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- I drag the bike over to the nearby campsite and this happy camper calls it a day
- On my way back down Chloride Cliff Road
- I put on my windbreaker for the easy 20-mile downhill to Baker, and off into the sunset we go
- Blue dicks
- An old gate on County Line Road before the final rise where County Line Road veers westward and becomes Bear Mountain Road.
- Animal bones along the creekbed.
- Now that I'm above the rock outcrop, I can see the next hill on my way up the McCullough Mountains
- A billboard next to the Searchlight motel advertises a "luxury" motel elsewhere
- As I plot the continuation of my hike, I look down into a secluded valley on the other (west) side of the Castle Peaks saddle
- A few nice rock outcrops dot the hike down the wash into the valley below the Castle Peaks
- At the mouth of Saddle Horse Canyon is a guzzler (a pad of concrete), dry right now due to lack of rain
- Bluejay Mine Road ends here, so I stash my bike in the brush, lock it up, and begin today's hike
- The little rock outcrops on the Providence Mountains ridge keep attracting my attention
- This pile of rocks reminds me of a rabbit viewed in side profile, with its head facing toward the right
- I leave my Pinto Valley campsite at 5650 feet elevation and start coasting down Howe Spring Road around 9h
- This clearing along the south fork of Globe Mine Road is obviously an old site of something and well-used
- At the bottom of the narrow wash, I rejoin the wide wash that will lead back to the south fork of Globe Mine Road
- I stop briefly at the old corral on the way down Morning Star Mine Road
- The rear of the Aguereberry cabin
- With sunset approaching in half an hour or so, I'm starting to cast nice long shadows on the edge of Broadwell Dry Lake
- A bit beyond the Pine Spring corral is an old water trough and a rusty water tank
- I climb over several low hills on my cross-country route toward Indian Spring
- A quick look back down the hill behind me confirms why my heart is pounding
- Aha, a trickle of water passes by these Mimulus bushes (Monkey flower) and their yellow flowers in upper Butcher Knife Canyon
- My five-mile ride across the Sagamore Canyon Cut-Off road comes to an end when I reach the bigger Ivanpah Road
- Ivanpah Road is wide and gravelly
- I take one last look at the old corral and water tank and continue my hike down the narrow wash back toward camp
- Scattered flowers add some color to the descent toward Globe Mine Road
- For a change, my first concern of the morning is not boiling water for coffee or digging a cat hole
- Looking southeast from the Essex post office, down Sunflower Springs Road, a dirt road that rises up over the mountains
- Inside the rustic Nipton shower building, dirt floors and all!
- The end of upper Monarch Canyon overlooks Death Valley below
- Old Kelso Road occasionally crosses dry washes where it is suddenly rocky instead of sandy
- Pond turtle, Henry Coe State Park
- The bottom of Bear Mountain Road crosses Coyote Creek, which is dry at this time of year.
