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- I walk a quarter mile up the wash, looking for signs of the old road to Tough Nut Mine
- After breakfast, it's that wonderful moment I've been waiting for: digging a cat hole
- I return to the main wash and follow it further upward as it carves its way slowly into the base of foothills
- I look across the sand trap here and ponder the abandoned buildings at Death Valley Mine
- Death Valley Mine house #2 also has drought-tolerant vines growing in front of it
- Closer to Essex, I pass the "This is IT" RV park, and not much else
- Coming up to the "big bend," I can now see the town of Kelso down in the distance
- When I reach a patch of mature, unburned sagebrush, I turn east (left) and begin hiking cross-country to Mid Hills campground
- County Line Road is picturesque as it winds through chaparral and oak woodlands with amazing views off to the east
- Getting closer to Coyote Creek at the bottom of Bear Mountain Road.
- I continue riding down Orestimba Creek Road.
- Jackrabbit Lake campsite, morning. Time to get out the iodine tablets.
- I stop again to take in the views eastward across Nevada's scenic Wee Thump Joshua Tree Wilderness
- I've been hearing occasional bluejay chirps all morning
- At the Ivanpah Road railroad crossing, I make a right turn toward Nipton on the dirt road (Nipton-Moore Rd) that hugs the tracks
- The road to Coyote Springs from my campsite is really sandy in places
- I reach Death Valley Mine Road and turn left here to begin skirting around the west side of the New York Mountains
- I figure I may as well continue onward a little further and see if the deep sand lets up
- On Essex Road, it's 6.3 miles past Interstate 40 to the nearly dead town of Essex, California at the base of the distant hills
- We start the climb up Goldbelt Grade to get over Hunter Mountain by dark
- I stop for a moment when I pass the unmaintained Vulcan Mine Road
- I take a short energy-bar break in a sandy wash in Woods Wash Valley just before reaching the powerline road
- Behind the little house on Cedar Canyon Road, some of the old fake-brick tiles are neatly piled
- I'll follow the Providence Mountains ridge line to the left, then head right later to that high point at centre (Hill 1713)
- A turkey vulture, one of my favorite birds, flies overhead, reminding me that I'm alive
- I've seen a few penstemons blooming here in Butcher Knife Canyon today
- Back on a road, I ride for a while, then stash the bicycle in the brush and go for a hike to a rocky area
- I stop to take a closer look at the Munz' mariposa lily
- As I ride past Barnwell, I have to take another photo of the lined-up junked cars
- Parts of this fan host fewer creosote bushes than usual, allowing many tufts of ankle-low grasses to grow
- A trickle of rusty, contaminated water exudes from a tunnel in the hillside above the mine tailings
- View of Teutonia Peak from the area of my campsite near Sunrise Rock
- The final five-mile stretch of Essex Road to Mitchell Caverns (Providence Mountains State Recreation Area)
- One final view of my campsite at Hole-in-the-Wall campground, Mojave National Preserve, before I pack up and leave
- Nipton General Store and the café building
- 3000 feet, I'm almost at the top of my climb out of Death Valley
- As I approach Kelso, I see an RV driving up the paved Kelbaker Road
- It turns out that the final mile of Kelso Dunes Road has not been freshly graded, and is the usual sand and washboard
- Mississippi Lake itself behind the tent.
- Bees in a water tank along Woods Wash Valley Road
- From the saddle, I look back at McCullough Mountains Peak 6557
- The so-scenic ride through the joshua-tree forest along Wee Thump Wilderness ends here; time to ride the highway for a bit
- I take a look behind me at one of the spikes on the Providence Mountains ridge line that I just hiked over
- I return to the task of riding back to Primm, Nevada and have views of the Castle Peaks from this part of Ivanpah Road
- I recognize the Bathtub Spring Peaks area as I ride down Ivanpah Road
- 1/3 mile up the main road, I turn down the short road that dead-ends at Coyote Springs
- Yup, it's a stream
- A rattlesnake startles me as I approach this big boulder along the Butcher Knife Canyon stream
- I come across another campsite with a fire ring near the road
- This very gnarled old tree on Cedar Canyon Road gets my attention
- Sometimes, the "road" rises above the dry creek briefly and then rolls back down to meet it again.
