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Home / Mojave Preserve and Desert bikepacking trips / 2008: Mojave National Preserve Mountain-Bike Camping and Hike / Day 5: Afternoon hike to an old mine site in the Bighorn Basin hills, Mojave National Preserve 49

I won't see any people today. It's not a long hike, but it's dramatic due to the steep terrain, with no relatively flat land except for the the half mile closest to my campsite.

Total elevation gain (and loss) of 1425 feet as I follow the switchbacks of a steep, grown-in road up a hill, into the secluded gorge of Devil's Playground Wash, then up a mountainside in the Bighorn Basin area of the Granite Mountains.

From my campsite at North Coyote Springs at 3150 feet, the hike climbs to the first summit at 3600 feet, drops quickly to the bottom of Devil's Playground Wash at 3275 feet, then climbs to the second summit above the upper mine at 3875 feet, 5.25 miles round-trip.