Hi Guys - My first post.

Just bought a 93' 4runner so I've been perusing and soaking up information from these forums.

Anyhow, my family has a cabin in Lake Isabella, Ca - I always thought that there would be a way to get from the 14FWY (Mojave side of the mountains) into the Lake Isabella area. I couldn't find anything online as to an exact route so my buddy and I guessed and this ended up being the route. There are a few other ways to get through but Dove Springs was closed at the time and taking Jawbone Canyon the whole way to Kelso Rd (paved road leading down to Isabella) would be a bit boring.

Here is a Google Earth Path -


Jawbone to Lake Isabella

The entrance to Jawbone is a paved road for about 4 miles, then when you start to climb over to Butterbredt Canyon the pavement ends. Once in Butterbredt Canyon you are driving in a narrow wash which is dug out from the valley floor. The "walls" which are created can get pretty narrow and tall. This is very sandy and you will find some ruts along the way. Again probably won't need 4wd, but who knows. There are a couple of 'Y' s in the road to be aware of and not stray. Butterbredt will dump out on Kelso Rd. which will take you down to 178 and then on to Isabella.

This is by no means a hardcore 4x4 trail as I don't believe that we took my friends xterra out of 2wd, however it does look like the conditions could vary greatly as it is mostly a wash that you are driving through that is a big washboard.

I highly recommend making this trip if you are going to Isabella and I recommend making the trip at night. It is just cool to know you are in the middle of no where miles away from anything in the middle of the night in the desert. The shrubs and yucca's in the moonlight look creepy - it's just a neat experience. Also, some of you may know what I am talking about, but having coast to coast on the AM makes the midnight jaunt through the desert just a bit more unnerving.


We did this about a year and a half ago and I will be making the trip again in a couple of weeks - if there are any updates or I can get some pics (depending on moon light) I will update.

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