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- A bit further north on Black Canyon Road, I reach my shortcut road over to Cedar Canyon Road and Pinto Mountain
- The shortcut road to Cedar Canyon Road is a good two-track for a short distance, up to a secluded campsite under an old juniper
- This is another area of the Mid Hills that was partially burned, but not completely, during the 2005 brush fires
- Beyond the juniper campsite, the shortcut road to Cedar Canyon Road fades out somewhat due to lack of use
- Off-camber stretches of the shortcut road toward Pinto Mountain make it unusable by low-clearance vehicles
- The shortcut road descends to Cedar Canyon Road and then crosses it
- I stash my bicycle behind some dead trees near the old Mojave Road and start the hike to nearby Pinto Mountain
- The Pinto Mountain hike starts by passing through the Wilderness-boundary markers
- An old closed road beyond the Wilderness boundary on the west side of Pinto Mountain makes for a perfect trail
- Back on Black Canyon Road, I hear hissing, and see a bit of "Slime" oozing out of my front tire to prevent a flat
- I ride two miles down Wild Horse Canyon Road, then ride north on Black Canyon Road
- The old cistern here by Holliman Well off Black Canyon Road, with Pinto Mountain in the background, is full
- A lizard on a rock near my tent says "Good morning!" as I step outside my tent after a relaxed breakfast
- Some regrowth at Mid Hills campground, almost five years after the 2005 brush fires
- This old pinon pine near my tent at Mid Hills campground is in a green pocket that escaped the 2005 brush fires
- I do a test ride to a nearby campsite after fixing the bike's misaligned rear wheel; nice view of Cima Dome from this site
- As I ride the 3/4 mile out of Mid Hills campground, I stop to see if the water is better here than from the tap by my campsite
- Across the road from the washrooms, a patch of phacelias bloom amidst a stand of junipers, pinon pines and yuccas
- I'm happy to wake up and find myself at Mid Hills campground, Mojave National Preserve
- Kelso Peak hike elevation profile from my powerline road campsite, Kelso Mountains, Mojave National Preserve (Day 2)
- Kelso Peak hike route from my powerline road campsite, Kelso Mountains, Mojave National Preserve (Day 2)
- This evening's potential rain clouds are a bit creepy, but they create an awesome sunset!
- What's more scenic than a tent in a Mojave Desert sunset?
- I catch a final glimpse of the ball of fire before it drops down behind the distant mountains
- I boil water for tonight's add-water-to-bag meal, and then wind down and enjoy the food coma; it rains for a while later on!
- I approach the power lines and can see my tent in the distance at the left
- Back at my tent, dark clouds linger above me while sun illuminates the Kelso Mountains where I hiked a few hours ago
- The dark clouds are looking rather serious
- My rear wheel rubbed against the frame yesterday from time to time, so I take a look at the problem
- I've dubbed this as "my favourite joshua tree"
- Another view of my favourite joshua tree
- Also growing in the gravelly area near the Kelso Mountains is a scattering of goldfields
- Blue delphiniums (Delphinium parishii) flowering near some yellowish hopsage (Grayia spinosa)
- A short distance later, I notice another hopsage, this one with more mature inflorescences
- This tiny plant in a gravelly area reminds me of miner's lettuce; it's Oxytheca perfoliata (roundleaf puncturebract)
- The gently curved crest of Cima Dome is visible in the distance from parts of this wash
- As the wash empties out onto the fan, the power lines are visible not too far away
- It's not just creosote bush everywhere here; Indian paintbrush flowers pop up through a purple desert sage
- I start walking down a wash out of the Kelso Mountains and notice that someone has lost his horns
- This wash leading down out of the Kelso Mountains turns out to be a small one
- Hey, it looks like someone has been sleeping here!
- I've seen these little white flowers before, Fremont's pincushion, but this is the first patch of them I've seen today
- I hike over several hills before choosing a wash for descending back down toward my tent
- Looking back at the Kelso Peak hillside that I just descended
- A bit further, I turn back to look at Kelso Peak again
- A few beavertail cactus blooms add a splash of colour to a slightly cloudy, olive afternoon
- It's GPS time again; I want to hike a few different ridges on the way back to my campsite
- I descend a little further toward the drainage and realize that, yes, it should provide a better descent than my ascent route
- Easy does it, as I descend from the Kelso Peak ridge line
- I've made it down to that next saddle well below the Kelso Peak ridge line, and it will all be easier from here
- Now that I'm on one of the low ridges north of Kelso Peak, hiking seems so easy again!
