Coxcomb Monument Road

For a short two-year period starting in 1942, Coxcomb Camp became a massive tent city housing 15,000 soldiers training for the North African Campaign. Coxcomb Monument Road cuts through the center of this mile-wide camp, where visitors can view artifacts remaining from 1942. The camps were laid out in grids. Streets and boulevards were bulldozed, and rows of tents were set up on each side of assembly areas. When completed, the camp had 39 shower buildings, 165 latrines, 284 wooden tent frames, an observation/flag tower, and a 40,000-gallon water tank. Officers directed idle soldiers to lay extensive rock alignments along roads, streets, and walkways. These rock alignments can still be seen along this road and throughout the three-mile-long camp. The road passes the camp's flag tower circle, considered the center and most important part of the camp, and can be visited next to this road. A monument to the camp and soldiers who fought, and especially those who gave their lives, is located at the trailhead.

Coxcomb Monument Road is an up-and-back ending at the open Colorado Aqueduct over hard-packed sand and is easily handled by a 2-wheel drive vehicle.

There are no appropriate dispersed camping locations found in the area.