Home 7119
- My pile of supplies and gear dumped in the spare bedroom the night before leaving home
- The 10-ton bike and I are ready to leave downtown San José and head to Mojave National Preserve again!
- Across the tracks from the Stockton Amtrak station is an old house that looks abandoned, but isn't
- My Amtrak bus out of San José leaves me at Stockton, where I transfer to an Amtrak train to Bakersfield
- I spend 4.5 hours on the Amtrak San Joaquin train, occasionally staring at the tray-table instructions in front of me
- The Amtrak bus leaves me at Baker, California at around 20h30, gateway to Mojave National Preserve
- After checking in at Baker's Royal Hawaiian Motel for Xmas Eve, I walk back up the road to get a meal at the Mad Greek
- The Royal Hawaiian Motel is the cheapest motel in Baker, and for good reason (at $49/night it's not exactly cheap, however)
- Even the message telling the visitor that this heater is no longer in use appears to be many years old
- Overview of my room at the Royal Hawaiian Motel
- The stained ceiling in the bathroom tells a story of a shower in the room above that leaked
- The particle-board door on the bathroom has never been painted
- Fluorescent bulbs above the beds (and almost everywhere else) create a retro 1970s fashion
- Leaving the Royal Hawaiian Motel in Baker to start my Mojave National Preserve trip
- Damage to the corner of one of the motel units
- The 10-ton bike is packed up and ready to go to Mojave National Preserve on Xmas day
- Baker's "world's tallest thermometer" says that it's 50 degrees F this morning
- Leaving Baker on Kelbaker Road and crossing the Interstate 15 freeway to enter Mojave National Preserve
- Freeway traffic behind me now, I enter Mojave National Preserve
- The first ten miles of Kelbaker Road into Mojave National Preserve out of Baker looks flat, but it actually climbs 1000 feet
- After ten miles, Kelbaker Road bends sharply away from civilization
- After 13 miles, I reach the little dirt road to Indian Springs and turn off here
- Indian Springs Road: the road surface is a bit rough and rocky
- A drainage rut across Indian Springs Road
- After about three miles, Indian Springs Road turns toward the hills up a sandy wash
- About a quarter mile before the end of Indian Springs Road, I notice a fire ring and a possible campsite
- An ugly pile of debris sits on the hillside just above my chosen campsite near Indian Springs
- I begin dismantling my rig and setting up camp
- Camp is set up near Indian Springs!
- With an hour of daylight left, I walk up to the end of Indian Springs Road to explore a little
- Wow, there's a trickle of water here at Indian Springs
- There's just enough water at Indian Springs that I'll be able to use my water filter to get extra drinking water here tomorrow
- I continue walking up the Indian Springs wash in the glow of the setting sun
- Indian Springs wash enters a small narrows
- There are a lot of barrel cacti on the surrounding hillsides, which isn't apparent at a distance
- A little further beyond Indian Springs, I notice a side wash that looks interesting
- This rock formation immediately catches my attention
- This side wash near Indian Springs gets narrower
- I notice a little cave up on the hillside on the way out of the side wash
- Rock layers in Indian Springs wash
- Hillside cactus garden at Indian Springs, Mojave National Preserve
- Looking back down the Indian Springs wash toward my campsite
- Barrel cacti catching the last light of day on the hill above Indian Springs
- The sun sets on me at Indian Springs
- After supper, at 21h50, it's time to start my Indian Springs Xmas campfire
- Woohoo, the fire is starting to burn!
- Trying to warm up in front of the fire
- I add another piece of junk plywood to the fire
- The fire is burning nicely, but it's getting late, so I'm thinking about letting it die down and retreating to my tent
- The heat feels great, but it's time to let the fire burn out and prepare for sleeping
- Late-morning coffee and breakfast (brunch, really). It was cold last night and I didn't sleep so well, and then I slept in late
- After breakfast, I dig a cat hole up on the hillside above Indian Springs Road
- I pack a day bag and start today's hike by walking 1/4 mile up to Indian Springs to filter the day's drinking water
- I refill my two-litre Camelbak and an empty 1.5-litre bottle with water from Indian Springs
- With no set destination, I start walking up the wash past Indian Springs and notice some intriguing rock layers
- The colourful yellow lichen on these rocks is quite painterly
- A little further up Indian Springs wash, I come across another seep and a bit of ice that today's sun hasn't reached, and melted
- I continue up Indian Springs wash
- More cool rock layering effects
- Erosion along the walls of Indian Springs wash
- Poor little cactus!
