A night at Kelso Dunes, Mojave National Preserve - "a flashing beacon to guide them"

We exited I-40 and drove North on Kelbaker Road.

Turned left at the sign.

Set up camp about a mile from the dunes at the end of the road.

Later in the afternoon shadows grew long.

A single figure on top of the main dune.

The last light of day on the Providence Mountains.

A flag to welcome the approaching Explorers.

Around 8:30 PM lights from two vehicles appeared in the distance.

90 minutes later 12 families had arrived and set up camp in the darkness.

At 11PM the Explorers hiked into the dunes toward the high-point. Everyone hiked together on the way to the top but took many different routes on their return. Isabella was the first to the summit. I placed a flashing beacon on top of our camper to guide the hikers home. While out in the dunes I met a young man named Osie from Sandy Valley now living in Las Vegas. The next week he sent me an email with a link to a story about his visit to the Kelso Dunes.

Dawn.

I walked down the road to visit the other campsites.

The smell of pancakes was in the air.

Soon out on the dunes morning was turning to day.

Six members of our group walked out to a steep slope and surfed the sand with Ryan's boogie board.

A yellow bunny was sighted near the Gleason camp.

By 11AM we were all headed home.

The potholed pavement of Kelbaker Road led us south to I-40.

We stopped at the Sonic Drive-in in Victorville for lunch.

And discovered some Explorers had the same idea.