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- Petroglyphs and chipped rock
- A part on my rear rack breaks as I stop to look for a campsite along Woods Wash Road
- I ride along Woods Wash Road around sunset toward an as-yet-unknown campsite
- I take a break at Hole-in-the-Wall visitor centre to recharge my phone
- I try to keep up with a cow and a wild burro that I spot along Wild Horse Canyon Road
- I pause along Wild Horse Canyon Road to watch a cow trudge along in an adjacent wash
- Laundry out to dry at Mid Hills Campground, Mojave National Preserve
- Ortlieb waterproof bicycle saddlebags make a great washing machine or ice bucket!
- I rinse my hair under a tap at Mid Hills Campground as part of breaking camp today
- I make it back to the Barnett Mine area at sunset, pick up the bicycle, and ride the 10 miles back to camp in dusk and dark
- Paperbag bush glowing in the sun (Salazaria mexicana) high on the fan above Watson Wash
- The big rock piles here above Watson Wash are even more impressive up close than they are from a distance
- I keep hiking up the gentle slope, passing through another patch of burned desert above Black Diamond Spring
- On the way up the fan, I look over to Keckiella Rocks, a small plateau of volcanic-looking rock
- Energy-bar break above Watson Wash!
- After a very short break at stinky Black Diamond Spring, I walk through an area full of white buckwheat flowers
- The animal trail ends at Black Diamond Spring, Mojave National Preserve, just as expected
- Follow the animal trail, follow the animal trail!
- I bet this animal trail leads to Black Diamond Spring!
- I like walking through some easy-to-miss chia sages in Upper Black Diamond Spring Valley
- A lone juniper in Upper Black Diamond Spring Valley survived the 2005 brush fires here
- I decide to walk up to the top of the hill and see if it would be easy to walk down the other side
- Time to explore a little: I climb up a hill behind the Barnett Mine and take a look at the panorama
- I go for a walk past one of the mine shafts at Barnett Mine
- I start walking up the trail to the old mine site: I see people over there--amazing
- The dead coyote I passed on Cedar Canyon Road a few days ago is still there
- The short Black Canyon cut-off road is always a fun mountain-bike ride
- I spot a Desert four o'clock blooming in Round Valley under a tree on the Black Canyon Cut-off Road
- I ride past a windmill in Round Valley on Black Canyon Road
- Primroses at my Mid Hills Campground campsite
- Another nice morning at Mid Hills campground, where I didn't expect to stop on this trip; time to plan an outing for the day
- After my walk around the bottom of Grass Canyon, I ride a few miles down Black Canyon Road to the Cave Spring area and pull over
- As I prowl around the hills here, I look over toward Grass Canyon, the next canyon over
- Rollin' down the river
- I try my cell phone here just south of Rustler Canyon and it works
- I reach the end of the dirt road, just south of Rustler Canyon, and park the bicycle
- There are a couple of different types of Cholla cacti here in the area just south of Rustler Canyon
- Water tank and windmill on Gold Valley Road, Mojave National Preserve
- Guzzler and Paper-bag bush at the summit of Gold Valley Road, Mojave National Preserve
- Small blue flowers along Gold Valley Road, Mojave National Preserve
- Here we go, riding down Gold Valley Road, Mojave National Preserve
- Lots of wind up here on Campground Peak North, overlooking Mid Hills campground, nice sunset
- On the way over to North Campground Peak is another juniper tree that survived the 2005 brush fires here
- On South Campground Peak, Mid Hills Campground, I discover a couple of juniper trees that survived the 2005 brush fires here
- Just before sunset, I go for a short hike up to 'Campground Peaks' just east of Mid Hills Campground
- A nicely placed picnic table by a juniper tree makes for a semi-shady brunch at Mid Hills Campground
- Nice sunset (belt of Venus) on the way up the Black Canyon Cut-off Road: my final 5 uphill miles of the day will be in the dark
- Riding (and walking the 10-ton bike) up the Black Canyon Cut-off Road as the sun goes down
- Dead coyote on Cedar Canyon Road, Mojave National Preserve
- The 10-ton bicycle rides down New York Mountains Road alongside Watson Wash toward Cedar Canyon Road
- A gentle downhill begins as I start crossing the Watson Wash area on New York Mountains Road, Mojave National Preserve
- I arrive at the junction of New York Mountains Road and Carruthers Canyon, the first of two summits today
- Riding (and walking the 10-ton bike) up the Sagamore Cut-off Road, looking for shade under a Joshua tree
- Video snippet of riding the 10-ton bike through the Joshua tree forest on the Sagamore Cut-Off Road
- The 10-ton bicycle leaves Ivanpah Road for the Sagamore Cut-off Road
- 1.5 downhill miles on the old Mail Spring Road, then 3.5 miles down Ivanpah Rd into the Lanfair Valley
- I make a last-minute decision to leave Mail Spring and ride to Mid Hills campground today (I was going to stay here another day)
- Beautiful silence: sunset near Mail Spring, another hot day comes to an end
- I hike across the New York Mountains foothills back to my tent, slowly, to preserve energy, Mojave National Preserve
- On the way back down Keystone Canyon, I notice a few Scarlet gilias blooming
- I filter water again at Keystone Spring, Mojave National Preserve
- Arriving Keystone Spring, Mojave National Preserve: water!
