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Who are we?

The Desert Explorers is a four-wheel drive (4WD) group within the Mojave River Valley Museum Association. Trips, normally at least once a month, focus on sightseeing (rather than "rock crawling") and often include an optional hike to explore mines, petroglyph or pictograph sites, old emigrant trails, or other points of interest. On a trip, we camp out wherever nightfall catches us. Children (and friendly dogs with the leader's permission) are welcome on most trips. Each trip announcement normally includes the planned itinerary, vehicle requirements, and special notices, such as skill rating, if appropriate. Very wide vehicles or those with 120-inch or longer wheelbases are not suitable for some trips. Check with the trip leader if you have questions.

We are now on FACEBOOK: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Desert-Explorers/199131753466338

To go on trips, you must be a member of the Mojave River Valley Museum (MRVM) Association. A Desert Explorer is a Museum member who participates in the trips or subscribes to the optional Desert Explorers Newsletter.

See the Desert Explorers Subscription Application Form and the Mojave River Valley Museum Association Application Form for detailed information. Print and mail the completed forms with separate checks to the addresses shown on the Application Forms.

Trips are scheduled by the trip leaders and posted in the newsletter first, and then, later, in the Calendar and Future Trips pages of this website.

Be sure to check out our past trips! We've been all over the western United States, and as far as Mongolia and Peru.

Please read our "fine print" (policies) before you join us for your first trip.

General Meetings of the Desert Explorers are held approximately bi-monthly.  All current and prospective Desert Explorers are welcome to attend the General Meetings. Dates and locations are in the newsletter mailed to each subscriber's home and in the Calendar page of this website.

The Desert Explorers has an annual Rendezvous in interesting desert locations, featuring guest speakers on a variety of intriguing subjects.

Current Status of Future Trips

Our trips have resumed after a hiatus due to COVID restrictions. We are currently rebuilding our trip calender.  If you can lead a trip, even if it's your first time, WE NEED YOU!  Contact trip coordinator Bob Jacoby.

If you take a trip on your own, please share your experience by writing it up and sending it with photos to the Newsletter editor. Other Desert Explorers can enjoy the arm chair safari and live vicariously through your experience.

Coming Up

Sat Jun 10
Forest Service Road 1N09
Sat Jun 17 @11:00AM - 02:00PM
General Meeting
Wed Jun 21
Mojave Road
Wed Jul 12
Monument Peak
Fri Aug 18
White Mountains
Fri Sep 22
Coolgardie Region
Thu Oct 12
Gold Butte National Monument Exploration
Sun Oct 15 @ 8:00AM - 05:00PM
Paradise Mountains Gold Butte Post trip

Welcome!

November 2022

  • Steve & JoJo Miller of Newberry Springs, CA

December 2022

  • Stephen & Storm ThurstonKeller of Ventura, CA
  • Steve Durkee of Culver City, CA

April 2023

  • Bill & Barbara Gossett - welcome back

In Memory of

  • Tom White 
  • Gene Olsen
  • Walt Wheelock
  • Tom Church
  • Bob Martin
  • Bill Ott - passed July 10, 2004
  • Bill "Shortfuse" Mann -Passed August 2006
  • Dwight Stroud - passed January 19, 2007
  • Lorene Crawford - Passed August 2009
  • Alan Romspert - Passed August 19, 2009
  • Don Putnam - November 5, 1916 to August 14, 2012
  • Jim Proffitt - March 21, 1941 to September 1, 2012
  • Reda Anderson - passed October 25, 2012
  • Rick Cords - May 1944 to February 1, 2014
  • "Sir" Bob Rodemeyer - December 1950 to November 11, 2014
  • John Fulton - July 5, 1937 to February 15, 2015
  • Marilyn Martin - November 19, 1929 -  June 20, 2015
  • John Page - passed September 8, 2015
  • Gary Preston - passed February 24, 2016
  • Ted Kalil - passed in 2016
  • Jerry Etchison - passed in December 2016
  • Jerry Harada - passed on August 6, 2017
  • Gene Stoops - passed on Sept 2, 2017
  • Graham "Coop" Cooper - March 31,1944 to November 22, 2017
  • Charles Hughes - passed on May 19,2018
  • Nan Healy Savage - passed on July 9, 2018
  • Maybelle Lipking - August 2,1925 to August 9, 2018
  • Dick Taylor 
  • Bob Bolin - passed in November 2019
  • Neal Johns - January 19, 1931 to December 27, 2019
  • David Mott - 1946 to July 2020
  • Betty Wallin - passed April 24, 2021
  • Dr. Allen Schoenherr - passed on May 31, 2021
  • Jerry DuPree - passed on July 21,2021
  • Homer Meek - October 6, 1926 to July 29, 2021
  • Axel Heller - passed on December 8, 2021
  • Dan Messersmith - 1947 to October 27, 2022
  • Ann Fulton - passed in June 2022
  • Joe Pizzitola - passed on December 13, 2022
  • Myrtie Keddy - passed on April 17, 2023

"Happy Trails To You, Until We Meet Again..."