Off-Roads trails in Southern California offer interesting views of the deserts.

Bradshaw Trail

The first road through Riverside County was blazed by William Bradshaw in 1862, as an overland stage route beginning at San Bernardino and ending at La Paz, AZ (now Ehrenberg, AZ). The trail was used extensively between 1862 and 1877 to haul miners and other passengers to the gold fields at La Paz. The trail is a 65 mile graded road that traverses mostly public land between the Chuckwalla Mountains and the Chocolate Mountain Aerial Gunnery Range. The trail offers spectacular views of the Chuckwalla Bench, Orocopia Mountains, Chuckwalla Mountains and the Palo Verde Valley. More on the trail.

Mojave Road

Perhaps the best treasure in eastern California's Mojave National Preserve is a pair of tracks that cross the middle of it. This famous trail is the Mojave Road, one of the early routes that brought American pioneers to California. This trail is unique in that for most of this 138 mile stretch it is in much the same condition as the pioneers would have found it, and a lot of the trail passes through country that is virtually unchanged since prehistoric times. The road bisects the Preserve, wandering from waterhole to waterhole, and is mostly a 4-wheel-drive trail. More on the road