Big Horn Mine Road

Big Horn Mine Road in Mojave National Preserve leads to the historic Big Horn Mine and the Hilltop House, a cabin built by the mine owners. The bright white Hilltop House was built before 1933 as a place for the owner and investors to keep watch over their mining interests, which are visible just down the hill. From its perch, the Hill House is visible from miles away and became a gathering place for local miners, ranchers, and homesteaders for holidays and other celebrations.  The mine was finally abandoned in 1985, and the house fell into disrepair and collapsed in high winds in 2008.  To acknowledge its historic role in the area's landscape, the park service rebuilt the house, and it can now be used by desert explorers for short stays.  The main room is nice, with a fireplace and cots, but the remaining rooms of the house are in disrepair and not suitable for use. A photograph hanging on the wall shows the cabin in disrepair before its restoration. The mine, visible from the house,  is just down the north side of the hill where its water towers have collapsed and other artifacts lie in decay. Iron bars now close the mine entrances.

The best dispersed camping is at the Hilltop House site, which provides expansive views across the desert to the Granite and Van Winkle Mountains. The immediate area around the Big Horn Mine also offers several campsites with rock campfire rings that would provide wind-sheltered camping locations.

This is an easy trail with short sections of hill climbs over a rocky surface and across water-worn depressions that are easily handled by a high clearance vehicle using two-wheel drive.