- Hiking up the hill toward Keystone Spring, Mojave National Preserve
- Taking a break in the shade in Keystone Canyon, Mojave National Preserve.
- Pineapple cacti on the New York Mountains foothills, Mojave National Preserve
- Desert marigolds along Wild Horse Canyon Road (I stay camped at Mid Hills Campground)
- I leave Wild Horse Canyon Road and head down Gold Valley Road
- After some nice gentle rolling, Gold Valley Road passes through an old range fence into the next section
- Cows graze by an old burned juniper tree in upper Gold Valley
- I pause at the summit of Gold Valley Road to enjoy the views before starting the downhill ahead
- Gold Valley Road is rutted and downhill, essentially a perfect bicycle trail with no traffic
- I take a break when I reach the Hole-in-the-Wall Visitor Centre, which is closed during the hot months except on Saturday
- I decide to go for a short ride over to the Rustler Canyon area and explore a few roads I've not taken before
- I go for a short walk around Mid Hills campground and notice there are still a few flowers blooming, such as this Desert mallow
- I think this is a kind of fleabane growing by the road at Mid Hills Campground
- Turpentine broom in the foreground, Banana yuccas in the middle, and Antelope brush behind that
- Several types of yellow flowers grow in the Mid Hills campground area and a few of them are still blooming today
- My campsite at Mid Hills Campground is the one with no motor vehicle parked out front
- Campground Peaks hiking route (in blue)
- Campground Peaks hiking route elevation profile
- Desert holly bushes attempt camouflage amidst white rock scatter
- Desert rock garden, after the snow
- Snow up above, sand down below, at Eureka Dunes
- Mining debris in snow
- Enjoying desert gold as the mud flats go dry
- First order of this sunny morning is to dig a desert cat hole since I don't have access to a toilet out here!
- From my campsite on the Sleeping Beauty foothills, I can zoom in on a long freight train down by the freeway
- I'm almost finished packing up the tent and its contents; good-bye Sleeping Beauty!
- All packed up, I start riding down the hill away from my Sleeping Beauty campsite
- Off in the distance below, a puff of dust hovers
- Oh, a stray balloon on the side of the road leading down from Sleeping Beauty!
- I'm just far enough down the dirt road now to have a panoramic view of the Sleeping Beauty peaks behind me
- Sleeping Beauty road crosses a gas pipeline
- After 2 miles of dirt road from Sleeping Beauty, I ride 8 miles, mostly a bit downhill, to Ludlow, for lunch on old Route 66
- After 10 easy bicycle miles, I reach the Ludlow Café and have one of their famous breakfast plates
- Full belly, I leave the Ludlow Café and head down the nearby dirt road toward Kelso Dunes Wilderness
- I slowly ride along Crucero Road toward Broadwell Dry Lake, a slight downhill
- On the way down to Broadwell Dry Lake, I stop briefly at the junction of a powerline road that leads into the Bristol Mountains
- Also along Crucero Road is this BLM Kelso Dunes Wilderness sign
- When Crucero Road reaches Broadwell Dry Lake, it forks to make two separate northbound roads
- An old sign announcing a proposed toxic waste dump here at Broadwell Dry Lake has been appropriately well shot-up
- The clay soil on Crucero Road as it skirts the shore of Broadwell Dry Lake has big cracks
- With sunset approaching in half an hour or so, I'm starting to cast nice long shadows on the edge of Broadwell Dry Lake
- Broadwell Dry Lake at sunset
- Crucero Road north of Broadwell Dry Lake gets a bit sandy again
- As the sun disappears, I ride past another BLM Heart-of-Mojave sign at the junction of Crucero Road and the Cady Mtns powerline
- OK, it's getting dark for real; I'll ride a couple more miles on the powerline road while looking for a campsite
- Elevation profile of Sleeping Beauty to Kelso Dunes Wilderness bicycle route
- So what's in that old car in front of the Route 66 Motel anyway?
