Home / Mojave Preserve and Desert bikepacking trips / Fall 2011: Route 66 bicycle-camping—Cady Mountains, Sleeping Beauty and Kelso Dunes Wilderness / Day 7: Cady Mountains day hike 44
A gorgeous fall Mojave Desert day, perfect for today's moderate hike into the rocky hills: no precipitation and a high of 71F and low of 43F. 8.3 miles and about 2000 feet of elevation gain.
Another beautiful morning, hot sun, cool air, and I'm ready for the last hike on this trip, into the Cady Mountains behind me
I start walking up and down across the rocky fan and pass one of several jackrabbits that I'll see today
I notice several "Chinch weeds," if that's what they are, as I walk across the alluvial fan
I've seen Brittlebrush a few times on this trip
Big ant hill at the mouth of my chosen canyon in the Cady Mountains with a nice view of Broadwell Dry Lake
As I hike up the canyon into the Cady Mountains, I come across a balloon stuck in the brush
I keep walking up the Cady Mountain canyon, looking for possible easy routes up into the rocky hills
I climb a short distance up and around this dry waterfall, but decide it's more slippery than I was hoping for
This adjacent hill has good views of the hill I just climbed, but it too is quite slippery
I return to the main canyon, looking for a better route up, and head straight toward the Cady Mountain peaks and a rock outcrop
Great, the rocks look like a really easy step up to the next level of this Cady Mountains canyon
A few steps up...
I take a quick look back down beyond the rock pile I just climbed up
Above the little dry waterfall is easy walking on gravel below the Cady Mountains peaks
This climb right here is short and steep, but fairly easy, with mostly good footing
Arriving at a saddle in the Cady Mountains, I notice a little cave
I feel like I'm on top of the world as I arrive at a local summit in the Cady Mountains
I take a nice water-and-energy-bar break up here on my Cady Mountains summit to enjoy the views
I slowly climb back down the Cady Mountains gulley that I just came up
Cady Peak, behind my hat, is not all that far away, but I'm not really on the route up to the peak
I spot a larger cave in the Cady Mountains next to the smaller one I saw earlier, on my way up the saddle
On my way down, I notice a solid way up the next hill, so up I go to reach my high point of the day in the Cady Mountains
I'm already in the shade while climbing up this Cady Mountains hill after 14h in late November
Now I'm really above Broadwell Dry Lake!
I climb up the rock staircase to another Cady Mountains summit of sorts
Awesome views everywhere; I decide to be content with my Cady Mountains summit of 4350 feet here today
On the way back down the Cady Mountains, I notice a tiny hole in a shaded rock outcrop at my upper left
I head back down from my Cady Mountains summit
A few steps down that rock pile I climbed up earlier on the way up into the Cady Mountains
As I head down the wide canyon in the Cady Mountains that I hiked up, I realize I gained more elevation here than I thought
I pass an interesting "gravelslide" on the way back down my Cady Mountains canyon
Nice blue shadows are being cast in the Sleeping Beauty peaks area as I hike down my Cady Mountains canyon
I wonder about this U-shaped deposit of rock in the Cady Mountains as I walk past it
Many of the Smoke trees in the lower part of this Cady Mountains canyon look a bit dead (just dormant in the cold season?)
Despite the many dead or dormant Smoke trees in the area, here's one with a bit of foliage
I contemplate the views across Broadwell Dry Lake to the Bristol Mountains, past Hyten Spring, where I hiked a few days ago
I hike cross-country in the Cady Mountains foothills one final mile to get back to my tent, avoiding the powerline road nearby
Hmmm... here's a little yellow flower that I'm not familiar with
The power lines crossing the pass in the Cady Mountains pick up the end-of-day sunlight quite sculpturally
And there it is, home for one last night on this trip, my tent
The last light of the day in the Cady Mountains shines on the power lines, with the Sleeping Beauty peaks in the background
Just after sunset, my cheap pocket Canon camera picks up the final glow of the day, and a crescent moon
It wasn't an especially strenuous hike today, but I'm hungry, and boil water for my instant evening meal
Cady Mountains hike elevation profile