Rainbow Basin

Northwest of Barstow is one of the most beautiful and mysterious places on the Mojave: Rainbow Basin. It's a mishmash of shapes, colors and surreal formations. The logic of water and wind has worked magic here, eroding layers of sandstone and sediment to expose brilliant colors and formations that change moment by moment, casting tall shadows deep into canyons and cuts. It is surreal, other-worldly, a land that can't possibly exist on the same planet that holds forests and lakes and lush meadows.

It doesn't look like a canyon or even a basin, but it's called both. Rainbow Basin is a gash in a mountain wall that exposes the eons in splashes of color and layered waves of stone. Somehow, it remains virtually undiscovered. Not a single Information Center, Interpretive Center, or even a tourist-trap-gift-shop mars the presence of these magnificent natural edifices.

There are some man-signs around, however. The Bureau of Land Management built a road through the basin, a one-way path that winds through narrow gorges and gouges. It's unpaved and inoffensive.

The plant life is sparse: a little grass, a small Joshua, the dried remains of a desert wildflower. On the top of the canyon walls, on the hills forming the sides of the basin, stand many Joshuas, standing guard over the mountain like warrior sentinels.

With each turn in the roadway something new, something stunningly simple or incomprehensibly complex hangs over the roadway, each more colorful and fascinating than before. According to the experts, this was once a lush marsh and the home of many prehistoric creatures. Miocene horses, camels, mastodons, saber tooth cats and a million insects once lived in this valley. Their remains are hidden in the canyon walls, buried in the mud of time, found by us in our moment of time. Many of the fossils found in Rainbow Basin are now on display in museums around the country. So many were discovered here that the geologists have named the Barstovian Stage as the period of time that these animals, which are now extinct, whose ancestors now live in Africa, roamed the North American continent.

Rainbow Basin is northwest of Barstow.  Here's a BLM map. While the road to the basin is not paved, 4 wheel drive is not needed; the road is bladed and well-maintained. In Barstow, take old Route 58 to Fort Irwin Road, proceed north, then turn left on Fossil Bed Road and follow the BLM signs. It's a place not to be missed. And, be sure to bring lots of storage media for your camera.

For additional information, visit the BLM website at http://www.blm.gov/ca/barstow/basin.html. Current information about camping (available at Owl campground nearby) and desert safety are available here.

The BLM advises that within this Area of Critical Environmental Concern, routes are posted with "open" route markers. Use of passenger vehicles and four-wheel drive vehicles is permitted only on designated and signed open routes. Off-highway vehicle use (e.g. ATVs) is not allowed in the Rainbow Basin area or at Owl Canyon Campground. Keep in mind that permits are needed to remove any fossils. There are many places where you can get stranded or lost in this area. Be sure to tell someone where you are going and when you expect to return. Bring sufficient water, food, clothing, equipment, and first aid supplies for your activity.

Additional photos of Rainbow Basin are posted in our art gallery.