- It's time to leave the gritty, but interesting Route 66 Motel in Barstow, CA and start another week of bicycle camping
- An old vending machine sits in an alcove between units at Barstow's Route 66 Motel
- OK, it's time; I pack up the 10-ton bike and leave the Route 66 Motel—I'll be in sleeping in a tent tonight; I can't wait
- I start by riding the two miles down Barstow's Main Street (Route 66) to the end of the east side of town
- Before leaving Barstow, I stop at Walmart (a place I usually avoid) to buy a new Camelbak
- I leave Barstow eastbound on a frontage road and then ride the I-40 freeway for 2.5 miles to get past the naval base there
- I get off the I-40 freeway at the Nebo Street exit, turn left, then go under the freeway and rejoin old Route 66 eastbound
- Old Route 66 passes through the interesting little village of Daggett, California
- Daggett has numerous unused structures, such as this old gas station
- The Daggett post office is decorated with heavy bars on its windows
- On the other side of the train tracks from Route 66 is Daggett's general store, the Desert Market
- East of Daggett, one of several long cargo trains passes by
- To my right, not far away, is the I-40 freeway, and just beyond that, the Newberry Mountains are now close by
- It's almost 2 pm; I've just passed under I-40 again on Rte 66 near Newberry Springs and here's a gas station
- There's a bit of traffic on Route 66 in the Newberry Springs area
- The abandoned Henning Motel in Newberry Springs appeared in the famous Bagdad Café movie years ago
- Next door is the famous Bagdad Café itself
- An old Italian restaurant and gas station sits in Newberry Springs behind a fence
- I stop to look across a dry lake on the east end of Newberry Springs toward the I-40 freeway on the opposite shore
- The worn-out pavement on old Route 66 makes for rather rough riding east of Newberry Springs
- Some of the remaining structures along Route 66 east of Newberry Springs are deteriorated or no longer in use
- This prefabricated house in east Newberry Springs has no front steps
- Old motel sign east of Newberry Springs
- A different kind of no-trespassing sign: an entire trailer
- I ride up a gentle hill through the lava field area of old Route 66 east of Newberry Springs
- It has been cloudy most of the day, but a bit of sun is peering through the clouds as sunset approaches along old Route 66
- It's getting close to darkness here on Route 66 and my cheap camera is trying to compensate by turning everything blue
- It has been dark for an hour now, and I'm finally on the dirt road off Route 66 leading up toward Sleeping Beauty mountain
- Tired when I get near the top of Sleeping Beauty road, I walk around in a fog for a while looking for a campsite not by the road
- The rain on my tent makes it look metallic with the camera flash; the rain has stopped and it's time to go to sleep!
- Rock assortment
- Yesterday, I boarded the Amtrak train with the 10-ton bike at Stockton, California, after a short Amtrak bus ride from San José
- After the Amtrak train ride to Bakersfield, an Amtrak bus shuttled me to Primm, Nevada to start this bicycle-camping trip
- After settling in at my hotel room at Whiskey Pete's Casino, I ride the monorail across the freeway to the other two casinos
- On the east side of the freeway at Primm, Nevada are two casino-hotels, and one is built with an interesting barn-like shape
- The shopping mall at Primm, Nevada is full of fake architecture evoking a real city, rather than the freeway exit that is Primm
- Also inside the Primm shopping-casino complex is a fake stream with fake wildlife
- The casinos at Primm are quite a visual spectacle, with brilliant lights everywhere
- Outside the two high-rise casino-hotels at Primm, Nevada is a luxurious gas station with a bay for each vehicle filling up
- I wake up this morning at Primm, Nevada and peek outside across the swimming pool to a cool and extremely windy day
- I eat breakfast at the McDonald's downstairs in the Whiskey Pete's casino; there's more garbage than food on my table
- I pack up the 10-ton bike, and roll it out down the hall to the Whiskey Pete's elevator
- After escaping Whiskey Pete's, I begin the trip for real by riding through Primm toward the dirt roads that lead out of town
- Just outside Primm is one of the entrances to the Ivanpah Dry Lake recreation area
- I take a look back at Primm as I leave town; I considered riding on the freeway for a smoother ride toward Nipton
- After 1.5 miles, my road ends at the train tracks; I make a right turn for the 10.5 mile ride to Nipton on Nipton-Desert Rd