- Bear Mountain Road drops off toward the valley below me.
- Gold flowers growing in the gravel near my tent, which I think at first are goldfields (Lasthenia californica)
- As I drop down into yet another wash, I realize I'm quite close to Taylor Spring (dry), where I hiked last year
- After a bit more hiking, I arrive at more rocks
- I'm noticing a lot of white-flowered buckwheats along Kelbaker Road on the way up toward the summit
- On the way back to camp from the Good Hope Mine, I notice a cactus that has green flowers
- Wild Horse Canyon Road meanders over the hills
- One of several long freight trains passes by as I slowly rise up Kelso-Cima Road
- Up on top of it all on Willow Ridge Road.
- Another drop-off on Bear Mountain Road.
- The cabin at Arnold Horse Camp sits in the shelter of a big tin roof
- Water tank and windmill on Gold Valley Road, Mojave National Preserve
- As the sun disappears, I ride past another BLM Heart-of-Mojave sign at the junction of Crucero Road and the Cady Mtns powerline
- I continue walking up the wash and am amazed when I reach a small stream
- I get back to camp around 17h and happily find that my bicycle is still here waiting for me to use it tomorrow
- The climb up the old road over the tailings pile is steep
- I heat up a boil-in-bag Indian-style breakfast, happy that my tent survived last night's wind storm
- The climb is going really well, probably because it's the end of the trip and I'm stronger now after two weeks of this
- A view of the Mitchell Caverns campground from a bit higher up shows how it's little more than a small, scenic parking lot
- Los Cruzeros squirrel
- Some amazing views from County Line Road across the Orestimba Wilderness and the ridgetops beyond.
- I approach my destination down here in the canyon, Arnold Horse Camp
- I tackle the tough trek up Poverty Flat Road toward park headquarters.
- Cows graze by an old burned juniper tree in upper Gold Valley
- Bulb
- I stop to check out the remains of an old building along Howe Spring Road
- Continuing uphill on Kelso-Cima Road, looking ahead
- Looking back down behind me on Kelbaker Road as I approach the summit at 3800 feet
- I pass Globe Mine Road, the only signed road off Kelso-Cima Road between Kelso and Cedar Canyon Road
- Detail view of the E Clampus Vitus plaque at the junction of Mojave Road, Kelso-Cima Road and Cedar Canyon Road
- I catch the red rays of sunset as I pedal down Kelbaker Road toward Baker
- Willow Ridge Road, lots of steep ups and downs as it rides on the ridge top. I have to drag the bike up some of the steep hills
- Leaving Mississippi Lake on the old road.
- Decomposed scarf and water bottle decorate the living room wall.
- There are a couple of different types of Cholla cacti here in the area just south of Rustler Canyon
- On the other side of the train tracks from Route 66 is Daggett's general store, the Desert Market
- A few bouquets of yellow and orange dress up the seven-mile straight-line ride to Searchlight, visible even from here
- My room is clean, though the mattress rather worn-out, and it's bicycle-friendly
- A fallen joshua tree lays in this wash below the Castle Peaks
- A few yellow Groundsel flowers and orange Desert mallows brighten up the burned area here
- I come around a bend in Butcher Knife Canyon and get my first view out toward Cima Dome
- Cactus
- I can see across the eastern end of Lanfair Valley over to the Castle Peaks area, where I spent a few days last week
- After climbing a gap between hills where the old connector road should be, I've ended up above the road to Tough Nut Mine
- Dragging the 10-ton bike through the sand is quite tiring and I'm expending a lot of energy here
- One of the final things to do before leaving Nipton is to replenish my water supply to full capacity at the outdoor sink
- I've made my left turn on Ivanpah Road, which heads south for three miles
- Time to unpack and set up camp in this high-desert area whose landscape I like so much
- I start the walk back down the old road to my campsite at the bottom of Keystone Canyon
- After exiting Hole-in-the-Wall Campground, I gradually descend Black Canyon Road southbound toward I-40
- Pinkish gravel on Hart Mine Road; the New York Mountains are not too far away now
- Sunset from Mid Hills campground through a pinyon pine; that should be the Kingston Range way over there
- I walk up Daylight Pass Road a bit to get a view of the Hell's Gate entrance to Death Valley National Park
- The last items to remove are the large rocks that I placed inside the tent last night to keep it from blowing over again
- The bike all packed up, I begin the 5.5-mile trek down Old Kelso Road along the east side of Devil's Playground
- After my visit to the Bert Smith rock house, I continue riding westward on the washboard of Cedar Canyon Road
- I'm back at the Mid Hills campground entry kiosk at sunset, perfect timing!
