Home / Mojave Preserve and Desert bikepacking trips / Fall 2012: Mojave National Preserve bicycle-camping and hiking, Lanfair Valley loop / Day 5: Round-trip bicycle ride from Piute Gorge to Hackberry Spring via Rattlesnake Mine 45
Another sunny day, almost warm, I ride across Lanfair Valley to Hackberry Spring and back. It's a dark and chilly ride back to camp; I get home just before 9 p.m. 36.5 dirt-road bicycle miles and approximately 1500 feet elevation gain.
A bright and sunny morning overlooking Piute Gorge
Morning sunshine overheats my tent and I wake up at 8h30. Didn't sleep well. It hit 70F yesterday, but dropped into the mid 30s overnight. Wind has picked up, so I put large rocks in the corners of my tent to keep it from blowing away.
I take a look down into the canyon at an old discarded truck before heading out on today's bicycle ride
Apparently there used to be a road down there! I have the usual breakfast of granola, nuts, dried apricots, vitamin C drink, and coffee (3 cups this morning: I may need it).
Shortly after I start today's bike ride, I ride past an old circular corral
I wasn't going to stop for a photo break so soon!
Inside the corral is a fire ring
Nice place for an overnight camp!
Just before I start riding up the pipeline road here, I run into Bryan and his sons in their pickup, and we have a great chat
The first people I've seen in almost three days! Bryan explains that the drive up from Hwy 95 is pretty rough. I haven't been that way yet. I tell them about the hike down to Piute Spring and they did it. I hope they liked all the crazy rocks down there!
I have to walk the bike across several sandy wash crossings on the pipeline road
... but the ride is going well so far.
I ride west on the pipeline road toward the old Rattlesnake Mine area
It's much easier than expected, after all the rough roads I rode the past two days. Also, I'm not riding with all my camping gear, so I feel ultra-light.
I turn on the road to the old Rattlesnake Mine site
For a road that's not used all that much, this one is quite ridable, so far at least. It's a bit under a mile to the mine site, with a slight uphill grade.
A few yellow flowers (Encelia farinosa perhaps) bloom at the old Rattlesnake Mine site
It appears that these flowers are only found in an area of disturbed soil (on the edge of where old mine installations were removed?)
This part of the old Rattlesnake Mine site has great views over to both the Castle Peaks and the Castle Mountains
Castle Peaks are the sharp spikes at left (I've camped over there before) and Castle Mountains near Hart are the larger hills at right. I rode across some of that area during the last two days.
From the Rattlesnake Mine site, I have a clear view across the valley to my Piute Gorge campsite, that slot in the distant hills
I'm guessing it's reclamation land from the mine that hasn't completely grown back yet. It can take many decades for a desert landscape to slowly recover from human uses.
A little further up Rattlesnake Mine Road, I decide to go for a short walk up to the top of the rooster-comb ahead
This unusual metal grate over a mine hole is apparently intended to keep the mine shaft open to bats
The views from the Rattlesnake Mine rooster-comb extend all the way across the Lanfair Valley to the New York Mountains
Hey, I was over there a few days ago! The bicycle sits quietly at the junction of the roads below me. Can you see it?
From the Rattlesnake Mine site, I still have views across the valley to my Piute Gorge campsite, that slot in the distant hills
I take a look at some crumpled structure remains near Rattlesnake Mine before continuing my bike ride
Everyone loves a good historic desert can dump, don't they?
Beyond Rattlesnake Mine, the old road gently climbs another 200 feet or so
Soft surface in places occasionally requires that I walk the bike.
The road almost becomes invisible in a few spots on the way up the hill
Now the fun begins, a bit of rough rolling-road mountain biking overlooking Lanfair Valley
The road is just high enough above the valley for views. Quite a few Mojave yuccas in this area (make sure you don't ride into them).
One thing I enjoy about this road is the changing landscape
Here I ride across a grassy area.
