REROUTES AND SUPPLEMENTS TO THE FOUR EMHT GUIDEBOOKS
Prepared by: Billy Creech - Fractal Exploration
The East Mojave Heritage Trail created by Dennis Casebier and the Friends of the Mojave Road in the 1980s is a comprehensive tour through some of the most remote portions of the East Mojave Desert. In its original form, the EMHT covered 660 miles. Four hard cover guidebooks provide historical facts, information on local flora and fauna, detailed geographic descriptions, as well as cumulative mileage along the route.
With the implementation of the 1994 Desert Protection Act, which established the Mojave National Preserve and designated Wilderness Areas, the trail was closed in at least 13 places impacting a minimum of 75 miles – thus rendering the guidebooks useless as navigational aids – although still very useful for general guides and historical information.
Beginning in 2018, Billy Creech set out to remap the EMHT. He spent 18 months researching, mapping, and coordinating with both BLM and NPS before setting out on a solo journey in May 2019 to re-route the EMHT to account for current wilderness boundaries and points of interest along or near the route. After more coordination with Federal agencies, as well as the MDHCA, and more trips to Mojave Desert, supplemental guides for the original books have been completed by Billy Creech, with assistance from John Marnell and Larry Vredenburgh.
Fuel points remain the same as those in the books. In the interest of desert preservation and impact mitigation, in some areas the original trail was rerouted onto a more established trail where there is no meaningful difference in the overall experience. In some cases, the Supplements will recommend an optional path that may be less challenging.
The original EMHT books are available from our online store. Each hard cover book includes a printed copy of the Supplement for that book. Links to the four Supplements and GPS tracks of the EMHT Route are available below.
