slgwv's photos with the keyword: Afton Canyon

A piece of bent and twisted railroad track, swept away in a flood down the normally dry Mojave River. Here the watercourse is opening out from Afton Canyon into the Soda Lake Basin, the nominal sump of the river. Occasionally floods such as this will turn a large part of the basin into a temporary lake. The dark green shrubs along the wash are mesquite.

In young, barely consolidated conglomerates. South side of Afton Canyon, Mojave Desert, Caifornia. They look inviting to explore, but I didn't have time--

Mojave River, in Afton Canyon, Mojave desert, California. Even tho the river is usually dry thru here, the shallow bedrock locally forces water to the surface, where it is of disproportionate importance to wildlife. The area also illustrates the hodgepodge of Hispanic, Native American, and Anglo-Celtic-North European names so typical of California and the US West generally. "Mojave" is a Hispanicized spelling of the local Native American tribe. "Afton" canyon obviously has little to do with the original river in Scotland; evidently it was named after a nearby, now-deserted watering stop on the Union Pacific Railroad. Per Wikipedia, FWIW, Robert Burns's poem led to a number of places being named "Afton" in the US.

Along the (usually) dry Mojave River in the middle of the Mojave Desert, California, on its route between Los Angeles and Las Vegas. This was the original route between L.A. and Salt Lake City, built in 1905. Las Vegas as a city owes its founding to construction of the railroad; the railroad located a settlement there because of a large spring ("las vegas" = "the meadows" in Spanish), and the city now celebrates this as its founding. For the first couple of decades of existence Vegas was a little railroad town--only the construction of nearby Hoover (Boulder) Dam in the 1930s started its explosive growth in the 20th century. The Mojave rises in the San Bernardino Mountains east of L.A. and flows northeast out into the desert. The canyon is of disproportionate importance to wildlife because the shallow bedrock locally forces water to the surface. Vehicle traffic thru the canyon is now effectively blocked because of several deep fords--even with my Jeep I didn't try them!

Some historical background that may be of interest: This is the original route of the Los Angeles & Salt Lake Railroad, built in 1905, between those cities. Las Vegas, Nevada, owes its existence as a city to this construction; in 1905, lots were platted and sold along the railroad line at what's now the intersection of Fremont and Main streets. Las Vegas now counts this as its founding, and even had a centennial celebration in 2005. Previously Las Vegas ("The Meadows" in Spanish, due to a large spring) had only been a stop on the Old Spanish Trail and counted only a handful of inhabitants at a couple of ranches. The railroad located a station there because of the spring, which furnished water for the locomotives. So, Las Vegas began its existence as a little railroad town! It remained so until the 1930s, when the construction of Hoover (Boulder) Dam on the Colorado River started its explosive growth in the 20th century. The Mojave River flows thru Afton Canyon, and usually has surface water here because the shallow bedrock forces it to the surface. It's thus an unexpected oasis in the desert. The Mojave rises in the San Bernadino Mountains on the eastern margin of the Los Angeles basin.

About to cross the Mojave River; which actually has surface water thru here.