- I start looking for a way back down from the Kelso Peak ridge line, preferably not following the same route I ascended
- The larger rocks on this part of the Kelso Peak slope make for a descent with better footing than I had on the way up
- I zigzag across the slope, approaching a drainage that I identify on my GPS as a possible descent route
- Looking down from the Kelso Peak ridge line past a few joshua trees and indigo bushes, I wonder how I made it up here!
- Vertigo man is fixated on how steep this is; I feel like a cat on a roof, not sure how to get back down
- A few large rocks are blocking my ascent onto the ridge, so I slowly move across the slope in case there's an easy way up
- "So far, so good," I say to myself as I stop to enjoy a desert mallow and the views; I keep climbing
- The views across Kelso Mountains toward the Kelso Dunes, and the Granite Mountains beyond, are inspiring
- I climb up to the Kelso Peak ridge line, using my hands at times, and realize that vertigo is setting in; a good place to rest
- Before I know it, I'm slowly on up way up the lower flank of Kelso Peak, with the cinder cones and my tent behind me
- The rock formations in the upper part of this wash in the Kelso Mountains are quite interesting
- As I head toward Kelso Peak, it's clear from the smoothed rock in the wash that a lot of water passes here at times
- The wash fizzles out, and now I'm on the foothills of Kelso Peak
- I pass a few desert larkspurs (Delphinium parishii) popping up through some yellow brittlebrush flowers
- Brilliant Indian Paintbrush never fails to get one's attention!
- To my surprise, I come across a rather large guzzler installation in this wash in the Kelso Mountains
- This guzzler system consists of three water-storage tanks and a small solar panel
- Someone has built a nest in the rocks near the guzzler
- I arrive at the unnamed wash leading into the Kelso Mountains which I had targeted on my maps and GPS
- I climb down into the wash and start walking up into the Kelso Mountains
- A big patch of paperbag bush (Salazaria mexicana) in the wash leading into the Kelso Mountains
- Looking behind me past a patch of indigo bush toward the Beale Mountains on the other side of Kelbaker Road
- Another view behind me from a garden patch I'm passing through
- I pick up an animal trail leading toward Kelso Peak after the old 4WD road fizzles out
- On the way to Kelso Peak, a few joshua trees are scattered across this area dominated by creosote-bush scrub
- I start seeing the occasional Beavertail Cactus (Opuntia basilaris) in flower
- Here's one of the many yellow flowers that inhabit the Kelso Mountains area: Cooper Dyssodia (Adenophyllum cooperi)
- I hike past a small patch of yellow flowers, which seem to be goldfields (the tiny ones) and tidy tips, the larger ones
- I hitch up with an old road (now closed in a Wilderness area) and follow it toward Kelso Peak
- I've seen several of these so far today: probably Krameria erecta (Range Ratany)
- I wake up to slightly cloudy skies, which is more polite than the typical blazing sun that makes a tent uninhabitable after 7h30
- I refill my empty bottles from my water bag, have breakfast, and start out on today's hike across the fan to the Kelso Peak area
- As I start hiking across the creosote-bush scrub, a fluffy winterfat bush (Krascheninnikovia lanata) catches my attention
- Baker to Kelso Peak powerline road elevation profile (Day 1)
- Baker to Kelso Peak powerline road route (Day 1)
- More Mojave asters along the powerline road near Kelso Peak
- I chuckle when I find a Budweiser-decorated cap on the powerline road
- Indigo bush blooms near my tent close to the powerline road
- One of two major powerline routes that cut across Mojave National Preserve
- A nice sunset and views of the cinder cones end my first day of this trip
- Orange desert mallow flowers and dark-blue indigo bush near my powerline-road campsite near Kelso Peak
- I think it's time to wash off the bits of salt that have formed on my face during the day's sweating
- I stop at the Kelbaker Road summit and junction with the powerline road to look at Kelso Peak, tomorrow's hiking destination
- I ride down the powerline road a short distance and begin looking for a campsite; wow, the heat has really fried me today
- I park the 10-ton bike and go for a walk when I see some openings in the landscape that might make for a good campsite