- I'm seeing animal tracks all over the place
- Another trickle of water
- The wash forks and gets narrower, then I stumble across these bones
- I think I'm at Cane Spring, but maybe not; Cane Spring might be over in the next wash
- Just beyond Cane Spring, I come across more surface ice
- Another one of many splits in the wash
- Randomly, I decide to head up the rocky right fork
- More eroded walls in the wash
- "Painted-dot" rock
- The tip of one of the old lava flows lies a short distance ahead
- Approaching the base of the lava flow from the knoll that it rests on
- I make it almost to the top of the lava and am taking in the excellent views across the Indian Springs area
- I climb back down to the wash below
- I feel like taking a different route back to camp, instead of returning the same way I came
- I start walking up the low ridge to the west of me to get an overview of the area
- At the top of this low ridge, I contemplate my next steps
- Behind me is one of the cinder cones for which this area is well-known
- Further along atop the next hump
- Looking to the northwest, I can see another wash that looks like it drains toward Indian Springs
- I'm partially descending the back (south) side of the ridge to avoid the cold wind on the ridgetop
- Heading back up to the ridgetop for a moment
- I keep seeing these diminutive buckwheat-like plants
- Great views across to Soda Lake from the ridgetop
- So it's down the back side of the ridge again for a short distance to avoid the wind
- OK, back up the hill a little again
- Nice views, but there's a really steep drop between here and that wash down there
- This must be an animal trail along the ridge
- Ah! Just beyond the end of the animal trail, I spot a wash worth aiming for on the valley floor
- Almost down at my chosen wash!
- Now that I'm in the wash, I just have to follow it all the way down to Indian Springs Road
- A big hole dug by an animal in a quest for water
- Faint pink light in the wash
- Sunset near Eyeball Rock
- A quick stop at "Eyeball Rock," as I've decided to call it, for a photo break
- Desert mallow
- Yet more neato rock layering effects
- Dusk is closing in here in Eyeball Rock Wash
- Where am I?
- OK, I admit it--I'm lost, but not totally
- I nervously hike cross-country by flashlight toward the lights of Baker, in search of the road back to my tent
- After 1/ 2 mile or so, I'm relieved to stumble across Indian Springs Road as hoped
- Ice in my water bottles this morning at Indian Springs!
- Bladderpod (Isomeris arborea) flowering and fruiting on the hillside behind my tent near Indian Springs
- Unidentified alyssum-like plant
- Looking back down to my campsite from my outhouse with a view
- Before packing up, I head back up to Indian Springs 1/2 mile up the road to refill my drinking-water supply
- Pumping water at Indian Springs
- Dismantling the tent; time to move on and continue my bikepacking trip
- Around 13h, I ride down Indian Springs wash, away from my quiet campsite of the past two nights
- A mile or so down Indian Springs Road, I stop to look at some stone ruins in a hillside on the north side of the road
- At the stone ruins off Indian Springs Road
- I take a look into the hole that goes into the hillside
- Whatever this was, there's practically no mortar left at all between the stones
- Near those crumbling rock walls is a hole in the hillside
- The 10-ton bike waits for me back on Indian Springs Road
- Back on the pavement of Kelbaker Road, I begin the slow, easy climb up toward Jackass Canyon Road
- 2.5 miles up Kelbaker Road, I make a brief stop at Black Tank Wash to remove my scarf and winter jacket
- About 30 minutes later, and another 2.5 miles up the road, I stop at Rainy Day Mine Road to put on a windbreaker
- I complete my seven-mile climb up Kelbaker Road and reach the junction of Aiken Mine Road and Jackass Canyon Road
- The start of Jackass Canyon Road
- Small ruts on the uppermost part of Jackass Canyon Road
- Fire ring at a roadside campsite on Jackass Canyon Road about 1.75 miles in from Kelbaker Road
- Heading down Jackass Canyon Road, it's not as nearly as steep as I was expecting, at least not yet
- Bigger sandy drainages cross Jackass Canyon Road on the way down
- The impending sunset illuminates the distant power lines
- This four-wheel drive sign is the first sign I've seen on Jackass Canyon Road
- Uh oh, a fork in the power-line road; I have to make a choice that I didn't realize I'd have to make
- Hmmm... it's extremely sandy on this part of Jackass Canyon Road
- Bla, I can't ride through this deep kitty litter, it's getting dark, and I'm not down at Devil's Playground yet
- I climb up the high road, but it dead-ends at a transmission tower
- Back down in the Jackass Canyon Road wash, I resign myself to walking the bike through the kitty litter for a while
- After a mile or so, the road rises out of the wash and I have just enough traction to resume riding
- Returning to the main road, I decide to call it a day and set up camp by the power lines around 18h30
- The first thing I do upon waking up is peer outside to see where I am, without leaving the comfort of my hooded sleeping bag
- An hour later, I step outside for a short walk around my new surroundings at Devil's Playground
- This wavy-leaved plant reminds me of the "soap root" plant that grows in the Bay Area
- These plants look like a cross between a daisy and a milkweed
- My scenic morning cat hole with Soda Lake in the background
- And away we go toward Sands down the power-line road...
