Location of the Desert Studies Center

How to Get to the Desert Studies Center

The California State University, Desert Studies Center is located between Barstow and Las Vegas at Soda Springs in California (60 miles east of Barstow, eight miles southwest of Baker ). To reach the Center, take I-15 (the Mojave Freeway) to Zzyzx Road. Drive south on Zzyzx Road four miles to the Center. Zzyzx Road is paved for most of its length and should be driven slowly. Watch for Big Horn Sheep.

Click on a yellow rectangle for an enlarged map of that area.

Map of routes to DSC

The Area

The Center is situated on the shore of Soda Dry Lake at an elevation of 237 meters (938 feet) and at the western edge of the Mojave National Preserve. As such it serves as a convenient departure point for groups visiting the Death Valley National Park, the Kelso Dunes, the Afton Canyon riparian areas, the Cima Dome and Volcanic area, the historic Mojave Road, the Early Man Site at Calico, the Providence, New York, Granite, and Clark mountains, and many other interesting features and localities in the East Mojave Desert.

Cinder cone along State highway 127