The Road -- Sand Dunes Highway 93

From Desert Sand Dunes, Alamo Road heads north for 11.6 miles before bending northeast (3 miles) to pass through gaps in the East Pahranagat Range. The road descends 4.3 miles to the west edge of Pahranagat Valley. Following north 1.8 miles along the edge of the marsh, the road reaches Pahranagat NWR Visitor Center and shortly beyond reaches the pavement at Highway 93, for a total of 69.8 miles from Corn Creek.

This part of the road is graded from time to time and usually is suitable for high-clearance vehicles. After storms, however, the road can be washed at any of the many places where the road crosses washes.

This part of Alamo Road provides access to campsites, grand scenery, and the pavement at Highway 93.

Link to map. See Alamo Road for GPS coordinates.

Beyond the dunes, Alamo Road climbs the gentle bajada heading north. Here, the road is straight and tends to be pretty good with only a few bits of excitement in the roadway. For people wanting to camp, there are some nice patches of desert pavement on the right that provide clean, low-impact campsites as long as people drive slowly and don't churn up the desert pavement. The pebbles make for a clean camping surface, but they cover dusty desert soils.

Continuing north, Alamo Road passes a service road (Site 0542) on the left that angles back towards the playa. There were no signs in December 2017, but this road should be marked as closed to the public (we don't want to stray onto the bombing range).

Beyond the service road left, Alamo Road bends a bit right and begins the long climb towards a low spot on the crest of the East Pahranagat Range (essentially an extension of the Sheep Range). The road becomes a bit rough in this area and partly runs in a wash where the sand and gravel can be a bit deep, but probably not deep enough to cause problems for those who can get this far.

Alamo Road passes a now-closed side road to the right (55.7 miles out), then runs up along the edge of a bluff on the left. Passing the toe of the bluff, the road bends left and climbs a short, rocky section that is the worst part of the road north of the playa, but again this isn't a big problem and is only worth mentioning because the rest of the road is so good.

The road trends northeast winding across open country, then takes aim at white volcanic cliffs. The road approaches the cliffs, bends left, and climbs through a narrow canyon bordered by white cliffs to a highpoint on a ridge. This is the highest point on the road (4,260 ft). Note the graffiti on the right: names scratched into the cliff -- don't do this!

The crest of the ridge provides nice views northwards through the next valley, which the road follows down at moderate grades to the next road intersection (Site 0493).

Alamo Road stays right, but the left connects with Badger Valley Road to the north, and can be used to drive out to Tikaboo Peak, to Highway 93 (just north of Pahranagat NWR visitor center), or to Alamo via the Shooting Gallery (an outpost of Basin and Range National Monument). Staying right, Alamo Road quickly passes the other leg of the Badger Valley Road triangle intersection and heads east following a sandy wash into a fairly narrow canyon.

Alamo Road winds down the sandy canyon, and in passing a toe of a rocky hill on the right, passes an obscure side road to the left (0.5 miles from Badger Valley Road). My vehicle GPS indicated that I should turn left onto the obscure road, but the obvious main road stays right, so did I too. This turns out to be a GPS-map error -- be forewarned.

Staying right on the main road, Alamo Road continues eastward down the sandy track. The toe of the rocky ridge on the right provides nice afternoon shade (the first all day). The road continues into the full sun, and shortly a parking corral (Site 1541) comes into view. Here, a service road forks right through a gate and runs out to a guzzler visible ahead in the distance, while Alamo Road bends left to climb into the next sandy canyon.

When the canyon bends to the right (about 0.6 miles from the parking corral), my GPS indicated that "Alamo Road," from the left, rejoins the "unnamed road" that I had been on. However, there is no road to the left here. This is the other end of the GPS-map error, but at least the GPS now says I'm back on Alamo Road.

Continuing east, Alamo Road bends right and climbs onto a low ridge where a short spur road to the right the climbs onto the crest of a low hill. This hilltop provides a nice overlook to stop, get out, stretch the legs, and take in the grand view to the south. Somewhat unexpectedly, this turns out to be the crest of the East Pahranagat Range.

Heading east past the overlook, Alamo Road begins the long descent down the east side of the East Pahranagat Range. The limestone mountains here are overlain by volcanic-ash tuffs, and these softer rocks have eroded into wild and fascinating cliffs full of holes and other odd erosional patterns.

Eventually, Alamo Road passes through a fence at a cattle guard with a Desert National Wildlife Range (NWR) boundary sign (Site 1878) on the hillside to the left. This is the old boundary of the National Wildlife Refuge, but the area was expanded, and the boundary now is coincident with the boundary of Pahranagat National Wildlife Refuge (several miles to the east).

Alamo Road continues down the canyon, winding back and forth in the wash between wild erosion patterns in the stone on the left and layered volcanic rocks on the right. Eventually, the canyon walls lay back and the Pahranagat Valley opens to the east with what appears to be a gentle glide down towards Highway 93.

Somewhat unexpectedly, however, Alamo Roads hooks hard to the left and climbs out of the wash onto higher terrain heading north. The road continues to do this -- trend down to the east, then hooking back to the west -- several times before finally arriving at the edge of Pahranagat Marsh. A parking area (Site 0492) with information signs welcomes northbound drivers to Pahranagat NWR while only "No shooting next 72 miles" and "warning hazardous conditions" signs greet drivers heading south.

Now heading north along the edge of Pahranagat Marsh (Middle Marsh), Alamo Road follows outside the boundary fence until passing a 10-mph sign (to reduce dust blowing into the Pahranagat NWR housing area), bending a bit right, and entering a grove of cottonwood trees. Alamo Road passes Petroglyph Cabin on the left, then stays left at a fork where a service road goes right. Passing the housing area, maintenance area, and visitor center (all on the right), Alamo Road merges (Site 0943) with the entry road to the visitor center and continues east. After passing under tall cottonwood trees, passing the Pahranagat NWR entrance sign on the left, Alamo Road ends at an intersection with Highway 93 (Site 0486).