Home / Mojave Preserve and Desert bikepacking trips / 2009, Spring: Mojave National Preserve / Day 2: Kelso Depot and Cornfield Spring Road, Mojave National Preserve 45
Today begins with an aborted five-mile round-trip hike to Cornfield Spring (I run low on water) followed by a couple of hours browsing the library in the air-conditioned comfort of nearby Kelso Depot.
5.1 hiking miles with 650 feet elevation gain (and loss) plus 3.5 bicycle miles.
- Mojave National Preserve wake-up call near Kelso Depot: morning sunshine
I thought I died peacefully when I dozed off last night, exhausted. But I'm reminded that I'm still alive when sun shines on my tent shortly after sunrise around 5h30. I manage to sleep in until 7h, but wake up with the feeling of having a hangover. It's great to wake up in this beautiful emptiness for the first time in a bit over a year, with a view of the nearby Kelso Dunes. - I make a small pot of tea, wondering if it will be enough to jumpstart my day; I would prefer some strong coffee, but have none
I still can't believe that the Starbuck's in Baker has closed after being open for only a year or two. I do like tea, but I like espresso more. - It's a hot morning, probably in the high 70s; I mount the rain cover on the sunny side of the tent to get some shade
I stay inside the tent, sheltered from the sun's rays, even though it's hotter inside. I eat a typical camping breakfast of dry granola, dried fruit, tamari almonds, hot tea, water, and an instant electrolyte-replacer drink. My hot tea makes me sweat profusely. - Time to dig my first cat hole of the trip
Nothing like a nice view down to Kelso while doing it! - I pack my backpack and start walking up the road toward Cornfield Spring
I'm not carrying much water since there's a patch of greenery just up the road, which most likely has water coming down from Cornfield Spring. - Hmm... no water here at all, just a nice patch of desert willows (chilopsis linearis)
Crap! I guess I'll have to walk up to Cornfield Spring itself at the base of the Providence Mountains ahead. This gravelly wash must get wet during water events, or all these desert willows wouldn't be here scented the air sweetly. - Chilopsis linearis flowers in close-up
Not many flowers bloom this late in the spring at the lower elevations, but these are still putting on a show for the hummingbirds. I planted one of these trees in my garden in San José, where it's doing fine in clay soil with very little water. - As I hike up Cornfield Spring Road, I come across this collection of old pipes
My understanding is that Cornfield Spring once provided water to Kelso, so these pipes are probably a remnant from that time. - I keep hiking up Cornfield Spring Road and realize that I'm almost out of water already; not good on a hot day like this
I've hiked 2.5 miles and it's already well into the 80s. I should have returned to my tent for more water before hiking this far. I know better! Cornfield Spring is only 3/4 mile away, but I should turn back because it may not have water anyway. - Kelso Dunes paint a scenic backdrop for this moment of indecision
I don't want to turn back when I'm so close to Cornfield Spring. But I'm spooked by the prospect of running dry on a hot day, even briefly; I'm drinking a lot. With water, I could also walk two miles toward Kelso Dunes to check out the old Rex Mine site. - Break time! A Clif bar, and more water, which is already rather warm
I'm in disbelief that I screwed up this short hike! If the sun weren't so hot and I weren't sweating so much, I would just continue to Cornfield Spring. I would also continue if I knew that the spring has a bit of water for me, but I don't know that. - Desert-horned-lizard break! Quite different from my Clif-bar-and-water break a few minutes ago
I've just resigned myself to turn back and start walking back toward my tent when this lizard crossing the old road stops and shows off for me. Very cool. - The 2.5-mile hike back to the tent is pleasant, and I'm enjoying the gentle downhill as I sweat under the hot sun
Off to my right, a wash is carved into the desert by the water it receives during rain, hence the greenery growing in it. - Residual flowers on a cactus; these may become cactus pears soon
These fading flowers stand out amid the dearth of other desert flowers so late in the spring. - I pass again through the stand of desert willows on the way back to the tent
