Mojave National Preserve
Kelso / Cima Dome · near Baker / Nipton · California Desert
Stargazing
At a glance
- Best season
- Fall–spring; summer heat harsh; go near new moon
What is here
- Highlights
- milky-way · astrophoto
- Landscape
- desert
- Amenities
- Kelso Dunes & Cima Dome foregrounds · Bortle 1–2 darkness · Hole-in-the-Wall & Mid Hills campgrounds · Vast, empty desert solitude
- Best for
- Deep, empty desert darkness
- Features
- Among SoCal's darkest skies · Kelso Dunes & Joshua tree forests · Cinder cones & lava foregrounds · Huge, empty solitude
Worth knowing
- Hazards
- Remote & vast — carry water, fuel & food; little cell service · Summer heat harsh — visit cooler months · Cold nights; long dirt roads to some sites · Self-sufficient travel essential
- Beginner friendly
- No
Stargazing detail
- Designation
- informal
- Reach
- moderate
- Darkness
- 5
- Sky notes
- 1.6 million acres of deeply dark, empty desert between LA and Vegas — Joshua tree forests, singing sand dunes at Kelso, and cinder cones under Bortle 1–2 skies, one of the darkest and emptiest corners of Southern California
- Stats note
- ~Bortle 1–2; 1.6M acres; Kelso Dunes, Cima Dome Joshua tree forest & cinder cones
- Campground
- Yes
- Intl tip
- 1.6 million acres of wild, empty desert between LA and Vegas — one of Southern California's darkest, most solitary stargazing regions (~Bortle 1–2). Dramatic astrophoto foregrounds: the singing Kelso Dunes, the world's largest Joshua tree forest at Cima Dome, and volcanic cinder cones, all under a blazing Milky Way. Genuinely remote — minimal services, big distances, spotty cell, long dirt roads to some sites. Travel self-sufficiently (water, fuel, food), dress for cold nights, visit cooler months. Campgrounds at Hole-in-the-Wall and Mid Hills.
The guide
Mojave National Preserve, 1.6 million acres of wild, empty desert sprawling between Los Angeles and Las Vegas, is one of the da…
In the Guidebook
Everything above is yours for free. The written guide to Mojave National Preserve — what it is actually like, and what we would tell a friend before they went — comes with the Guidebook.
Getting there
- Coordinates
- 35.14, -115.65