Rasor Off-Highway Vehicle Area is a remote public use area for the

off-highway vehicle An off-road vehicle, sometimes referred to as an overland or adventure vehicle, is considered to be any type of vehicle which is capable of driving on and off paved or gravel surface. It is generally characterized by having large tires with dee ...

user located in the

Mojave Desert The Mojave Desert ( ; mov, Hayikwiir Mat'aar; es, Desierto de Mojave) is a desert in the rain shadow of the Sierra Nevada mountains in the Southwestern United States. It is named for the indigenous Mojave people. It is located primarily in ...

about east of Barstow, California, 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. Headquartered in Washington DC, and with oversight over , it governs one eighth of the country's la ...

. Besides the remote nature of the area, another attraction is the historic 19th century

Mojave Road The Mojave Road, also known as Old Government Road (formerly the Mohave Trail), is a historic route and present day dirt road across what is now the Mojave National Preserve in the Mojave Desert in the United States. This rough road stretched f ...

which traverses the riding area into the Mojave National Preserve. 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. Vegetation consists of

creosote bush ''Larrea tridentata'', called creosote bush and greasewood as a plant, chaparral as a medicinal herb, and ''gobernadora'' (Spanish language, Spanish for "governess") in Mexico, due to its ability to secure more water by inhibiting the growth of n ...

scrub, some annual grasses and wild flowers.

Location

The area is located at between Interstate 15 and the Mojave National Preserve, 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

ATV ATV may refer to: Broadcasting * Amateur television *Analog television Television stations and companies * Ràdio i Televisió d'Andorra * ATV (Armenia) * ATV (Aruba), NBC affiliate * ATV (Australian TV station), Melbourne * ATV (Austria) * AT ...

s, drive

sandrail A sandrail, also called a sand rail, rail, or sand car, is a lightweight off-road motor vehicle specifically built for traveling in sandy terrain. Similar in some respects and often mistakenly referred to as a dune buggy or sand car, a sandrail i ...

s or tour the area in

four-wheel drive Four-wheel drive, also called 4×4 ("four by four") or 4WD, refers to 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 ...

vehicles. The easily accessed areas off the Rasor Road exit are used extensively for

OHV An overhead valve (OHV) engine, sometimes called a ''pushrod engine'', is a piston engine whose valves are located in the cylinder head above the combustion chamber. This contrasts with earlier flathead engines, where the valves were located bel ...

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 Amateur geology or rock collecting (also referred to as rockhounding in the United States and Canada) is the non-professional study and hobby of collecting rocks and minerals or fossil specimens from the natural environment.Sinkankas, John. Minera ...

, and plant, bird and wildlife watching. There are desert tortoise, a state and federally listed threatened species, in the riding area. There are many deep

mine shaft Shaft mining or shaft sinking is the action of excavating a mine shaft from the top down, where there is initially no access to the bottom. Shallow shafts, typically sunk for civil engineering projects, differ greatly in execution method from ...

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

habitat In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and 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 ...

, and to preserve scenic values of the Mojave River's riparian area within the canyon. The Rasor Off-Highway Vehicle Area establishment and use has begun to reverse the heavy off-road vehicles 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 A phreatophyte is a deep-rooted plant that obtains a significant portion of the water that it needs from the phreatic zone (zone of saturation) or the capillary fringe above the phreatic zone. Phreatophytes are plants that are supplied with surfa ...

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 A creative work is a manifestation of creative effort including fine artwork (sculpture, paintings, drawing, sketching, performance art), dance, writing (literature), filmmaking, ...

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