The Mojave River rises in the San Bernadino Mountains of southern California and flows north and east into the Mojave Desert, one of the driest and hottest areas in the United States. Its nominal endpoint is Soda Lake, a normally dry saline basin near Baker, California. Little wonder that water flows all along the Mojave’s course only during the most extraordinary flood years! There is one unexpected place where perennial surface water always occurs along the Mojave, however: Afton Canyon, located less than 20 miles from the river’s ultimate sump…