- Another blazing-hot morning at Paradise Lake, Henry Coe State Park
- kelbaker2
- 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
- Across the road from the old Barnwell water tank is a corral and another windmill
- I continue riding down Wild Horse Canyon Road toward the Wild Horse Mesa area, watching for the easy-to-miss Bluejay Mine Road
- The hills between Cottonwood Spring and Cabin Springs are high enough to provide great views
- I walk down the fan on the south fork of Globe Mine Road, enjoying the sun behind the Marl Mountains
- Just before arriving at the mine sits a concrete platform on the side of the road
- At the base of the joshua-tree grove are rocks and a few other native plants
- The signs behind me warned that the road would turn sharply to the left after crossing the tracks
- I'm up out of Kelso Valley now
- A different view of the Kelbaker Hills campsite showing the rocky hill behind it
- An energy-bar break is de rigueur here before tackling the final few miles up to Mid Hills campground
- Time to break camp on Gold Valley Road and begin the long ride down to Furnace Creek Campground
- The trail passes through some narrows
- 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
- East of Daggett, one of several long cargo trains passes by
- I spy an old tree trunk on the McCullough Mountains ridge line
- The 10-ton mountain bike slowly gains altitude on Cedar Canyon Road
- On the way down Wild Horse Canyon Road, I pass the little road that leads to the Eagle Rocks area
- I've passed through the Hole-in-the-Wall area here so many times without stopping to take it in on foot
- Everything has been quiet, and I can see down to the tiny town of Kelso, when a low-flying helicopter passes overhead
- Approaching Howe Spring, I notice some old scrub oaks growing back from their burned structure
- I take a look behind me to see that I'm quite a few feet above Pinto Valley now
- I walk over to that old headframe, or whatever it is, with the New York Mountains backdrop
- My dirt road crosses the paved Nipton Road, where I get off to visit the general store
- Nipton-Desert Road crosses under the train tracks at the one-house settlement of Desert, California
- A garden of white buckwheat flowers and cholla cactus along the south fork of Globe Mine Road, Mojave National Preserve
- An old track leads into the Bighorn Mine tunnel
- The views were already great, but now I'm way above the main mine road below as I climb the switchback to the upper area
- I assemble the 10-ton bike just beyond the goathead-infested meadow at the Butcher Knife corral
- The views from up here are great, and I hate to turn back, but I'm turning back anyway
- I take on the 12-mile climb up Kelbaker Road rising away from Kelso Depot
- I've bought another box of fire wood from the Park office to have a campfire tonight
- A chunk of land in Round Valley is for sale
- I stop at the power lines that cross Highway 127 ten miles out from Baker and am surprised that my cell phone still works
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- Broadwell Dry Lake at sunset
- 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
- I'm now walking up a wash that I hiked down earlier today, but this time I'll go all the way to the crest ahead
- The cows saunter along the Providence Mountains hillside, toward where?
- The hike down into Butcher Knife Canyon starts off as a small, rocky drainage
- Cottonwood Spring is only a bit more than a mile away
- Orange desert mallow flowers at the Kelbaker Road summit, Mojave National Preserve
- One other unavoidable item around the Butcher Knife corral is small droppings
- I ride down the Butcher Knife Canyon road, satisfied that I've managed to leave my campsite by 13h
- Dumont Dunes get closer as the descent continues
- We find ourselves at the top of the Goldbelt Grade at a time of day when photographers come out
- After the nice break at Kelso Depot, it's time to start the 12-mile climb up to the Kelbaker Road summit
- Circle
- Hill 1624 in the Providence Mountains boasts a robust rock outcrop stacked in layers
- This views down the hill toward Cima Dome across upper Ivanpah Valley are quite nice
- At the bottom of the valley, an uninterrupted patch of grey-green bunch grasses grows
- Leaving Baker, the 10-ton bike and I cross the I-15 freeway and head toward Mojave National Preserve
- I come across a number of old cans as I hike over the little hill and leave the mine area
- I head up "the shortcut" to check out a better road that I saw on my way here, but which is not on my maps
- The small campground at Nipton, with New York Mountains in the background, is almost empty tonight, which suits me just fine
- Northeast from Providence Mountains Campground, one gets a view of Wild Horse Mesa
- Blooming daturas decorate the train tracks along Kelso-Cima Road
- Phil walks out toward The Grandstand
- On the way back to my campsite at Mississippi Lake, I stop to take photos along County Line Road on the ridge top
- The bottom of the road in the canyon at Coyote Creek becomes visible.
- I've hiked two miles up Pine Spring Road, which ends here, so I climb a hill to get oriented for the day's off-trail hiking
- On the other side of my tent at Mid Hills campground site 9 is a wide-open space that burned in the 2005 brush fires
- Some of the juniper trees, like this one, at Mid Hills campground are quite old
- On the approach to Saddle Horse Canyon, I pass another flowering plant that I like: Paper-bag bush (Salazaria mexicana)
- Another little cave on the Providence Mountains ridge line...
