Amboy Crater among newest additions to National Trail System

The trail leading to the Amboy Crater extinct volcano in California’s Mojave Desert on Thursday was among 30 sites added to the National Trail System.

U.S. Secretary of the Interior David L. Bernhardt made the announcement of 1,275 miles being added to the trail system from Lake Mead National Recreation Area. That is in addition to the 375 miles of trails added in 2018.

Here’s what the news release stated about the Amboy Crater addition:

The 1.5-mile-long Amboy Crater Trail takes hikers through a sprawling lava field to the top of the iconic Amboy cinder cone volcano. The view from the 984-foot rim will awe those who take in the vastness of the Mojave Desert, where faraway cars on the desert highway appear to be miniature toys against this epic landscape.

Here’s more information about the trails system:

The National Recreation Trails program is jointly administered by the National Park Service and the U.S. Forest Service, in conjunction with a number of federal and nonprofit partners. The designation of a national recreation trail can be done by either the Secretary of the Interior or the Secretary of Agriculture on an existing local or regional trail with the consent of the federal, state, local, nonprofit or private entity that has jurisdiction over the trail.
The trail’s managing agency or organization must apply for the distinction. Each of the newly designated trails will receive a certificate of designation, a set of trail markers and a letter of recognition from Secretary Bernhardt.

Amboy Crater, located near the Route 66 village of Amboy, has been listed for decades as a National Natural Landmark and is within the recently established Mojave Trails National Monument.

It’s fun to hike into the crater, but it’s strongly recommended one does it in the early morning or during the late fall or winter. The Mojave Desert’s intense heat has killed several hikers over the past few years.

(Image of Amboy Crater near Amboy, California, via the Bureau of Land Management)

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