It's amazing that some plants can grow in gravel! - As I approach the tent, I'm overcome by a feeling of disappointment due to not having reached Cornfield Spring
Sure, I hiked five miles in the heat, but Cornfield Spring is just too close to be a destination that I couldn't reach. Maybe I can try again later today... - I reach inside my tent to get some water and notice yesterday's heavily salt-crusted t-shirt
I'm always intrigued by salt stains since they exude from the body without us noticing their accumulation. Merino-wool t-shirts, like this one by Smartwool, are the best for hot weather activities! It's amazing that it doesn't smell a lot worse. - A wasp, or some kind of big fly, is sitting outside my tent, obviously attracted to something
With my severe allergy to yellowjackets and hornets, I take great care to avoid potentially stinging insects. This guy might be benign to me, like honey bees are, but I don't know what he is... - Now that I'm back at my tent, one of the things I want to see is that fenced-off structure a quarter-mile in front of me
When I studied Google Earth images prior to this trip, I concluded that this must be an old corral. However, it looks like something quite different now that I'm camping nearby. - Near the structure are many old cans strewn about
This can top (or is it a bottom?) indicates "regular grind," so I presume that means coffee. - On the approach, this thing looks like an abandoned skating rink surrounded by barbed wire
It's definitely not a corral, which wouldn't have raised earthen walls around it like this. - So, what in the desert is worth surrounding with barbed wire like this?
The answer is probably easy... - Peering through the wire, I see a large, dry concrete reservoir
Though dry today, this would have held a lot of water. I've heard that this reservoir supplied the town of Kelso with water and perhaps the passing steam-engine trains as well. In this dry country, it would have made a great swimming hole too! - On the way back to my tent, I notice a very distinct animal trail running across the fan
I didn't see any big animals here last night, but they're presumably in the environs. This is too narrow to be human hiking trail. - I fetch my bike at the tent and ride the almost two miles down to Kelso Depot
At the rate that I'm drinking, I'll run out of water tonight if I don't get a refill somewhere. I failed to reach Cornfield Spring this morning, and it's around 90 degrees now, so the air-conditioned comfort of Kelso Depot beckons me. The road is so rough in some places that I get off and walk the bike, even though I'm headed slightly downhill. - Close to Kelso Depot, I notice that Cornfield Spring Road crosses an old washed-out paved road
I didn't notice this on the way up to my campsite. Maybe this was one of the old streets in Kelso from the 1940s when 2000 people lived here, or perhaps an old alignment of Kelso-Cima Road. - Approaching Kelso Depot, and air conditioning!
Air conditioning on a camping trip? That's not a wilderness experience! I will learn later that a weather station here at Kelso is recording 91 degrees right now. - I suck back a glass of cold iced tea at the just-opened first-floor lunch counter, then go exploring Kelso Depot's many rooms
I've been in here before (it was restored as a visitor centre in 2005), but usually, I just walk through quickly because I'm in the middle of a bike ride when passing through. Today I'll take my time. As for bighorn sheep, depicted in this first-floor exhibit, they aren't often seen. I was thrilled during my 2006 Mojave National Preserve trip to see a few, albeit from quite a distance, on a hillside near Marl Spring. - Several of the Kelso Depot exhibits introduce visitors to various distinct areas of Mojave National Preserve
This one focuses on the rocky Mid Hills area, where I will go tomorrow to escape the heat down here in the Kelso Valley (Mid Hills' elevation is over 3000 feet higher than Kelso). - Old Kelso Depot office space
Furnished with period materials, you can't actually enter this room, but the large window between rooms makes it easy to view. - Kelso Depot baggage office, from staff's view
Customers would stand on the other side of the wicket. - Kelso Depot, second storey: the real reason I'm here today (besides the air conditioning)
