Rasor Off-Highway Vehicle Area is a remote public use area for the off-highway vehicle user located in the

Mojave Desert The Mojave Desert (; ; ) is a desert in the rain shadow of the southern Sierra Nevada mountains and Transverse Ranges in the Southwestern United States. Named for the Indigenous peoples of the Americas, indigenous Mohave people, it is located pr ...

about east of

Barstow, California Barstow is a city in San Bernardino County, California, in the Mojave Desert of Southern California. Located in the Inland Empire region of California, the population was 25,415 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Barstow is an impor ...

, administered by the

Bureau of Land Management The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is an agency within the United States Department of the Interior responsible for administering federal lands, U.S. federal lands. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., the BLM oversees more than of land, or one ...

. Besides the remote nature of the area, another attraction is the historic 19th century Mojave Road which traverses the riding area into the

Mojave National Preserve Mojave National Preserve is a United States National Preserve located in the Mojave Desert of San Bernardino County, California, US, between Interstate 15 in California, Interstate 15 and Interstate 40. The preserve was established October 31, ...

. Rasor has rolling hills, open valleys, and sand dunes that invite riders willing to travel through this remote area. Elevations range from near elevation down to around elevation at the

Mojave River The Mojave River is an intermittent river in the eastern San Bernardino Mountains and the Mojave Desert in San Bernardino County, California, United States. Most of its flow is underground, while its surface channels remain dry most of the ti ...

. Vegetation consists of

creosote bush ''Larrea tridentata'', called creosote bush, greasewood, and chaparral is a medicinal herb. In Sonora, it is more commonly called ''hediondilla''; Spanish ''hediondo'' = "smelly". It is a flowering plant in the family Zygophyllaceae. The specific ...

scrub, some annual grasses and wild flowers.

Location

The area is located at between

Interstate 15 Interstate 15 (I-15) is a major Interstate Highway in the Western United States, running through Southern California and the Intermountain West. I-15 begins near the Mexican border in San Diego County and stretches north to Alberta, Ca ...

and the

, about southwest of Baker. Access roads are Basin Road and Rasor Road east of the I-15. Both of these roads are graded dirt roads.

Activities

Most visitors ride motorcycles or ATVs, drive sandrails or tour the area in

four-wheel drive A four-wheel drive, also called 4×4 ("four by four") or 4WD, is a two-axled vehicle drivetrain capable of providing torque to all of its wheels simultaneously. It may be full-time or on-demand, and is typically linked via a transfer case pr ...

vehicles. The easily accessed areas off the Rasor Road exit are used extensively for OHV and sand rail staging and play. Due to the remoteness of the area, there have been no requests for competitive event permits, leaving this area exclusively for casual riders. There are many opportunities for hiking, rock scrambling, rockhounding, and plant, bird and wildlife watching. There are

desert tortoise The desert tortoise (''Gopherus agassizii'') is a species of tortoise in the Family (biology), family Testudinidae. The species is native to the Mojave Desert, Mojave and Sonoran Deserts of the southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico ...

, a state and federally listed threatened species, in the riding area. There are many deep mine shafts in the riding area. Camping is allowed anywhere within the riding area that does not block travel on a road.

Afton Canyon Natural Area

Th
Afton Canyon Natural Area
managed by the

, is located where the

surfaces due to bedrock. Afton Canyon is designated as an Area of Critical Environmental Concern to protect plant and wildlife

habitat In ecology, habitat refers to the array of resources, biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species' habitat can be seen as the physical manifestation of its ...

, and to preserve scenic values of the Mojave River's

riparian A riparian zone or riparian area is the interface between land and a river or stream. In some regions, the terms riparian woodland, riparian forest, riparian buffer zone, riparian corridor, and riparian strip are used to characterize a ripar ...

area within the canyon. The Rasor Off-Highway Vehicle Area establishment and use has begun to reverse the heavy

off-road vehicle An off-road vehicle (ORV), also known as an off-highway vehicle (OHV), overland vehicle or adventure vehicle, is a type of transportation specifically engineered to navigate unpaved roads and surfaces. These include trails, forest roads, and ...

s use and damage that occurred in the riverbed and canyon. Restoration projects are ongoing, and have already brought the river's "proper functioning condition" from a "non-functioning" to a "functioning at risk" status. The objectives of the ambitious restoration project are to control exotic plants, particularly the phreatophyte Saltcedar - Tamarix (primarily '' Tamarix ramosissima'' and ''T. parviflora''), and restoring critical desert California native plant community "structural elements" for a functioning flora and fauna habitat.BLM
accessed June 20, 2010 BLM

Public domain The public domain (PD) consists of all the creative work to which no Exclusive exclusive intellectual property rights apply. Those rights may have expired, been forfeited, expressly Waiver, waived, or may be inapplicable. Because no one holds ...

source

Notes

References

BLM
{{authority control Mojave Desert Protected areas of San Bernardino County, California Bureau of Land Management areas in California

Location

Activities

Afton Canyon Natural Area

See also

Notes

References