Mormon Rocks – Cajon Pass

Mormon Rocks located about 1 mile west of the Interstate 15 freeway north of highway 138 is recognizable to nearly everyone who has ever traveled the freeway from the Cajon Pass to Las Vegas. These familiar formations appear to welcome travelers to the Mojave Desert.

The sandstone was pushed up by a sub-fault of the San Andreas fault and further revealed by the Mojave Block changing direction in slope toward Death Valley rather than the ocean.

Older maps of the area show the formation as being called the Rock Candy Mountains. Local legend has it that the rocks were named for the Mormon pioneers who camped here after their descent from the pass ridgeline. In actuality, there was no reason for them to camp at these rocks where there was no water here with the nearest spring being only one mile further down the canyon.

Another legend calls the rocks the ‘Chanting Rocks,’ as when the wind would blow across the portholes in the rocks it was said the sound made was similar to a low chanting or singing.

Since the color and composition appears to be the same as the rocks at the Devil’s Punchbowl, 35 miles to the west, it has been suggessted that both were once the same and that with movement along the San Andreas these two formations were split apart. Scientific examination of fossils found between the two show that they are two separate formations.