Most of the small rooms off the long corridor were sleeping rooms for staff. I'm most interested in the two small rooms that are now used as a library on the Mojave Desert theme. - I plant myself in the sitting area of the little library and go about browsing the books and maps
It's not a huge collection, but all the library materials here are relevant. I spend about an hour and half with my head in the books, enjoying the air conditioning all the while. - A couple of the small sleeping rooms are furnished in the simple style of the period
I wonder if this was a desirable room. Being on the corner of the building, this room would get better air circulation than most with the windows open on a cool evening after a hot desert day. - From Kelso Depot, view northeast up Kelso-Cima Road from the door at the end of the second-floor corridor
The Mid Hills, my destination tomorrow, are straight ahead in the distance. The small building to the left is the old post office, which was apparently an old market before that, complete with a covered porch out front, since removed. - My air-conditioning festival melts away when I refill my water supply at Kelso Depot and begin the ride back to camp
Staff at Kelso Depot always lets me refill my water from the basement utility closet since there's no public water tap outside. I was going to use the new garden hose outside instead, but apparently somebody broke it last night after I used it. Strange... it worked just fine when I used it. One of the rangers at the Kelso Depot front desk asks me if actually rode my bike on Cornfield Spring Road. I laugh and tell her that I have to hike the bike more often than not. - In addition to the four now-full 1.5-litre water bottles in my backpack, my 10-litre black water bag is mostly full now too
It's 95 degrees now, so it's no wonder that this short two-mile bike-hike with a water load feels heavy. It's only day two, so I haven't acclimated to the heat yet. The air conditioning on my skin at Kelso Depot a half-hour ago was a mirage. - Back at the tent, I decide to rest silently for a while and enjoy the mind-and-body debilitating drug that is the heat
I consider trying the walk up to Cornfield Spring again; I definitely have enough water now and I have plenty of time. But I simply don't feel like moving any body parts right now. I peel the tent flap back on the shady side for some air flow. I would prefer to open up the tent screen doors too for more air, but a bee or a wasp keeps coming around to check me out. - Sunset finally approaches like I knew it eventually would; I've been imagining its arrival from inside my tent for a while now
It's still 93 degrees, and hotter than that in the tent. With the dimming of the hot sun blows a light breeze, so it's time to step outside and get as much less-hot air on my skin as possible. I stand and stretch. And stretch. - Like the Providence Mountains behind me, I stretch, and I stretch, upward and outward, the cool 90-degree air enveloping us all
The light breeze and lack of direct sun refresh me. But I'm still exhausted from today's heat, from yesterday's heat, from riding too much yesterday, from not riding enough today, and from drinking too much hot water. - Sunset at Kelso also means removing the tent's outer flap to let the hottest air escape through the screen
The sun, almost burned out for the day, glows beautifully now. Heat wafts out of my tent, rising from the hot rocks of the desert floor beneath it, replacing the sun as a heat source, for a while at least. Everything inside the tent is so hot! - Heat does kill the appetite, but a good meal after exertion in the heat is still satisfying, if taken slowly
Gotta keep the calories coming in. Tonight's add-boiling-water-to-bag meal is Mountain House Teriyaki Beef with Rice. Excellent, and even a tad spicy. - After dark, the wind picks up a little; it's a beautiful warm evening and the stars are bright
The temperature has dropped to 87 degrees and I almost feel energized. I'm rather invisible over here in the dark, but I can hear the occasional rumble of a car a mile or two away on Kelbaker Road driving over the cattle guard. - Route of short Cornfield Spring Road day hike and ride down to Kelso Depot (Day 2)
5.1 hiking miles up Cornfield Spring Road and back with 650 feet elevation gain (and loss), plus 3.5 bicycle miles down to Kelso Depot and back. - Elevation profile of short Cornfield Spring Road day hike, Mojave National Preserve (Day 2)
5.1 hiking miles up Cornfield Spring Road and back with 650 feet elevation gain (and loss).