Home / Mojave Preserve and Desert bikepacking trips / 2007, Christmas: Mojave National Preserve Mountain-Bike Camping / Day 6: Water in the Mojave Desert! Coyote Springs round trip bicycle ride from Kelso Dunes campsite, Mojave National Preserve 34
This afternoon's ride wasn't planned, but since I finished my Kelso Dunes hike early, I should have just enough time to discover what's at Coyote Springs a few miles from here on the edge of the Granite Mountains. 16.7 bicycle miles today.
16.7 bicycle miles today, including my earlier short ride up to Kelso Dunes and back from my campsite.
Heading up this sandy road, I notice a plastic pipe along the shoulder
I decide to walk upstream to explore the extent of the stream and see if its beginning can be easily identified
At another junction on the way to Coyote Springs, I pull out my map to look for this fork in the road
This final piece of the road to Coyote Springs is a little rocky, but has fresh tire tracks
The road to Coyote Springs ends at a cul-de-sac, a small stone fire ring, and Wilderness-barrier posts
The old Coyote Springs Road obviously continues beyond the Wilderness-barrier posts, so I park my bike here and walk onward
The old road toward Coyote Springs rises up a low hill
Just beyond the dip in the old road, I find myself facing a rugged, rocky hill
The Coyote Springs area becomes more picturesque as I continue up the old road
Lo and behold, I've just reached a full-fledged desert stream!
The soft sand on this road results in my walking the bike for about a mile, leaving nice tire tracks behind
This sandy road-in-a-wash ends after a couple of miles and the rest of it ahead is blocked Wilderness barrier posts
On the road to Coyote Springs at the base of the Granite Mountains
Back at my campsite near Kelso Dunes for a few minutes, I stuff a few items in my saddlebags for the ride to Coyote Springs
I mount the bike and ride the 1/4-mile shortcut at the end of Kelso Dunes Road to the nearby power-line road
Eastbound on the power-line road toward Providence Mountains, I see that somebody suffered a tire blow-out here
After a couple of miles on the power-line road, I locate the nearly invisible road that leaves on my right toward Coyote Springs
A little higher upstream, I realize I'll have some rock scrambling ahead of me if I want to continue upward
My dirt road from Coyote Springs ends at dusk when I reach the Kelbaker Road "highway"
I descend Kelbaker Road 3/4 mile to reach Kelso Dunes Road
In the last vestiges of daylight, I rattle four miles down the Kelso Dunes Road washboard back to my tent
Yep, it's getting darker by the minute
Cholla cactus along the old Coyote Springs Road
I exit the Wilderness boundary and return to my bike at the Coyote Springs campsite
The day is spinning its finale even though I don't want that; I ride away from Coyote Springs
Five minutes later, the pink sunset light has dimmed a little
At this time of day, Kelso Dunes look like earth rather than huge piles of sand
I walk back downstream to look for a good location to stop and filter some water
Just a few steps further around a small bend sits a nice wide pool of water that looks promising
OK, the stream isn't exactly deep here, but it's deep enough
After refilling my water, I notice a faint road rising slowly to the right of a hill ahead of me
I leave the Coyote Springs stream and climb up one of the low rocky hills along the old road on the way back to my bike
Looking back down at the old Coyote Springs Road from the little hill that I've climbed up
Another one of those pink-flowering buckwheats that I've been noticing on this trip