- I set up my tent, then go for a walk; Mojave asters along the powerline road near Kelso Peak
- My next hot-and-sweaty break is an hour later at Aiken Mine Road, which leads off toward the cinder cones and the lava tube
- I take note of some blooming indigo bushes as I get closer to the powerline road
- Just ahead of me, the power lines cross Kelbaker Road at about 3700 feet elevation; the powerline road is my goal for the day
- Riding around the bend toward the power lines at a blazing 6 miles per hour, I interrupt the supper of two vultures and a crow
- Looking behind me down Kelbaker Road, I've risen about 1500 feet over approximately 16 miles
- A bit further up Kelbaker Road, I stop again to refill my Camelbak, which has run dry again; any excuse for a break is good
- More desert senna blooms, and sweet scent, along Kelbaker Road
- Oh look, my first balloon sighting of this Mojave National Preserve trip (that white thing)
- One of my favorite moments of riding up Kelbaker Road is when I reach the edge of the lava, at left, about 13 miles out of Baker
- My next break along Kelbaker Road is near the road to the Rainy Day Mine site, with the cinder cones in the background
- This morning, after breakfast buffet at the Big Boy, I ride the bridge over the freeway and enter Mojave National Preserve
- Once across the I-15 freeway on Kelbaker Road, this Mojave National Preserve trip is really starting
- A few miles further up Kelbaker Road is the "watch for tortoises" sign; I still haven't seen one yet
- 10 miles up Kelbaker Road out of Baker, I stop for a break at "the big curve," where the road turns almost 90 degrees
- A while after my break at Kelbaker Road's 10-mile curve, I pause as I pass the dirt road that leads down to 17-Mile Point
- Yesterday, after an Amtrak bus ride from San José, an Amtrak train picked me up in Stockton, California
- After the Amtrak train ride to Bakersfield, an Amtrak bus dropped me off at Baker, California late yesterday afternoon
- Last night's sunset at Baker, California, home of the world's tallest thermometer, was a pleasant pinkish glow
- Map of Mojave National Preserve bicycle and hiking routes
- The open space at the bottom of Bull Canyon is easy to hike after all the dense brush and large rock in the upper canyon
- Thick clouds over the Kelso Dunes are picking up any yellow late-afternoon light that manages to get through the clouds
- Almost back at the Kelso Dunes power-line road, with about 30 minutes of daylight left
- I catch the last vestiges of sunlight as I walk the final 1.3 miles down the power-line road back to camp
- Full moon over Kelso Dunes power-line road at almost 17h; I'm back at camp by 17h20
- Elevation profile of Bull Canyon hike route from campsite on Kelso Dunes power-line road
- Bull Canyon hike route from campsite on Kelso Dunes power-line road
- These yellow-leafed trees in lower Bull Canyon...
- As lower Bull Canyon winds about, the "seam" of Kelso Dunes comes into view briefly, which I can also see from my camp
- The last downhill-hiking mile or two on the fan above the dunes is an ankle-breaker with all the small rocks scattered about
- Time to pass through the Bull Canyon narrows again on the way back down
- At the end of the Bull Canyon narrows, coming down
- Up above me in the rock wall at my left is a protruding rock structure
- I take another detour to avoid a brushy area in Bull Canyon and now need to climb back down to the wash
- Heading downhill in Bull Canyon, Mojave National Preserve
- Horn-and-skull close-up
- Ribs close-up
- Nearby lays that second horn that somehow got detached from the skull
- Skull close-up
- Dried cattails in Bull Canyon, Mojave National Preserve
- Another discovery in Bull Canyon!
- More rocks to avoid in Bull Canyon
- I'll try climbing a bit up the rocky ledge at my right to avoid another brushy area ahead in Bull Canyon
- The rock ledge keeps me above the thick brush of Bull Canyon for a few minutes
- It's nice to be hiking Bull Canyon in the downhill direction now, instead of uphill
- I bushwhacked through some of this brush on the way up Bull Canyon, so I'll do it again on the way back down
- I take an energy-bar break up on a rock pile overlooking the Bull Canyon dry waterfall, at about 3450 feet elevation
- OK, time to start walking back down Bull Canyon, between a couple of boulders
- The lines and textures in Bull Canyon change constantly
- More rock ahead to climb over in middle Bull Canyon...
