Archive for Road Trips 4wd

Pumpkin Patch – Anza-Borrego

Trip Date: March 2009

The Pumpkin Patch

The Pumpkin Patch

Located just east of the Anza-Borrego State Park boundary is a unique geologic phenomenon known as the Pumpkin Patch. Here, you’ll find a patch of land, roughly the size of an average city block, covered with spherically-shaped rocks that are all the size of an average pumpkin.

The surrounding desert terrain is very consistent, with its soft rolling sandy hills covered with creosote bushes. It is the same terrain that you’ll pass for several miles after leaving the pavement of Hwy S-22. To finally reach and see this collection of round boulders strewn in just this small area is really quite a sight to see.
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Aiken Cinder Mine

Trip Date: May 2006

Once a bustling, modern mining operation, the operators of this mine abruptly shut it down in 1990 and walked away – leaving all of their equipment behind. Today, that leftover equipment is one of the interesting things about this site, as well as being able to walk into the center of a volcanic cinder cone.

Aiken Cinder Mine

Aiken Cinder Mine

Aiken Cinder Mine is located in the heart of the Mojave National Preserve of California.  It is several miles of well-traveled Interstate 15 (I-15) which is the main highway between Las Vegas and Los Angeles.  Aiken Cinder Mine is accessed from the dirt Aiken Mine Road which traverses the Mojave National Preserve between Cima Road and Kelbaker Road.

To read more about this trip, see our main article on the Aiken Cinder Mine.

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