During the warm weather, steep grades should be ascended in the morning. A following wind blows up canyons and slopes during the afternoon, making it difficult to keep engines cool in the still air that surrounds a car traveling in such a wind. If wheels sink into the sand and the car will not move, clear away the sand and throw a canvas tarpaulin or brush in front of the wheels to obtain traction. Be careful in crossing dry lakes. The surface clay sometimes looks dry when it is very soft just below the crust.
Some roads end at cabins where prospectors and miners live.
Some of the roads are usually little more than wheel tracks or faint ruts. They swing off the main highways to wind through washes and valleys and to scramble up and down steep canyons.