- On the way across the fan, I cross the old road to Bolder Spring again
- Down at the collapsed building at the old Ubehebe Mine site
- I've risen out of Death Valley just enough to have a view of the Badwater Basin ahead
- Close-up of Red Cathedral
- I pause on Old Kelso Road to admire the views back toward Cowhole Mountain, Soda Lake, and my campsite of the last two nights
- A slow and mostly gentle climb up from Mississippi Lake to County Line Road, which rides along the ridge.
- On South Campground Peak, Mid Hills Campground, I discover a couple of juniper trees that survived the 2005 brush fires here
- Close to Searchlight along Nevada 164, I notice a few of these yellow domes
- Some stretches of the old, closed Castle Peaks road are quite eroded
- A quarter mile or so beyond the freeway crossing, I reach the Mojave National Preserve entrance marker and leave the past behind
- Perched up on this hill, the Tough Nut Mine site offers many great views, including this one to the northeast
- I'm starting to see some blooming sages in this area
- I re-repair the broken bike rack by reinstalling my improvised brace under the rack, rather than on top of it
- I have the whole day to spend up here on Cima Dome, so I'll do a hike up to Teutonia Peak and beyond
- Just a few miles to go before reaching Kelso Depot...
- At the top of Kelbaker Road at 3800 feet, the last 20 miles into Baker at 925 feet will be a gentle downhill (in the dark)
- After the 10-mile ride on Route 66 from Goffs to Fenner, I take note of a dirt road leading to the Providence Mountains
- The 10-ton bike is all packed up and we're leaving Hole-in-the-Wall Campground, Mojave National Preserve
- As I pack the tent's contents into my saddlebags, I remove the big rocks I placed inside the tent to keep it from blowing away
- A few moments after visiting the Kelso Dunes outhouse, it's time to dismount again and check out the lighting effects behind me
- I reach the end of the dirt road, just south of Rustler Canyon, and park the bicycle
- Arriving Keystone Spring, Mojave National Preserve: water!
- I continue hiking more or less along the barbed-wire fence
- After crossing Watson Wash, I turn off Cedar Canyon Road to visit the Bert Smith rock house
- I continue walking up the wash beyond Howe Spring toward the top of one of the forks of Butcher Knife Canyon
- I climb up some rocks, but it's a dead-end, so back down to the Butcher Knife Canyon stream I go
- I decide to go climb a few boulders over on the nearby rock pile
- As I walk around the rocks near Howe Spring, I reflect on how I haven't seen another human for almost 4 days
- I zoom in behind me for a final glance at the Castle Peaks area of the New York Mountains
- In this narrow wash, I stumble across some old installations: a waterless cistern and a water tank, probably also dry
- Riding down the old road just west of I-15
- Cattle-guard on Nipton Road at I-15
- I walk my packed saddlebags back to the powerline road, assemble the 10-ton bike, then ride a short distance to reach pavement
- Darkness sets in as I arrive at the summit of Kelbaker Road at 3700 feet, ready for the 12-mile descent to Kelso in the dark
- Bike standing on the edge of County Line Road at the trailhead of the Hartman Trail (closed to bikes)
- On the way over to North Campground Peak is another juniper tree that survived the 2005 brush fires here
- Daggett has numerous unused structures, such as this old gas station
- Atop the blackbrush hill, I check out the upward route ahead to the McCullough Mountains ridgeline
- Cacti and a few blue phacelia flowers enjoy the shade under this pinyon pine in the McCullough Mountains
- To my surprise, I find a small stream in this unnamed Castle Peaks canyon
- One of the hilltops between Cottonwood Spring and Cabin Springs is topped with numerous flowering cacti
- Mojave National Preserve map, Day 1: Baker to Globe Mine Road
- I stop for a break and a Clif bar on a small flat area to take in the view of the Kelso Dunes that has been behind me
- A rock at the entrance to the mine is painted with "Merle Young 74"
- The first mile or so of Death Valley Mine Road is rideable despite some sand on the road because it's a bit downhill
- I start dragging the bike up the old Cima Road, which is turning out to be really sandy
- Hiking up Butcher Knife Canyon, Mojave National Preserve
- I see that I'm approaching a mining area with red soil that is not on my map and may still be active
- Along the way to Foshay Pass, there are a few steep sections, but the grade is mostly moderate
- The climb up Black Canyon Road toward Mid Hills only lasts a mile until I reach an almost-flat plateau (Round Valley)
- An old car and trailer near my camp site at Tecopa Hot Springs Campground
- It's a bit cloudy this morning up on Gold Valley Road
- Old Kelso Road has proven to be more rideable than I expected, but this final part before the power lines is a bit rough
- Elevation profile of bicycle route from Kelso Dunes area to Baker via Kelbaker Road
- OK, everything out of the tent, it's time to pack up and leave!
