Home / Mojave Preserve and Desert bikepacking trips / 2008: Mojave National Preserve Mountain-Bike Camping and Hike / Day 7: Mojave Desert springs: Butcher Knife Spring and Cottonwood Spring day hike, New York Mountains, Mojave National Preserve 62
After yesterday's inspiring but tiring trek, sleeping in late this morning is a goal, but I wake up at 8h from the hot sun cooking my tent. Fortunately, the ample breeze makes it easy to roll over and fall back asleep after opening the tent windows (and leaving the screens closed).
Today's nine-mile round-trip hike from my campsite at Butcher Knife Corral (4600 feet) will take me to springs on the northwest side of New York Mountains in Butcher Knife Canyon and Cottonwood Canyon (5300 feet). No long steep hills, just plenty of great scenery, solitude, joshua trees, spring water, and wildflowers on a perfect day no warmer than the low 80s.
No human contact today.
After sleeping in late and a quick breakfast, I go for a short walk around my Butcher Knife Canyon campsite to see it by day
This campsite is actually two miles down the wash from Butcher Knife Canyon, not in the canyon itself
A bit down the fan sits a fire ring next to which I was going to set up camp last night until I noticed goathead thorns all over
It's time to check out the old corral here below Butcher Knife Canyon
Old cattle-watering trough in the abandoned corral below Butcher Knife Canyon, Mojave National Preserve
I pluck a few items out of the mess inside my tent and stuff them into my backpack for the day's hike
I begin the hike up the road to Cottonwood Canyon and Cottonwood Spring, at the base of the New York Mountains
Erosion on the old road to Cottonwood Canyon has exposed some old rubber piping that had been buried under the road
A mile north of my campsite is "the fork" in the road to Cottonwood Canyon and Butcher Knife Canyon
The joshua tree forest gets denser as one gets closer to Cottonwood Canyon at the bottom of the mountains
10 minutes later, as I approach the base of the New York Mountains, lush juniper trees like the one on the left begin to appear
Desert primrose
A pull-out on the road to Cottonwood Canyon reveals a nice camping area complete with a fire ring
After exploring the campsite area, I return to the main road toward Cottonwood Canyon
Here I am starting up Cottonwood Canyon at the base of the New York Mountains, Mojave National Preserve
Awesome: a tiny stream in Cottonwood Canyon, Mojave National Preserve
I reach an old wooden box which houses a camera that takes photos of wildlife
Old sign on the wilderness-camera box at Cottonwood Spring
Apparently, this dripping water is the source of Cottonwood Spring
There doesn't seem to be more water to discover in Cottonwood Canyon, so I climb up a small hill for a break with nice views
Cottonwood Spring is aptly named since this cottonwood tree lives here
I walk back down to Cottonwood Spring to filter some water
The water that drips out from under the tree roots at Cottonwood Spring flows over this rock as a clear shiny film
The meagre stream contains as much algae as it does water
The stream is too shallow to pump water from it, so I dig a small depression to accept the intake hose of my water filter
Filtering water from Cottonwood Spring, Mojave National Preserve
Successful taste test of the water at Cottonwood Spring, Mojave National Preserve
The proud deed of pumping water completed, I begin my walk back down Cottonwood Canyon and toward Butcher Knife Canyon
Lots of purple salvia dorrii flowers in this area
I leave the road and begin hiking cross-country to the Butcher Knife Canyon area, about a mile away
I scramble over a few rocks on the way to Butcher Knife Canyon
Burned joshua tree near Butcher Knife Canyon, Mojave National Preserve
For some reason, this meadow near Butcher Knife Canyon is resplendent with small white flowers
As I get closer to Butcher Knife Canyon, I note some piles of mine tailings on the hillside in the distance
On the way up to the mine tailings, I cross a drainage with profuse desert-mallow blooms
Above the piles of tailings at the Butcher Knife Mine
Danger! Hazardous mine
Just above the lower mine at Butcher Knife Canyon is another big hole in the ground
Many flowering phlox are found in this area
I walk down to the wash of Butcher Knife Canyon on the remains of the old mine access road
Some assorted old debris and cans are scattered near the wash
Some of the debris here isn't all that old
An old Hunt's can
A boulder pile and joshua trees greet me as I arrive at Butcher Knife Canyon wash
Hiking up Butcher Knife Canyon, Mojave National Preserve
I spy a stream in Butcher Knife Canyon
Yup, it's a stream
The stream in Butcher Knife Canyon looks like it might not go much further
Just around the bend, I locate Butcher Knife Spring and get to the business of pumping some water into my near-empty Camelbak
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
A rattlesnake startles me as I approach this big boulder along the Butcher Knife Canyon stream
The excitement of the rattlesnake incident behind me, I return my focus to the hike away from Butcher Knife Canyon
Many burned pine cones are scattered on the ground around here
Colonies of flowering banana yucca populate some of the walls of the wash below Butcher Knife Canyon
I'm still walking down the wash away from Butcher Knife Canyon, mindlessly, enjoying the scenery and the sunshine
Hmmm... there are no more tire tracks in the wash here; where did they go, and where is the road that I was on?
To my right is an old trailer on a hillside that I'm not expecting to see, so I start hiking cross-country toward my tent
I'm hiking briskly cross-country in the hope of crossing before dark the Cottonwood Canyon Road that will lead me to my tent
After almost an hour of cross-country, I cross the old road at dusk and realize that I've overshot my campsite by about a mile
Ahhh, back at camp by Butcher Knife Corral and there's still a hint of daylight remaining; such perfect timing
Butcher Knife Canyon hike as viewed in Google Earth
Mojave National Preserve map, Day 7: Day hike to Cottonwood Spring and Butcher Knife Spring for water