Afton Canyon

When I first heard about Afton Canyon, I was told it was the Grand Canyon of the Mojave. Well, not quite, but, even though it can't compare to the real Grand Canyon, it's still well worth visiting, and is a great jumping off point for the high deserts of southern California.
-
I ignored the no trespassing signs, and hurried across the railroad bridge, and headed off into the canyon. I've walked the length of Afton Canyon dozens of times, but on this trip, it was my intention to use one of the many side canyons to get up on the canyon rim. Staying on the access road the parallels the railroad, I walked down canyon to the next bridge. This time I didn't trespass, but walked down along the stream bed, (And yes, even though the Mojave River has been dammed for decades, there is still some water in the canyon.) and followed the canyon as it arced around a small ridge. As I neared the large curve in the river, I spotted the side canyon that I was looking for. The entrance to the canyon is easy to find. Coming down from the rim at a sharp angle, the entrance is wide, and opens up to a broad route up out of Afton Canyon. But, I was looking for another canyon the branches off to the left. A narrower, but still quite obvious route.
-
Most people when they hear "slot canyon" think of the red sandstone canyons of the southwest. The route I was taking was every bit as narrow as anything that could be found in Zion National Park, but it was carved out of thousands of years of sand and rock deposits. It would have been very easy to take a pocket knife and cut a chunk out of the canyon wall. What might look like a solid handhold, could come off with just a bit of pressure. There was one passage where I had to get down on all fours and crawl under an overhang, which seemed solid, but just after getting through that obstacle, I came to a huge piece of canyon wall that had fallen down, maybe in the last decade, maybe a hundred years ago, but was, nevertheless, a reminder that it would be possible to disappear forever, under a couple of tons of canyon wall.
-
As I neared the top of the side canyon, things began to open up and it was only a matter of choosing a spot that wasn't too step to finally get to the rim of Afton Canyon. To the north is Afton canyon, to the south is a broad valley that isn't named on the maps I have of the area. Angling a bit to the southeast, just slightly away from Afton, I soon found an old dirt road with a BLM Open Route sign. I've walked up to this area dozens of times, and even though this is an area open to off road vehicles, I've never seen one on either the rim or in the valley to the south of Afton. I wish I could write the same thing about Afton Canyon itself. There is an access road that follows along the railroad tracks that's used by four wheelers and dirt bikes. Rarely on weekdays, but often on weekends, the off road crowd roars down Afton Canyon, and even on the rim their engines can be heard. The signs clearly state that all vehicles must stay on established routes, but that's a law that's not often obeyed. Whether it's a lack of man power or a lack of interest, the BLM is not very big on enforcement.
-
I walked along the BLM road, at a few points, straying over to the rim to get good views down into the canyon bottom. After an hour or so of walking I broke south, working my way down into the unnamed valley to my right. I picked up another dirt road that went up the center of the valley and began following it as I worked my way back in the general direction of the routes I'd need to take, to get back down to my car.
-
Near the head of the valley, there is a dirt road that comes in from the south. A glance at a road map shows that the distance from Afton canyon, and I-15 to the north, isn't all that great from the Broadwell dry lake bed, and I-40 to the south. Not a quick jog over, but probably no further than 25 miles from the Afton Canyon Campground to Ludlow, in a straight line. I have been hiking in the area for years, but had never taken this road. One of the problems with hiking in the desert is that it's best done in the winter when the temperatures are cool, but the days are shorter, so any walk has to take into account walking after sunset. I looked at my watch and decided that, even if the sun went down before I made it back to the railroad access road, I would probably be in a broad, open, side canyon by then and that there shouldn't' be any chance of getting stranded in the desert at night.
-
At first, when I started off on this new route, I thought that the road was just going to arc around a small peak at the head of the valley. As it curled around the peak, I could see the same mountains that could be seen, looking east from the BLM road along the rim of Afton Canyon, but it soon broke to the southeast and followed a dry, desert wash, and then climbed over a series of low ridges, in the general direction of I-40. Over the years, I've given some thought to getting my mountain bike up in this area. Carrying it up one of the easier routes out of Afton Canyon, or finding where these roads hit pavement shouldn't be all the difficult. As I walked along, I knew that the road base was somewhat sandy, but not so loose that it would make riding impossible. I would have loved to go farther, perhaps getting high enough to see over the next ridge, but time was not on my side. I had to turn around and head back to the car.
-
I backtracked, resisting the urge to head cross country, until I got back to the road that went up the center of the broad, unnamed valley that parallels Afton Canyon. I turned left up the valley and crossed over a ridge line that was above a series of side canyons that went down to Afton. I found what looked like a path, followed along, and came to a canyon that looked promising, but I couldn't' remember ever having used it to get back down to the campground. I took it and quickly came to a series of overhangs that would have needed ropes to descend, backtracked, and found what I've always thought must have been a man made ledge. I took the clearly visible path, entered a broad, open canyon that I knew from past hikes descends to the railroad at a point about midway between the two railroad bridges. The sun was going down, and late afternoon shadows created alternate dark and light areas on the side canyon floor. I could hear trains going through Afton, and it wasn't long before I could see them, long freight trains, going towards Barstow. It was just getting dark as I opened my car door.
-
I wouldn't like to even hazard a guess as to how many miles I walked on this trip. I was out about five and a half hours and would estimate that I was walking somewhere between2 and 3 miles an hour, depending on whether I was on dirt road or not. With the backtracking involved, it's not really practical to scale things out on a map. To get to Afton Canyon from Los Angeles, go north on I-15 towards Las Vegas. There is an exit signed Afton Road about 25 miles or so north of Barstow. Pictures to posted separately.
-
I try and keep the political commentary about parks, open space, and the like to the political blog, http://www.thenewcommonsense-wjy.blogspot.com/ but for the record, I'd gladly see my tax dollars go towards rerouting the railroad out of Afton Canyon and the Mojave National Preserve. I know, it's a part of history, the railroads have been part of the western landscape for over a century...but, Afton and the Preserve are both better off with as few traces of man as possible. Let the old rail beds be turned into trails, and let the trains roll past Fort Irwin.