Home / Mojave Preserve and Desert bikepacking trips / 2010, Mojave National Preserve / Day 13: Nipton to Brant Hills, New York Mountains, Mojave National Preserve 79
Maybe this should be subtitled "The desert mallow trip," since I saw so many of those flowers. "What do you do, just ride around all day until you get tired," one person asked, feigning interest. Yeah, I wish it were that simple!
I'll hike and bike in several areas that I haven't visited before. Mojave National Preserve is a huge park with endless nooks and crannies. For late May, I'm extremely lucky and only contend with a couple of uncomfortable hot days.
I'll camp two nights near the powerline road near Kelso Peak, five nights at Mid Hills campground (an excellent home base for hiking/biking day trips), two non-consecutive nights at Nipton general store, three nights near Malpais Spring, and one night above Mojave National Preserve's Ivanpah Valley, near Brant siding.
Water will come from from stores in Baker and Nipton, the Kelso Depot utility closet, Mid Hills campground, and Indian Spring in the eastern New York Mountains.
I enjoy the morning shade at Nipton; it makes packing up so much easier
I roll the packed bike up to the store at Nipton and stop in for another bottle of iced tea before I leave
The day's travels begin as I ride south on Nipton-Moore Road, a dirt road that hugs the Ivanpah Valley train tracks for miles
After close to three miles, I approach the power-line road that crosses Ivanpah Valley
This route across the Mojave Desert gets a lot of freight-train traffic
I take a look at the power-line road that heads southwest across the Ivanpah Valley
About six miles down Nipton-Moore Road, near Moore siding, I look back and still see Nipton in the distance (the green patch)
To the west, down in Ivanpah Valley, sits reclusively a lone habitation
Nipton-Moore Road is mostly straight and almost flat, but it occasionally dips down to cross drainage washes
Large culverts beneath the raised train tracks in Ivanpah Valley prevent the tracks from washing out during heavy rains
Yellow creosote bush flowers, barbed wire, Ivanpah Dry Lake, and that white peak in the distance
I'm also just high enough now above Ivanpah Valley to see a few flowers in addition to the creosote-bush scrub
Some yellow flowers add to the predominately dull-green landscape
Another freight train passes by as I ride up Nipton-Moore Road, Mojave National Preserve
This train is hauling an endless number of tanks of a presumably deleterious substance
I'm happy to see this train and its cargo pass by quickly on its way toward Los Angeles
Nipton-Moore Road dips down to cross another drainage area just before it arrives at the paved Ivanpah Road
I've reached the pavement of Ivanpah Road, cross the tracks, then ride over to the abandoned house nearby
I park the 10-ton bike against the old house on Ivanpah Road and go for a walk around the property
Today, the valuable historic house at Ivanpah is an attractive nuisance, too close to paved roads travelled by bums and thugs
View of the rear of the old house at Ivanpah, Mojave National Preserve
One of the outbuildings at the Ivanpah house is clad with plywood from a sign that once advertised a "ranch resort"
Another outbuilding at the Ivanpah property contains recent fabric and clothing remnants
Old corrals and a decaying outbuilding at Ivanpah, Mojave National Preserve
Another shed behind the old house at Ivanpah, Mojave National Preserve; let's take a look inside
Inside this tin-clad shed at Ivanpah is an old set of shelves
Someone has removed a board from a small window on the back side of the old house at Ivanpah, Mojave National Preserve
Next to the crumbling exterior of the add-on at the rear of the house at Ivanpah is an open window
I take a peek inside the open window at the abandoned house at Ivanpah, Mojave National Preserve
I remount the 10-ton bike, cross the tracks, and get back on the dirt road (now called Brant Road on some maps)
Across the Ivanpah Valley creosote bushes, I see an old trailer and what looks like a garage
The road leading into the property is marked with fairly fresh "no trespassing" signs, but the gate is open
I continue riding up Brant Road and notice that a section of the barbed-wire fence along the tracks has been cut
On the far side of Ivanpah Valley, I can see a distant dirt road squiggling up into the Ivanpah Mountains
I come across a collection of cans along Brant Road
The cans are all food cans; full, upright, different from each other, and only slightly weathered: could this be a food cache?
Just beyond the food cache on Brant Road is a small intersection and a sign declaring "Lawler Lane"
Someone lost a hubcap here on Brant Road
I reach the first of two roads that lead up toward the New York Mountains off Brant Road
I continue riding up the road toward Brant siding, where there is supposed to be another road leading up into the hills
I reach what is indicated on my maps and GPS as Brant siding, but find no road crossing over or under the tracks
I discover an old structure and corral on the other side of the tracks at Brant siding
Scattered old trash is also found on the other side of the tracks at Brant siding
From what I can tell, Brant siding has been moved down the road since the time that the maps I'm consulting were made
The 10-ton bike takes a break for a few minutes under the train tracks on the road leading up into the New York Mountains
After I walk the bike through the sandy area under the bridge, the road rises up to a somewhat firmer surface
I pass some Wilderness markers blocking an old road on my way toward the New York Mountains
The old road winds across the fan, then turns sharply left to begin its climb into the New York Mountains
The road is discernable, but obviously not used very often
The uphill road isn't steep, but it's too rocky for me to ride on the 10-ton bike, so I get off and walk
On the way up the hill, my front tire goes flat despite my Slime-filled inner tube
Finding a campsite is tricky in this area above Ivanpah Valley because there are hardly any open spaces between plants
After a short rest in the tent and an energy bar, it's time for a walk up into the nearby New York Mountains foothills
Some pinnacles and rock piles make for another classic New York Mountains landscape
An interesting find is this old rock wall
The top of this rock pile reminds me of a vulture's head
I walk around the old rock wall and look down across the Ivanpah Valley
Upon further inspection, a scrubby shrub looks like it might be some kind of oak tree
I continue my walk up the old road, which is increasingly grown-in
Lo and behold, a pool of water!
Actually, a couple of pools of water remain in the rocks
Water trickling down the rocks creates a small brook
I notice another small, clean pool of water in the rock just below
An even larger pool of water sits in the shade a little higher up
A long freight train slowly crosses the Ivanpah Valley below
I look at these rocky hills and think it would be fun to climb one of them during the brief time I'm here
Sunset is approaching, so it's time to turn around and start the mile-long walk back to the tent
This crossing of the old road over the stream is still in really good condition
I pause to take a look at a mature pinon pine along the old road
I walk down the old road, enjoying the sunset
A fire ring exists for those who come up here to camp
I look back up the dry creek bed and at the hills behind collecting the sunset
I pass the last of the pinnacles as I descend down the fan toward my campsite perched above Ivanpah Valley
A few barrel cacti grow in the transition zone here between creosote-bush desert and the woodlands of the New York Mountains
A Wilderness marker blocks an old road on the way back to my campsite above Ivanpah Valley
I make it back to my tent overlooking Ivanpah Valley just before dusk
The final moments of sunset cast red across the New York Mountains hilltops
Bicycle route from Nipton to Brant Hills
Elevation profile of bicycle route from Nipton to Brant Hills