- Soonafter, the first train of this trip passes me on bumpy Nipton-Desert Road
- From Nipton-Desert Rd, I can see across Ivanpah Dry Lake to the huge BrightSource solar plant under construction
- The bumpy Nipton-Desert Road is starting to give me a headache, so I'm happy to take a break by this prickly poppy
- This railway undercrossing along Nipton-Desert Road also serves as a road to the Lucy Gray Mine
- After about 6 miles of bumpy Nipton-Desert Road, I'm happy to reach the relative smoothness of some residual old pavement
- I pass an old corral on Nipton-Desert Road
- Approaching the tiny town of Nipton, California, population 20, with the Castle Peaks in the background
- I take a break at the Nipton general store for chips and iced tea, and I fill my water supply to the max
- I glance at Nipton's little solar-power plant as I begin the ride up the hill toward Crescent Pass, Nevada
- The four-mile climb up Nipton Road to Crescent Pass isn't too steep, but it does take some time pedaling in the lower gears
- I always have to stop at the "Welcome to Nevada" sign whenever I pass by here
- At the junction of Lucky Dutchman Road, I look back down into Ivanpah Valley and Ivanpah Dry Lake
- Approaching Crescent Pass, I ride under the power-transmission lines that I'll soon follow into the McCullough Mountains
- Also along the Highway 164 roadside are what I think are desert marigolds
- Palmer's penstemons are always nice to run across
- A Gooding's verbena blooms near a Palmer's penstemon along Highway 164
- A desert primrose is blooming here along Highway 164
- I start seeing a few wildflower blooms along Highway 164, so I pull over to walk around for a closer look
- At the Crescent Pass summit, I see the little dirt road into the McCullough Mountains that I'll follow
- After a short distance, I turn back for my last view of the Castle Peaks before I disappear into the McCullough Mountains
- A cattle-guard marks my entry into the McCullough Mountains area
- I pass an old mine site, clearly marked, and am tempted to stop to explore
- My nice firm road surface transforms into shallow "kitty litter" as the road passes through a wash area
- I'm happy when my gravelly road in the wash leads to the firmer ground of the McCullough Mountains powerline road
- I pause on one of the many level stretches (in my direction of travel) along the McCullough Mountains powerline road
- I stop again to take in the views eastward across Nevada's scenic Wee Thump Joshua Tree Wilderness
- More fun rolling up and down (more down than up) along the powerline road on the southeast side of the McCullough Mountains
- I take a short energy-bar break where I leave the powerline road for a lesser road heading toward the Pine Spring area
- Loose rock and an uphill grade require that I walk the 10-ton bike up parts of the road toward the Pine Spring area
- I remount the bike and pedal some more when I reach a less hilly part of the road heading toward the McCullough Mountains
- I haven't seen a lot of wildflowers in this area today, but here are a couple in the road to Pine Spring
- I make my final turn for the day onto a road that winds down and around a few low hills en-route to Pine Spring
- Joshua trees poke up above the shade line to collect the sunset light along Pine Spring Road, McCullough Mountains
- Pine Spring Rd gets sandier and is heading slightly uphill again, so I look for a campsite; I think I may have found one
- I set up my tent and enjoy the full moon that has risen before sunset
- After darkness falls, I boil water under the full moon for the first add-water-to-bag meal of this trip
- Tonight's meal is Backpacker's Pantry Beef and Broccoli, really good, plus a bottle of Fat Tire beer that I picked up at Nipton
- One nice thing about my Pine Spring campsite is a little sandy drainage area near my tent, perfect for a cat hole
- Waking up after the first night of a camping trip is always special; I've finally arrived. It was chilly overnight and I'm feeling exhausted from yesterday. I was so tired that I didn't wake up once during the night. It always takes a few days to build u
- Gold flowers growing in the gravel near my tent, which I think at first are goldfields (Lasthenia californica)
- I start today's hike after a slow breakfast and notice an old coconut-juice can by Pine Spring Road
- My energy is really low this morning as I start walking up the road toward the McCullough Mountains
- There are also a few old pinyon pine trees along Pine Spring Rd: not a surprise given the name of this place
- A few healthy barberry bushes grow along Pine Spring Road
- I must be near Pine Spring; here's an old rusty tobacco can lid