An Oasis at the End of Zzyzx Road, California

If you've ever driven Interstate 15 between Las Vegas and Los Angeles, you've passed the iconic sign for Zzyzx Road at Exit 239.

Photo by sansara/iStock / Getty Images

But usually people just keep driving, wondering what's down that famed road instead of actually stopping to see it. So let me tell you once and for all—Zzyzx Road is worth the detour.

Zzyzx Road is located at the western border of the Mojave Desert in Southern California, just outside Baker. It's got a long and fascinating history that Atlas Obscura can explain better than I can, but here's a short summary: In the mid-1940s, a quack doctor named Curtis Howe Springer bought the land and built a resort on it, advertising it as a healing health and wellness spa. Among other things, he claimed the resort was built on natural hot springs with fantastic healing powers (it turned out to just be swimming pools he heated himself). He conned people out of a lot of money to visit, "healing" all conditions from cancer to hemorrhoids to baldness, until eventually the government caught up with him and seized the land.

So, why the name Zzyzx? Springer believe "Zzyzx" was the ultimate word in the English dictionary, and he hoped to be the "last word" on health. The property is now home to the Desert Studies Program at California State University, and visitors are welcome! Take a walk around and you'll see many of the remnants of the so-called health spa. 

It's about a 15-minute drive off Interstate 15, and the actual drive down Zzyzx Road is gorgeous in and of itself, with salt flats to your left and mountains to your right. Once I arrived and got out of the car, I was greeted with an almost deafening silence. I'd never experienced such quiet before in my life. It's at once very soothing and pretty creepy. Which is basically how I'd describe the entire Zzyzx Hot Spring area. It's got stunning desert scenery plus decaying remnants of a bygone era.  

I highly recommend a detour to Zzyzx Road, and these pictures will show you why! When I plan road trips, I love to find these out-of-the-way spots to make a trip truly special. I'd love to do the same for you. Contact me, and let's get started!