Kokoweef, California - Ivanpah Mountains & Mountain Pass April 14, 2001 Home: Page 1 View maps, road map or route map for this trip. The Kokoweef area is known to be the place where a co-op of miners is trying to find the 'Cave of Black Gold'. Legend has it that in the 1930's a cave was discovered by an old prospector which led to an underground river strewn with gold nuggets. The Kokoweef Mine is an attempt to find the cave, but after 20 years and one death they still haven't found it. To travel to the Kokoweef area from Las Vegas, travel South on I-15 from Las Vegas, NV. for about 57 miles (60 minutes) to Exit 279 on Bailey Rd. at Mountain Pass. Travel South on Bailey Rd for less than a minute until it turns to a well graded dirt raod. Stay on the dirt road as it travels uphill and through several turns about 7 miles to the Kokoweef Valley. This is a view to the SE across the valley. The Ivanpah Mountains are in the background. You can also see the Kokoweef Mine just below the peak in the middle of the picture. A picture of our Polaris Sportsman 500 ATVs on a ridgeline on the West end of the Valley. The area has many well graded roads and 4x4 trails up several canyons. The area also has many abandoned mines, so to be safe stick to the roads and trails. The 4x4 trail that brought us here led to another abandoned mine in a steep cliff. On the other side of the valley we found a short 4x4 loop trail that leads through several washes and a top a high ridgeline. Here the trail overlooks the Ivanpah Valley toward the east. Many trails lead to places that overlook the Ivanpah Valley. Unfortunately dust in the air obscures the valley. The ridgeline trail eventually drops down into a sandy wash with a large grove of Joshua Trees. Most of the 4x4 trails in the washes are perfect for ATVs. The roads consist of fine granite gravel with very little dust. In one of the deeper washes, we came across a nice rocky outcropping that was tough to get over. Here Ed is in 4L to crawl over the rocks. Notice that his right front tire is about a foot of the ground. Home: Page 1 Contact the author at speleo@intermind.net Photographs and information in this website may be copied or distributed for personal use only. For other uses, express permision by the author must be given. Use of appropriate photo credits requested.