Needles and Las Vegas offices for loan to persons in recreational vehicles who plan to travel and camp alongside the road. A similar guide is planned for publication by Casebier when the BLM gives final approval to the 400-mile Ivanpah Loop.