Route 66! Part XI: The Amboy Crater

As one is traveling on Route 66 from Ludlow towards Needles, one passes, without realizing it, places where there used to be small outposts.  Bagdad.  Klondike.  Siberia.  I've seen pictures of signs indicating where these once were but I either missed them on both my trips or they're not there anymore.  It is a part of 66 that is desolate, that out-in-the-middle-of-nowhere road in the Mojave desert.  Yet the desert does possess a beauty all of her own; each desert having its own signature characteristic that no other desert has.  The Mojave Desert is no exception to this statement.

Right out in the middle of that desert along the Main Street of America is a geological formation that is a stopping place along that long journey.  It is the Amboy Crater, which is now maintained by the Bureau of Land Management.  I stopped there in 2011 to take these photos which you're now about to see, and I stopped there again with Sheila last July so that she could see it too.

This is a view of Route 66 looking towards the west.  A lava field is visible on the left half of the photo while my favorite highway is on the right.  The road surface you see here is pretty much typical of that stretch between Ludlow and where it joins I-40 some 30 miles or so east of Needles.

In the distance, the Amboy Crater, a long-inactive volcano.  There is now a road to a visitors center which looks like it was constructed recently.  

Lava outcroppings like this are elsewhere in San Bernardino County.  I've seen some along US95, south of Needles.  

A somewhat closer view of the Amboy Crater.  If you're up to it, you can hike to the rim, though this would not be advisable during the summer unless you're in good shape and can carry plenty of water with you.  

And another view, panning to the left.  That particular November day was beautiful.  The temperature was about 75 degrees and the sun was out.  When we were there in July it was hotter but overcast.  

Panning a little further to the left again.  

This view is looking towards the northeast.  In the distance is Amboy.

Back to Amboy Crater, with a view to my right.

This is looking back to the parking lot.  A BNSF locomotive and train are in the distance.

At the unmanned visitor's center is this plaque.  

Here's a shot of the 66 shield in the roadway, at the entrance to the Amboy Crater, taken on 7/16/13.  

A few miles down the road from here is Amboy itself, which will be the subject of the next posting.