Cuddeback Dry Lake
About ten miles southeast of the old mining town of Red Mountain, California, is Cuddeback Dry Lake. It is a ways southwest of Death Valley, but was once on the 165 mile route of the renowned twenty mule teams that hauled borax from the Harmony Borax Works north of Furnace Creek to Mojave, California. About seven miles south of Red Mountain on Highway 395, the famous borax route crosses the pavement.
If this old dirt road is driven northeast, Cuddeback Dry Lake will be encountered in roughly eight miles. Nearby is the USAF Cuddeback Gunnery Range impact area, which restricts travel to certain places, and the road is no longer navigable all the way to Death Valley due to other military closures.
If the road is driven southwest from Highway 395, it leads to Mojave, but whether it crosses private property prohibiting further progress is unknown. To solve this mystery, we must get out here and actually give it a try. The roadbed is well-worn and wide, an easy drive for just about any vehicle (or so it seems, as one peers to the southwest towards Mojave). Anyone familiar if this goes through? Comments welcome …
20 Mule Team Rd from California City to Cuddeback Lake is open and very easily navigated in a 2wd vehicle. I am not aware of any private property inhibiting travel. I have taken this route from California City straight through to Cuddeback countless times. On my trips to Cuddeback I usually return via Hoffman Rd from the lake bed to Atolia thru Red Mountian into Randsburg and then out the back of Randsburg to Randsburg Mojave Rd and back into California City. Look at a mapping program and you will see that this makes a very neat loop starting and ending in California City.
May 21, 2009 at 6:03 am
Thanks very much Irish Motorsports for the update to this post. I have always wondered if it went through, having never taken it very far. It is quite a feeling to know that only time separates travelers of the road today from the creaking twenty mule teams of yesteryear! Yes, that is a nice loop you have described. There is much in the way of exploratory landscape around Randsburg. Take care, and thanks for visiting! – Steve
May 21, 2009 at 10:00 am
20 Mule Team Rd runs from the main drag in Cal City to the 395. It’s easily navigated in a regular car. It’s asphalt most of the way with about the last 3 miles (to the 395) being dirt. The land on either side is within the Cal City limits and could be private or city land. At the 395, cross the highway to get to Cuddeback.
October 21, 2010 at 6:39 am
I was able to travel Southwest out of California City towards Mojave on (what appears on a map to be) the old 20-mule team route. It is interupted by Hwy 58, but then continues until you reach the Mojave airport.
January 29, 2012 at 7:18 pm
Spent many a day during 1966/1968 when I was in the USAF at the Cuddeback Gunnery/Bombing range watching various USAF aircraft use the range facilities.
March 7, 2012 at 3:57 pm