El Mirage Dry Lake, CA
El Mirage is Southern California's premiere ultralight and microlight flying and practice site. The dry lake is extremely flat and smooth and you can camp or RV along the edges of the lakebed.
While it gets hot in the summer, we can often use 3-5 hours of early morning time for our flying, then kite buggy during the afternoon. Watch for sudden increases in wind velocity and the mid-day heat can produce some powerful thermals and dust devils!
How to Get There:
From Los Angeles, take Hwy 15 North towards Las Vegas. Near Victorville, turn left on Hwy 18 - West, towards Palmdale. Turn Right at Sheep Creek Road, then Right on El Mirage Road. Take Mountain View Road north to enter the El Mirage OHV Recreation Area. A sign located at this intersection will direct you to the recreation area.
If you are coming from Palmdale, take Palmdale Boulevard eastbound and turn north (left) at 240 th Street. Turn east (right) at Avenue P. At the San Bernardino County line, Avenue P becomes El Mirage Road. Follow El Mirage Road through the town of El Mirage. Just east of the town of El Mirage, take Mountain View Road north to enter the El Mirage OHV Recreation Area. A sign located at the intersection will direct you to the recreation area.
There is only one entrance to the lake, at the SE end. After 1 mile on Mountain View Road, take the first LEFT turn down a dirt road onto the end of the lakebed and head NW. Stay towards the middle of the lake for the first mile or two, then cross over to the left shore and follow it until you pass Sailor's Bay, where the BlowCart guys camp. We'll be a little further beyond this cove along the shore, about five miles from where you entered the lake. This is the largest, smoothest area - perfect for flying!
The GPS coordinates of the place we meet and camp are 34°38'48.36"N and 117°36'58.77"W

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