Explore Mojave Desert Lava Tube, Mojave National Preserve, California

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Mojave Desert Lava Tube is located in Mojave National Preserve. To get to the lava tube in Mojave National Preserve, drive up Kelbaker Road about 15 miles north from the Kelso Depot and turn right (northeast) onto Aiken Mine Road. This dirt road is unmarked and easy to miss. After about five miles, take the left fork and shortly thereafter arrive at a parking area. From the parking area, walk uphill on a very rough roadway about 300 yards to a rock cairn (may not be visible) or metal post marking a beaten path toward a cinder cone to the east (right). This trail leads to the lava tube entrance. Climb up the short trail to the lava tube entrance, where there is a ten-foot-long steel ladder to climb down into the tube itself. The tube extends for maybe a hundred feet. Most of which is walkable, but there is one short stretch where the ceiling is only about three feet above the floor, which can be crawled through. On the other side of the crawl space are several vents to the surface that let the afternoon light pass through, creating the “shafts of light” effect. In winter the sun angle is low and only two of the shafts are visible. Later in the year, when the sun is higher in the sky, the shafts would be closer to vertical, and there might be three or four. Bring a flashlight! The lava tube is not maintained by the National Park Service. Enter at your own risk.

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