It's a fun, fast dirt road through the backcountry. There's plenty of sunshine and recent rains have all but negated the dust. How should you drive?
You don't have to creep along everywhere in four-low, but you should still be ready to slow down when it's needed.
We found a route in the Mojave National Preserve that demonstrates this perfectly.
The road goes from Nipton to Cima parallel to the railroad tracks. Most of the time, it can be taken as fast as you've got suspension and confidence for.
Not so fast, though. There are several "gotcha's" along this road. They're where drainage crosses under the railroad grade and cuts across the road.
Several "gotcha's" were fairly tame, mellow enough that you could hit them at a fairly good clip and get away with it. Others were downright ugly, mandating almost a complete stop in order to size them up before picking the best line.
How do you keep this stuff from sneaking up on you? Look ahead, and recognize the clues.
Looking ahead means scanning further ahead before pulling your field of focus in closer. It's a little like casting a fishing lure out into a lake and reeling it in.
Recognizing the clues varies with the specific terrain. In this instance, we looked for drainage openings built into the railroad grade. These drainage crossings often took the form of concrete tunnels. You could see the top of the tunnel in the railroad berm before you could see the dirt road's dip down into the carved-out drainage crossing.
In open terrain, especially in the desert, water crossings or dry washes will reveal themselves with denser vegetation compared to the surrounding terrain. You should also be able to visualize where water will go when its flowing fast. Rain tends to be intense in the desert, so erosion can happen quickly.
While slowing down for these "gotcha's" we were very glad we'd disabled our ABS system, as the ABS system tends to kick on in the dirt just at the wrong time and increase stopping distance. When the ABS kicks on in the dirt, you'll have superb steering control as you slam into the obstacle you couldn't slow down for.