This introductory tour is a nice mixture of the historic, geologic and botanical high desert attractions with a peek (only) at the infamous black diamond 4WD trails, the Hammers.

WHAT: For this 1-day backcountry drive, we'll use mild dirt roads through both the spring bloom and drier fall and unique attractions in the high desert surrounding Lucerne Valley. We’ll kick off with a trip back into history as we drive in and around World War II practice bomb craters in Means Dry Lake. Next, we’ll stop at "Jackhammer," one of the toughest hardcore trails in the world! If we’re lucky, we’ll find some jeepers there to demonstrate the finesse required to negotiate such trails. We’ll then trek over to an impressive Landers earthquake fault uplifting (6-foot vertical by 50-foot horizontal) before heading for lunch at some awesome Indian rock art (petroglyphs).  Depending on timing, we may stop at a geoglyph site (rock arrangements) as we view a giant cinder cone. Our last attraction is a cluster of ancient Mojave yucca "clone circles," the largest of which is at least 2,500 years old and 12 feet in diameter.