page_title: Mojave River
section_title: Course
hierarchical_section_title: Mojave River / Course
caption_attribution_description: English: Mojave River aerial view, looking downstream from Victorville (bottom) to Johnstons Corner (top)
context_page_description: The Mojave River is an intermittent river in the eastern San Bernardino Mountains and the Mojave Desert in San Bernardino County, California, United States. Most of its flow is underground, while its surface channels remain dry most of the time, with the exception of the headwaters and several bedrock gorges in the lower reaches.
context_section_description: The river's source is in the San Bernardino Mountains, one of the Transverse Ranges, above Hesperia-San Bernardino. The West Fork of the Mojave flows into Silverwood Lake, formed by Cedar Springs Dam, which overflows in the Mojave River Forks Reserve area. On occasion, the lake releases water into the river. Downstream, Deep Creek meets the West Fork, forming the Mojave River immediately upstream of the Mojave Forks Dam, which provides flood control. Downstream of the dam, the Mojave River flows north and east, underground in most places, through Hesperia, Victorville, and Barstow.
  Near its terminus, the Mojave River flows out onto a large inland delta called the Mojave River Wash at the western edge of Mojave National Preserve. During heavy flows, the river reaches Soda Lake near Baker at the north end of the Wash, and has reached Silver Lake, even further north, in historic times. For example, during the unusually wet winter of 2004–2005, the Mojave River flowed on the surface all the way to Silver Lake and filled both Soda and Silver Lakes to a depth of several feet.
  The water in the river is mostly underground. The channel at the surface remains dry most of the time, but extreme flooding is possible. For example, during a heavy El Niño in the Mojave Desert, rains caused the Mojave River to overflow onto overpassing bridges on February 22, 1993, the most damaged being on Bear Valley Road, where Victorville and Apple Valley are separated. The water comes to the surface only in areas with impermeable rock, such as the upper and lower narrows near Victorville and in the Afton Canyon area northeast of Barstow.
caption: Aerial view of the Mojave River from Victorville (bottom) to Johnstons Corner near Barstow (top)
exif: {"Image ImageWidth": "2688", "Image ImageLength": "1512", "Image BitsPerSample": "[8, 8, 8]", "Image PhotometricInterpretation": "2", "Image Make": "Google", "Image Model": "Pixel 3", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image SamplesPerPixel": "3", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop Elements 16.0 (Macintosh)", "Image DateTime": "2019:09:29 10:16:05", "Image YCbCrSubSampling": "[2, 2]", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "Image ExifOffset": "320", "GPS GPSVersionID": "[2, 2, 0, 0]", "GPS GPSLatitudeRef": "N", "GPS GPSLatitude": "[34, 22, 219/100]", "GPS GPSLongitudeRef": "W", "GPS GPSLongitude": "[116, 54, 39/2]", "GPS GPSAltitudeRef": "0", "GPS GPSAltitude": "271204/25", "GPS GPSTimeStamp": "[21, 30, 6]", "GPS GPSDOP": "35041/500", "GPS GPSProcessingMethod": "[65, 83, 67, 73, 73, 0, 0, 0, 102, 117, 115, 101, 100]", "GPS GPSDate": "2019:09:24", "Image GPSInfo": "1048", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "1394", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "4480", "EXIF ExposureTime": "213/1000000", "EXIF FNumber": "9/5", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "69", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0231", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2019:09:24 14:32:47", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2019:09:24 14:32:47", "EXIF OffsetTime": "-07:00", "EXIF OffsetTimeOriginal": "-07:00", "EXIF OffsetTimeDigitized": "-07:00", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "61/5", "EXIF ApertureValue": "17/10", "EXIF BrightnessValue": "943/100", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "17/10", "EXIF SubjectDistance": "8357/1000", "EXIF MeteringMode": "CenterWeightedAverage", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "111/25", "EXIF SubSecTime": "400361", "EXIF SubSecTimeOriginal": "400361", "EXIF SubSecTimeDigitized": "400361", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "1223", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "2307", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "1016", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Custom", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "0", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "27", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal", "EXIF SubjectDistanceRange": "3", "EXIF ImageUniqueID": "0d720b1674c976730000000000000000"}