Launch Site

Our launch site is located on Lucerne Dry Lake, north of the town of Lucerne Valley and east of Victorville, at an altitude of 2848 feet (870m) above sea level, somewhere in the middle of the Mojave Desert. To get here, simply navigate to 116° 58' W; 34° 31' N, or visit our Directions Page. But before you do, please do read our Survival Page! And if you plan on staying over on the lakebed, please read the Camping Page! Launching and Waiver information can be found on the Launches Page.

Important Note: According to the BLM, beginning in 2007, all recreational off-road activity is illegal at Lucerne Dry Lake. This refers to the riding of dirt bikes, quads, and 4WD vehicles. However, rocket recovery operations are excluded. This means get on the lakebed, get your rocket, and return directly to the range head. If your rocket leaves the lakebed and lands in the brush, you must stay on established roads and collect the rocket on foot.

Current Conditions

(thanks Rich Silva and Jamie Clay for the photos from January 2005)

JUST KIDDING!

If you would like to see what the current conditions are at the lakebed, please visit our Weather Page!

More Useful Information

Local Lodging: If you need to stay overnight in the area, and camping is not your thing, there are motels available in Victorville, Barstow, and Apple Valley. The eastern part of Big Bear is also an option, only 45 minutes away or so. The two closest motels are the Ace Motel (760-248-7524) and Portal Motel (760-248-7992), both on Highway 18 in Lucerne Valley.

Food and Supplies: It is always a good idea to bring everything with you, but if you do forget something, you can probably find almost anything at one of our favorite local businesses, located just south of the intersection of 18 and 247:

Lucerne Valley Market
and ACE Hardware
32946 Hwy 18
Lucerne Valley, CA 92356
(760) 248-7311
(they even sell motors!)

Restaurants: There are a few places to eat in town, but our favorite restaurant located just west of the intersection of 18 and 247 is:

China House Restaurant
32716 Hwy 18
Lucerne Valley, CA 92356
(760) 248-6646

There are some additional resources on the web that give more information about Lucerne Dry Lake, and about that part of the eastern Mojave Desert. First, there is the Official Lucerne Valley site. A particularly cool site is called the Digital Desert, which has a wealth of information about the Mojave Desert, and includes photo tours of the Lucerne Valley, and Lucerne Dry Lake itself. There's another sequence of photos covering the area around Highway 247. They even have an aerial tour! This is a great way to see what you are headed into when headed out to Lucerne for the first time.

More? Well, I know of two other sites. Yahoo has a page for Lucerne Valley, 92356; mostly just generic links and yellow pages. This link doesn't seem to have a strong sense of geography, so be careful how you use it (for example, it can list area motels, but it lists mostly motels at Big Bear Lake, which are about 45 minutes or so away.). Also, you might get a kick out of this site which tells you what the name "Lucerne" means!

And lastly, here is an aerial view taken by the late Steve Roberson.