Visit
Walk the shore of the last word
Zzyzx is public in part: the road, the parking area and a short trail around Lake Tuendae. The old resort itself is a working field station.
Know before you go
- Zzyzx Road, the NPS parking lot and the Lake Tuendae Trail are open during daylight hours.
- The CSU Desert Studies Center grounds and buildings are closed to the public without a reservation. “Zzyzx is not an abandoned ghost town,” the NPS reminds visitors.
- Pit toilet and picnic tables; no drinking water.
- No camping or off-road driving; no drones or commercial filming; no pets except service dogs.
- Summer heat is dangerous. Late fall to early spring is the comfortable season.
Map © OpenStreetMap contributors. Pins are approximate.
Nearby
Baker, about 7 miles north, has fuel, food and the 134-foot World’s Tallest Thermometer. To the east and south, Mojave National Preserve offers the Kelso Dunes and the historic Kelso Depot (check the NPS for current hours).
West toward Barstow, the old Route 66 town of Newberry Springs is the setting of C. V. Wooster’s Mrs. Orcutt’s Driveway, the true story of a widow whose driveway stood in the path of Interstate 40. Her home is private property, so read the story rather than looking for the house.
Read next
4 min read
Visiting Zzyzx Today: A Practical Guide to Lake Tuendae and Soda Springs
How to visit Zzyzx off I-15, what you can and can't see, the Lake Tuendae trail, rules, heat safety, birding and nearby stops in Mojave National Preserve.
4 min read
The Mohave Tui Chub: The Little Fish That Outlasted the King of Quacks
The only fish native to the Mojave River nearly vanished. Its last pure populations held on at Zzyzx, including in the lake Curtis Springer dug for his resort.
4 min read
From Quack Resort to Field Station: The CSU Desert Studies Center at Zzyzx
How Curtis Springer's health resort became a California State University field station in 1976, and what scientists and students do at Zzyzx today.
Be first to read it
The King of Quacks by C. V. Wooster is the true story of the radio preacher who claimed a desert, named it the last word in the dictionary and sold it all as a miracle.
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