- How cool, a little dry waterfall in middle Bull Canyon; it must be 15-20 feet tall
- I'll get past this patch of rabbitbrush by walking up the rock steps at the base of the canyon wall
- Walking through an open area in middle Bull Canyon
- At times, an imaginary corridor along the canyon wall provides a best way to squeeze past heavy brush
- Ah, more rabbitbrush to get past in Bull Canyon!
- A few dried red buckwheat flowers from this past summer remain in Bull Canyon
- There is rabbitbrush to push through, and rocks to climb over, in this section of Bull Canyon
- I like the exposed rock areas in Bull Canyon that allow me to get out of the brush for a few minutes
- At this time of year when so many plants are going dormant, it's surprising to come across a lone yellow flower in Bull Canyon
- Gnarled root or trunk, probably from chilopsis linearis (desert willow), which seems to be the only tree in Bull Canyon
- Even way out here in Bull Canyon, I again come across an old balloon; I doubt someone had a birthday party right here
- I climb over a granite platform as I head further up Bull Canyon
- Another tiny dry waterfall and tinaja in Bull Canyon
- I stumble upon a big patch of fairly fresh scat in Bull Canyon
- Water remains in this tinaja in Bull Canyon from the last rains
- Bull Canyon winds around another interesting bend
- I step up another slick rock to the next level in Bull Canyon
- Coyote melon in Bull Canyon, Mojave National Preserve
- Walking up Bull Canyon, I pass through a short narrows
- A tuft of grass grows in a tinaja (rock water basin) in the narrows in Bull Canyon
- Bull Canyon widens a little after passing through the narrows
- Looks like a bit of bushwhacking will be needed to get through this segment of Bull Canyon
- The teeth obviously outlast the supporting bone matter when subjected to decomposition
- A horn fragment nearby
- Another jaw fragment rests nearby
- Another burned chilopsis linearis (desert willow) in Bull Canyon
- I finally start to enter the foot of the Granite Mountains in Bull Canyon
- An interesting discovery!
- Skull close-up
- My, what big teeth you have!
- Seasonal streams have done a good job of polishing this rock bed in lower Bull Canyon, Mojave National Preserve
- Burned desert willow (chilopsis linearis) in Bull Canyon wash, Mojave National Preserve
- Now that I'm about 1.25 miles up the rocky fan and 300 feet higher, the Kelso Dunes create a contrasty backdrop behind me
- Approaching Bull Canyon, I'm happy when I stumble upon an animal trail like this one, to help me navigate the rocky terrain
- Looks like I may have a rocky hike ahead me up into Bull Canyon, the gap in the middle of the two big hills
- Heading down the other side of the power-line road is almost as steep as it was coming up
- A GPS check tells me that I can turn left anywhere here and start hiking up the fan to the mouth of Bull Canyon
- The power-line road heads straight up a really steep grade ahead, but a detour to the left offers an easier way over the hill
- The short, sandy hill on the power-line road is really steep, rising at about 15% grade, with poor traction
- Looking back down the power-line road hill that I just walked up, toward the Providence Mountains
- On the other side of my tent are the Granite Mountains, with the mouth of Bull Canyon, today's hike, in front of the hill
- The hike begins with a 1.3 mile walk on the power-line road west of Kelso Dunes, which soon becomes quite sandy
- This road also serves as access to a gas pipeline, as evidenced by "marker 64" here
- A brisk sunny morning on my camping mound with a view of Kelso Dunes
- Elevation profile of hiking route to Rex Mine and West Edgar Canyon #3 from Cornfield Spring Road campsite
- Hiking route to Rex Mine and West Edgar Canyon #3 from Cornfield Spring Road campsite, Mojave National Preserve
- Hiking by flashlight on the fan east of Kelso amidst small rocks and small cacti
- It's 17h and already dark; I'm not an early-riser (I wish I could be), so I really dislike the short days at this time of year!
- The very last light of day illuminates a cholla cactus while it dissipates in the distance somewhere west of Kelso Dunes
- It's dusk and I'm hiking across the Kelso Valley fan back to my tent
- This narrow drainage is easy to cross, even at dusk, but there are a few deeper, wider ones to cross
- Heading down Rex Mine Road toward Kelso, a glimmer of red sunset light remains
- Looking behind me yet again (I can't stop!), there's still a fading pinkish glow on the Providence Mountains
- I reach a point on Rex Mine Road where I decdie to start hiking across the fan back to my campsite on Cornfield Spring Road