- It looks like a few rainy patches are moving around out in the middle of Ivanpah Valley
- As I descend into the Kelso Valley, it's becoming noticeably warmer
- Just before I leave Kelso Depot, I stop to visit the ruins of a house across the road
- The "good road" that is not on my maps turns out to be very short and dead-ends at a guzzler
- I come around a bend and it looks like the road will end at the mine tunnel and tailings pile ahead
- A little higher, I approach a face-like rock formation in the foreground at my left
- Looking back down at Nipton as I climb slowly
- I have 8 miles of downhill on Kelbaker Road before I reach Kelso, but a strong headwind is slowing me down
- I walk across this flat area, between cholla cactus skeletons, to the next pile of rocks
- Poison oak woods on Willow Ridge Trail
- Entering the forested area, still above the canyon.
- Near the barbed-wire fence is the brightest blooming desert sage I've seen yet on this trip
- Here's another part of Saddle Horse Canyon that allows me to avoid getting more grass stuck in my socks
- From another rock shelter in the area, I peer out into the sunshine
- As I ride down Wild Horse Canyon Road, a few cows start to cross, but I end up inadvertently chasing them
- Back on the pavement of Primm, Nevada, where I started two weeks ago
- I decide that I don't really need to camp right next to that old mine site, so I pull over here and choose a campsite nearby
- I hike up the old road to Tough Nut Mine, which hasn't been used by vehicles in many years and is slowly returning to nature
- Can dump at the mine site at the end of the middle fork of Globe Mine Road
- Tailings from the mine at the end of the middle fork of Globe Mine Road
- The village of Essex on historic Route 66 is that collection of buildings a mile or so ahead
- Walking Box Ranch Road turns out to be easy to locate on Nevada Highway 164
- Looking down toward Highway 190 from Zabriskie Point; my world is slanted
- It's almost 17h, and a little sunlight still remains as I begin the hike back to camp across Broadwell Dry Lake
- The kitchen at the cabin at Arnold Horse Camp
- The Narrows Trail runs along the dry Coyote Creek.
- From my campsite on the Sleeping Beauty foothills, I can zoom in on a long freight train down by the freeway
- Good views over to the New York Mountains peaks from this Castle Peaks ridge
- In this Castle Peaks wash is the most lush Desert four o'clock (Mirabilis multiflora) that I've seen so far on this trip
- I reach the Wilderness boundary and exit onto the part of Castle Peaks Road that is still open to vehicles
- I like this old range fence off Cedar Canyon Road in front of Pinto Mountain
- I pull over at a turn-out on Wild Horse Canyon Road, stash the bicycle in the bushes and begin the hike
- The "Shortcut Road" is only 3/4 mile long; soon enough, I'm approaching Cedar Canyon Road, that horizontal line ahead
- I reach a junction on the five-mile-long Sagamore Canyon Cut-Off Road
- Looking back behind me, I can see all the way across Lanfair Valley to flat-topped Table Mountain
- Making coffee outside my tent near the end of the middle fork of Globe Mine Road, Mojave National Preserve
- The old road to Bolder Spring is leaving the fan in favour of the foothills, and the scenery is becoming more intimate
- With Kelso well-behind me now at the bottom of the hill, the heat of the day is catching up with me a bit
- Warning to me: "Rough Road Next 23 Miles"
- Along this stretch, the road is actually in the wash
- For about six miles, Cedar Canyon Road heads straight westward, after which several sharp corners appear in the road
- The lower part of Wild Horse Canyon Road passes interesting geological features like Wild Horse Mesa
- I exit "The Gate" in the Bristol Mountains
- Top of the Willow Ridge Trail, where it meets Willow Ridge Road, also called "roller coaster ridge"
- County Line Road climbs slowly as the ridge rises.
