Helendale is the High Desert's lake town. Halfway between Victorville and Barstow on old Route 66, the community is built around Silver Lakes — a planned neighborhood laid out around two man-made lakes and a 27-hole golf course, where a surprising number of homes sit on the water with a dock out back. It is one of the most distinctive places to live anywhere in the desert.

A little history

Long before the lakes, this bend of the Mojave River was a camp on the trail: the Mormon Battalion stopped at Point of Rocks here in the 1840s, and in the 1880s the Santa Fe Railroad built a watering station for its locomotives at the same spot. The station was renamed Helen in 1897 for the daughter of railroad executive Arthur G. Wells, and Helendale in 1918. Route 66 opened through the area in 1926, and the 1933 bridge over the Mojave River at Point of Rocks is still the one in use today. The census counts the community as Silver Lakes; the post office has always called it Helendale.

Living here

Silver Lakes is a private association community, and the amenities are the point: the lakes for boating and fishing, the golf course, the clubhouse, tennis and pickleball, pools, an equestrian center, and a calendar of community events. Outside the association, Helendale has rural properties along the Mojave River and National Trails Highway (Route 66), with Oro Grande just to the south.

The Silver Lakes clubhouse on Clubhouse Drive is the community's front door. The small Helendale School District runs the local elementary and junior high, with high-school students continuing in the Victor Valley.

Facts at a glance

• Status: unincorporated community (census name: Silver Lakes)
• Population: 6,317 (2020 census)
• Elevation: about 2,430 ft
• County: San Bernardino
• Schools: Helendale School District
• Main roads: National Trails Highway (Route 66), Vista Road to I-15
• Known for: Silver Lakes, waterfront homes, golf, the Point of Rocks bridge