- Leaving my campsite at the bottom of Jackass Canyon to ride across Devil's Playground over to Sands
- I reach heavy sand a quarter mile down the road and a pile of paint cans that were recently dumped here
- Some of the old pavement on the power-line road still functions as originally intended
- A couple of miles down from my tent, a branch in the road to the left will take me to Sands
- A few low hills jut up from the relatively flat landscape along the road to Sands
- On the way to Sands is the remains of an old plank road, built ages ago to provide "permanent" traction in the sand
- The pristine sand layer on this segment of the road to Sands leaves the impression that nobody has come down here recently
- A few hoops like these are mounted on sturdy metal posts in a sandy area a short distance from the road
- A carpet of low, ground-hugging plants casts an almost lush green tint over this area near Sands
- Sands should be just over there where the road comes to an end at the railroad tracks
- The railroad tracks at Sands cross the wash on a bridge
- I cross the train tracks to Sands and check out the remains of an old corral
- Beyond the corral at Sands is an old ranch fence that heads off into the distance
- On the other side of the corral crumbles part of an old wall
- I see just one extant structure at Sands: a shed next to what looks like part of an old water tower
- Inside the well-built shed sit some serious-looking mechanics
- Etched into the sheet metal wall is an oil-change reminder
- A large trough just outside the shed looks like it was intended to collect water pumped from the well
- Before heading back to camp, I ride 3/4 mile down the service road alongside the train tracks toward Kelso Dunes
- I'm not seeing new points of interest along the service road, so I cross the tracks and ride back up to Sands
- Back at the road between Sands and my campsite on the other side of Devil's Playground, I re-enter Mojave National Preserve
- Crossing a dry mud flat near Sands on the way back across Devil's Playground
- I'm back at that area of virgin sand, which I walk the bike through again
- One of the rocky hills along the road tempts me, so I get off the bike and climb up it
- To the east sit the Kelso Dunes
- I look north toward Old Dad Mountain, the power-line road and my campsite at the bottom of Jackass Canyon
- This little hill provides expansive views across the Devil's Playground
- On the way back down the hill to the bike, I notice a few verbena-like flowers
- I head back up the power-line road to camp, looking back toward Sands
- I arrive back at the tent just in time to enjoy a perfect Devil's Playground sunset
- I step outside into the bright sun of a chilly morning at Devil's Playground
- It's time to dismantle the tent and pack up the bike, while making and drinking coffee
- Many of these flat primroses dot the sand around my campsite, but this is the only one that's flowering
- The 10-ton bike packed to go, I start the trek back up Jackass Canyon toward Kelbaker Road
- Heading up Jackass Canyon Road, I see a car coming toward me!
- As I'm drawn into the canyon ahead, I look back to Devil's Playground one last time and say goodbye
- Gravel on lower Jackass Canyon Road
- These plants are quite abundant here in the wash
- Looking back down Jackass Canyon Road as I walk the bike up the gentle grade
- Hike-a-biking through sand on the way up Jackass Canyon Road
- I pass by an area of subtly colourful hills
- To get out of the sandy wash, I opt for a "high road" that looks like a short bypass
- I pass a short-cut up over Rocky Ridge that follows the power lines to the ridge top where I'm going
- My miles of walking the bike through kitty litter come to an end when Jackass Canyon Road rises out of the wash
- Looking at the final few hundred feet of elevation gain in front of me on the main Jackass Canyon Road climb
- A happy-Mother's-Day balloon rests deflated near the road
- Excellent views of the cinder-cone landscape from the road that links upper Jackass Canyon Road back to the power-line road
- Despite old residual pavement on this road, surface sand and gravel makes it impossible to ride up the gentle slope
- Proud power-line boy reaches the de facto crest of his climb for the day
- The power-line road crosses Kelbaker Road and I get back on pavement here
- I start the 12-mile downhill to Kelso Depot after a short break to eat a Clif bar and put on my sweater and windbreaker
- Most of this Kelbaker Road descent is fairly gradual as it drops into the Kelso Valley
- Once in Kelso Valley, the silo near Kelso Depot comes into view
- At Kelso Depot, I'm happy to learn that they do sell AA batteries, and I chat with Preseve staff
- It's a race against time as I ride up Kelbaker Road toward Kelso Dunes
- Getting darker as I climb Kelbaker Road toward Kelso Dunes Road
- I'm just a couple of miles from Kelso Dunes Road
- My race against time is over when I reach the gravel of Kelso Dunes Road and head toward the camping area at the end of the road
- Awake, I peer out the back of my tent to see a sunny day, Kelso Dunes, and a creosote bush poking me in the face
- I take a short walk to warm up and get used to today's surroundings (it was dark when I got here last night)