- The views from County Line Road across Orestimba Valley are quite impressive along the upper parts of County Line Road.
- More rolling ups and downs on the way down.
- Rising slowly up Blue Ridge Road and looking back down toward the Coyote Creek canyon where I started a while ago.
- I pass a tangle of white and purple flowers on the way back to the bike near Wild Horse Canyon Road
- Near some patches of Fleabane (I think) is a bright yellow flower that I haven't seen before
- I'm not sure what these purple flowers are
- I always enjoy passing the lava flows along Kelbaker Road just beyond the road to Indian Springs
- This area is almost dry right now, but is apparently a large pool of water during the wetter months
- I continue rising slowly up Ivanpah Road into the New York Mountains
- A few primroses bloom along Keystone Canyon Road a bit west of my campsite
- Goffs, California on old Route 66
- As I get closer to the Kelbaker Road summit, the moon rises behind me
- Some scenic drop-offs alongside the road into the canyon below.
- The rocks at the mouth of Saddle Horse Canyon are more interesting than further up the canyon
- Next to Summit Spring are the remains of a concrete foundation and, presumably, a building
- The water at Howe Spring is quite stagnant!
- I turn down a side road, just to see what's there, and find this old shot-up car
- I exchange waves with the conductor of a passing freight train that rises slowly on the tracks along Kelso-Cima Road
- I choose the right (south) fork of Globe Mine Road
- More white-flowered buckwheat
- Bolder Spring hike route viewed in Google Earth
- It's not only sand here: rocky patches on Death Valley Mine Road provide quite a contrast to the slippery sandy segments
- Indeed, the Cima Store is closed
- Phil walks over to Goldbelt Spring's old truck
- I look back down behind me again to Death Valley
- Up, up, slowly up Kelbaker Road, Mojave National Preserve
- The Broadwell Natural Arch area is fun because of the mini-caves everywhere that invite exploration
- Five years after the 2005 brush fires here, many of the burned trees are finally falling down
- After a mile or so, I've made it up to ridge on County Line Rd, with great views looking back down to Mississippi Lake
- Next door is the famous Bagdad Café itself
- This hill in the Providence Mountains is a steep way to start a hike
- Numerous rock outcrops dot the Providence Mountains ridge line
- Everything is packed up and I'm almost ready to leave Pinto Valley after four nights here
- I think I'm riding right into that cloudy area...
- Elevation profile of Pinto Valley to Primm, Nevada bicycle route via Ivanpah Road
- As I climb up the other side, I look over to the hill that I just descended
- I notice a scattering of scat just behind me
- Road users have placed rocks in this gully to facilitate passage over it
- Here's a plant that I've never seen before
- Mojave National Preserve map: Day 11, day hike to Keystone Spring and Keystone Canyon mine
- The Amtrak bus out of Bakersfield climbs over the mountains
- Nice wiggly tire track behind me as I ride slowly up Jackass Canyon Road from Devil's Playground
- Willow Spring itself
- Close-up of the plants and their blossom stacks.
- Lots of wind up here on Campground Peak North, overlooking Mid Hills campground, nice sunset
- The Pine Spring water trough is inside a corral, which is apparently still in use by cows
- Time for another energy bar, already, on my way up into the McCullough Mountains