- Walking the bike up the short road to Arnold Horse Camp.
- This old juniper tree was mostly burned, like everything surrounding it, during the 2005 brush fires, but its crown lives on!
- A few small barrel cacti are on the side of Saddle Horse Canyon, some living, some burned
- One of several rock shelters in the Hole-in-the-wall area
- I reach a sandy wash near Cabin Springs, so I walk down it briefly
- This pinon pine tree appears to have burned a bit during the 2005 brush fires, but not enough for it to die
- I drop down onto the fan and head south toward Kelso Dunes
- I'd like to hike further up the canyon and over the hill to the other side of the New York Mountains if I had time
- I make another stop in the lava-flow area, this time at Black Tank Wash
- Coyote melon grows on the shoulder of Kelbaker Road just north of Kelso
- Up bright and early, I go for a walk up the road to the Bun Boy restaurant for breakfast
- Daylight Pass Road passes through some low hills as it approaches the valley floor
- Entering San Jose's suburban sprawl along Monterey Road for real now, passing by a street called Grandwell Way.
- The lower part of Gold Valley Road has more sand; I sometimes lose traction and need to walk the bike occasionally
- As I climb a bit higher above Beecher Canyon, I pass through a field of Desert marigolds
- Since I'm in no rush today, I decide to take a short detour over to Government Holes, that big tree up the dirt road here
- A substantial bird's nest up in the Government Holes cottonwood tree also watches me
- An old Hunt's can
- Colonies of flowering banana yucca populate some of the walls of the wash below Butcher Knife Canyon
- As I pedal my way gently up Ivanpah Road on the compromised 10-ton bike, I stop briefly at the little road to Bathtub Spring
- Huge old juniper tree near my campsite at Mid Hills Campground, Mojave National Preserve
- I'm enjoying the fleeting sunset along Kelbaker Road as I slowly approach the summit, looking back to the cinder cones
- Arnold Horse Camp, my destination for the day, is hidden in the trees at the centre-right, up the road from the dry Coyote Creek
- I stop to watch a cow and her calf as I ride up Black Canyon Road
- Turpentine broom in the foreground, Banana yuccas in the middle, and Antelope brush behind that
- I'm almost finished packing up the tent and its contents; good-bye Sleeping Beauty!
- OK, it's getting dark for real; I'll ride a couple more miles on the powerline road while looking for a campsite
- My cross-country hiking ends temporarily when I hit the old closed road to Indian Spring, which serves as a nice trail
- I reach my shortcut road that connects Cedar Canyon Road with Black Canyon Road
- From Hill 1713, I can see across Gold Valley to Twin Buttes and the Woods Mountains
- As I hike over another hump on the Providence Mountains ridge line, I arrive at a herd of resting cows
- This sign near Government Holes used to say something about private property
- I keep looking at the hawk-head rock formation as I walk past the hills near Cabin Springs
- OK, it's time to come out from behind this big old barberry bush and walk up there to Cliff Canyon Spring Peak #2
- I come across another another one of those old rough-hewn wood fences that I always like
- Just a little further until I reach the top...
- My route ahead will take me across Watson Wash
- Old concrete foundations for something
- I hike a little further up Bolder Spring wash and reach a fork
- This campsite is actually two miles down the wash from Butcher Knife Canyon, not in the canyon itself
- This old roadside building at Nipton looks like it may have been a store at one time
- The last supper at Keystone Canyon
- I reach the 1000-foot point of elevation gain on the way out of Death Valley