Mohave National Preserve

So we went on a trip to the Mohave natural preserve, with the idea that we were going to see Mitchell caverns, the only limestone cavern in the CA park system. Based on some of the pictures it looked like a mini Carlsbad cavern, so I was very excited. Of course, the first thing to greet us after the four hour drive was this...


The caverns had been closed since December of last year for 'maintenance', supposedly to re-open in October... So we decided to drive around and see what else there was to offer, hoping to see some neat fossils that we had heard might be around the area.

There was a nice stand of Joshua trees on our drive...


and some other nice pockets of desert flora...


After a confusing talk with the rangers at Kelso station, we (and the rangers) finally learned where the fossil sponges were located, from their on-call geologist. While not much to look at, it was still something that I had never seen.


There was also some evidence of modern life too...


And of course, the Kelso dunes themselves...


All and all an okay trip. I was definitely disappointed about the caves, and would have planned a trip to Joshua Tree National Park instead if I had known ahead of time. What was really nice about the trip was the people. The rangers were very willing to chat, and helps us find places to see, or places that were at least open...