I grew up a couple blocks away from a debris catch basin. As a kid I rode all around it on my bicycle, but when the rains came we all knew to stay off the little 'playa' created by the dam. The first time you walk out on what looks like dry playa only break thru the top crust and then have your shoe so stuck in the goo that you step out of it is pretty educational! I wore lace-up boots for the rest of grade school by mom's requirement after that.
There is only one known to me firm bottomed water crossing in all of the Mojave, The West end of Afton Cyn. And that is only because either the BLM or the RR (I suspect the latter) periodically dump rocks and gravel in it, which was recently done as it is no longer ~3' deep. I consider any others that are damp or more to be bottomless quagmires to stay out of.
As I recall the rule for camping off West Side Rd is that you have to be at least a mile up any of the DVNP maintained spur roads. They're all on alluvial flows and are pretty exposed for several to many miles, and I've never experienced them to be graded nearly as nice as West Side Rd is.
Edited by ntsqd, 06 February 2021 - 04:20 PM.
