5 Point Cutoff

Within Mojave National Preserve, Five Point Cutoff is a short east–west connector across the open desert west of Cima Road. The nearly straight dirt road passes through Joshua tree country, offering broad views of the surrounding Mojave landscape and distant mountain ranges. It provides a quiet and convenient connection between Cima Road and the backcountry road network to the west.

The route once passed through a dense Joshua tree forest. Today, only widely scattered survivors remain following the lightning-caused Dome Fire of August 2020, which burned more than 43,000 acres and killed an estimated 1.3 million Joshua trees. Because Joshua trees grow and spread very slowly, recovery of the burned woodland will take well over a century, and the exceptionally dense forest that existed before the Dome Fire may never fully return.

The entire trail is part of Segment 2 of the Eastern Mojave Heritage Trail (EMHT), a roughly 190-mile section of the larger 733-mile route that is maintained through the efforts of the Bureau of Land Management and the Mojave Desert Heritage and Cultural Association.

The gently sloping, sandy road has no major obstacles under normal dry conditions.

 There are no suitable dispersed campsites along the trail.