Afton Canyon BLM Campground

 

Since we didn’t leave Ridgecrest until 11 yesterday, and didn’t want to drive 250 miles to Las Vegas, I found a BLM campground, Afton Canyon, about 37 miles northeast of Barstow, just about halfway.

It’s a very pretty area located only 4 miles off I-15, but none of the information I found about the campground mentioned that almost the entire 4 miles are on a very washboard dirt road. That wouldn't have been so bad, but after a couple miles the wide, straight two lane road became barely one and a half lanes, with steep curves and large rocks every so often. It said there was a 35’ RV length limit, so we were a little surprised by the road.

It was a slow drive, but we made it without any problems and there were only two other campers there last night. There is a water spigot near the entrance, trash cans next to almost every site, and vault toilets. We paid $3 with the senior pass, and had a fairly good 3G connection, surprising with the surrounding canyon walls.

 Besides the road, the one big downside is that these railroad tracks sit right across from the entrance to the campsites. We only saw a few trains go by after we arrived in the afternoon, but I heard three during the night, so close and loud it caused the rig to vibrate and wake up the cats. Luckily for Jim he slept through it all.

In the absence of trains, this is a very peaceful, quiet campground with hiking just out your door. We took a little walk through a wash into the canyon as the sun was going down. Being in the Mojave Desert, it rose to the upper 80s in the afternoon, but was only 42 when I got up this morning.

Debbie’s dogs like hanging close to Jim when we hike.

Our turn around point. No climbing up this wall for us!

Debbie left early this morning to get new batteries and get hooked up at an RV park in Vegas, and we are now on the way to Red Rock Canyon. We’re looking forward to seeing our former neighbors who don’t live far from there.