There are motorcycle rides you take because you want to get somewhere. And then there are rides that remind you exactly why you ride.
During my week of adventure motorcycle training with RawHyde Adventures in California, one of the destinations that made a lasting impression on me was Burro Schmidt’s Tunnel, tucked away in the remote El Paso Mountains of the Mojave Desert.
Getting there was an adventure in itself. The landscape was unlike anything you experience on an ordinary highway ride: wide open, rugged, quiet and almost otherworldly. The kind of place where the horizon seems to go on forever and the mountains look like they belong on another planet.
And at the end of that ride was one of the strangest and most fascinating pieces of California history I have ever encountered.
Watch the ride to Burro Schmidt’s Tunnel
A week of learning what adventure riding is really about
My trip to Burro Schmidt’s Tunnel was part of a full week with RawHyde Adventures, where the focus was on learning and improving the skills needed to ride a motorcycle beyond the pavement.
Adventure riding is a different experience from cruising down a highway. Once the pavement ends, the motorcycle, the terrain and the rider all have to work together. A week of training gives you an opportunity to become more comfortable with the motorcycle, understand how it behaves on changing surfaces, and appreciate the importance of technique, balance and looking ahead.
By the time we headed out toward the tunnel, I had a much greater appreciation for what goes into adventure riding. The destination was fascinating, but the ride itself was part of the reward. This wasn’t simply a matter of following a road to a tourist attraction. It was about experiencing the kind of country that makes adventure motorcycling so appealing.
A desert that looks like another world
The El Paso Mountains and surrounding Mojave Desert have a beauty that is difficult to describe until you see it for yourself.
The landscape is enormous and seemingly endless. Rugged mountains rise out of the desert floor, their rocky slopes displaying layers of color. The ground is a mixture of sand, gravel, rock and dry earth. In places, the mountains look almost sculpted, as if wind and time have been working on them for millions of years.
There are no rows of houses, shopping centers or traffic lights competing for your attention. There is just desert, mountains, sky and the sound of your motorcycle. The colors change as the light moves across the landscape. Browns, reds, tans and muted golds blend together, with distant mountains fading into the horizon. It is beautiful, but it is also a reminder of how remote and unforgiving this country can be.
For an adventure rider, it is hard not to appreciate the freedom of being out there. You are surrounded by a landscape that makes you feel very small, while somehow making the ride feel even bigger.
Then you arrive at a mountain with a tunnel that one man spent decades digging.
The man who dug a tunnel through a mountain
William Henry Schmidt, better known as Burro Schmidt, was a miner who lived in this remote part of California.
Around 1906, Schmidt began digging a tunnel through Copper Mountain. His original idea was to create a shortcut for transporting ore from his mining claims. The terrain made hauling material over the mountain difficult, and he apparently believed a tunnel would solve the problem.
But this was not a construction project with a crew, heavy machinery and modern equipment. Schmidt did much of the work himself, using hand tools, drilling equipment and explosives. He dug, blasted and hauled rock out of the mountain, year after year.
The tunnel eventually stretched approximately 2,087 feet — nearly half a mile — through solid rock. Think about that for a moment. One man spent decades working his way through a mountain, removing thousands of cubic yards of rock.
And the story gets even stranger. While Schmidt was working on the tunnel, improvements to roads and transportation made his original plan unnecessary. The shortcut he had envisioned was no longer needed.
Most people would probably have stopped. Burro Schmidt kept digging.
He continued until he finally broke through to the other side in 1938. By then, he had spent more than three decades on the project. The tunnel was completed, but it never became the ore-hauling route he had envisioned. Schmidt never lived to see it put to use. He died in 1954, leaving behind a remarkable piece of human determination and a mystery that still draws visitors to this remote corner of California.
Why did he keep going after the original purpose had disappeared? Was it stubbornness, obsession, pride, or simply the need to finish what he had started? Nobody can answer that for certain. Maybe that is part of what makes the story so fascinating.
A tunnel that seems impossible until you see it
Standing at the site, it is difficult not to think about the amount of work involved.
Today, we are accustomed to machines doing jobs that would have taken people generations to complete. We can move mountains with modern equipment, drill through rock and build roads in places that once seemed inaccessible. Schmidt did not have those advantages. He took on a mountain with hand tools and explosives and kept at it for decades.
The tunnel and the remains of his homestead are reminders of a different era in the American West, when prospectors and miners came into remote country chasing opportunity, independence and sometimes dreams that never quite worked out.
It is also a reminder that not every great accomplishment has to make practical sense. Sometimes the story is the accomplishment itself.
Why this ride belongs on an adventure rider’s list
Burro Schmidt’s Tunnel is more than an unusual historical attraction. The journey through the Mojave landscape is a big part of the experience.
For someone who enjoys adventure motorcycling, this is the kind of destination that makes a ride memorable. You get the history, the scenery, the challenge of traveling through remote country and the satisfaction of reaching somewhere that feels far removed from everyday life.
It also puts the RawHyde training experience into perspective. Adventure riding isn’t just about having the right motorcycle or getting a photograph at an interesting destination. It is about developing the skills and confidence to explore places that you might otherwise never experience.
That week with RawHyde gave me an opportunity to spend time improving those skills and then put the adventure-riding experience into context on a ride like this.
The Mojave Desert is a place that stays with you. So does the story of the man who spent decades digging through a mountain. I went out there as part of a motorcycle training adventure. I came away with a story about perseverance, history, and one of the most unusual destinations a rider can visit in California.
And somewhere in that desert, a half-mile tunnel still stands as a monument to a man who simply refused to quit.
Some rides are about the miles. Others are about the stories you bring home. This one had both.
Plan your visit
Burro Schmidt’s Tunnel is in a remote desert area. Anyone planning a visit should check current access conditions, respect private property and posted signs, bring plenty of water, and be prepared for changing weather and limited services. Do not enter unstable or restricted mine workings.
Further reading:
Visit California: Burro Schmidt’s Tunnel
Bureau of Land Management: Southern California Desert Mining History
Los Angeles Times: Burro Schmidt’s tunnel
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