A scattering of Joshua trees dot this transitional Mojave landscape
Sunset will be a couple of hours from now; I'm trying to decide whether to go all the way to Hackberry Mountain, ahead at left
Decisions... I don't have to decide right away. I still have over three miles to go until this road ends at Ivanpah Road. I'll decide then.
This private property in the Bobcat Hills area is marked by plastic pumpkins
The road is in better shape in this area and thus easier riding.
My road ends, and I scoot across Ivanpah Rd to start riding the road into the Hackberry Mountains
Decision done. I'll keep riding into the mountains and hopefully reach Hackberry Spring by dark. I was intending to visit that area during previous trips, and never got around to it.
The first part of the road into the Hackberry Mountains is a bit sandy and bit rough
Typical Mojave backroad!
I pass an old corral in the Hackberry Mountain foothills
Predictably, I have to walk the bike across this sandy wash crossing on the way into the Hackberry Mountains
It looks like signage has been recently re-erected to remind people to not drive their 4WD vehicles in the Wilderness area
This stretch of the road is pretty soft, and I have to walk the bike a bit
If there's much more of this, I will not arrive at Hackberry Spring before dark.
This short, steep and eroded piece of road makes me wonder if it will get worse
These dead-end roads tend to deteriorate the further one goes.
I come around a corner, and the sun is behind the mountains now
Less than two miles to go...
I reach a relatively smooth patch of the road and can ride again, looks like I may make it to the spring before dark after all
Rocky hills along the road into the Hackberry Mountains
I'm really enjoying my first visit in this landscape, which feels quite different from the areas around it that I already know.
Fine gravel!
Ugh, loss of traction. off the bike for a few feet again!
I want this campsite!
Maybe next time.
I'm almost at the spring, but it's much easier to walk up this rocky stretch than to try riding up it
I *could* ride up it, but I'm always interested in conserving energy, since I have a 15-mile ride back to camp ahead of me.
Just a few hundred feet further...
... the road ends.
I arrive at the end of the road, happy to make it before dusk
An excellent belt-of-venus hovers over the Lanfair Valley below.
I park the bike and go looking for the spring: I know it's here somewhere!
I have a couple of hiking routes mapped out for this area; too bad I won't have time to follow any of them during this trip.
I start filtering water at Hackberry Spring at dusk, and finish just before dark
Perfect timing, and nice clean water!
I've just finished filtering my water and it's getting dark; time to ride back to camp at Piute Gorge, in those distant hills
I have 15-20 miles of bicycle riding ahead of me yet! A few miles down the road, in the dark, I encounter a lot of loud coyote yipping. I keep looking around to see if I can see them under the bright moonlight (they're so close), but I don't.
I ride 2 miles on Ivanpah Road before turning off on the Mojave Road to head back to Piute Gorge; I arrive home a bit past 21h
It's a long ride, sometimes beautiful in its solitude under the clear night skies, sometimes frustrating when I make a wrong turn on a fruitless side road, hoping for less sand on stretches where I have no choice but to walk the bike. Jet-exhaust streams in the sky lit up by moonlight during the quiet ride home are memorable. I get a bit chilly (35F forecast tonight after a high of 70F during the afternoon), can't locate one road, but the last 5 miles are bliss. I've only eaten two Clif bars and a few handfuls of tamari almonds during the afternoon, so I'm feeling hungry, a bit dehydrated, and running on adrenalin rather than real energy.<br><br> Two or three miles before arriving back at camp, I notice two things in the darkness. I increasingly have a headwind, and this wind feels distinctively warmer. I don't feel hungry when I arrive back at camp (I'm too tired), but at 23h45, I decide that I must eat. It takes almost 45 minutes to boil water for my instant meal due to the strong wind tonight. I eat natural High Honey-Lime Chicken with Wild Rice, which is rather bland and subtle (will not buy again, though it suits my mood right now). Despite high winds, I can hear a lot of crickets as I try to fall asleep after my meal.
Round-trip bicycle route, Piute Gorge to Hackberry Spring via Rattlesnake Mine
36.5 bicycle miles and about 1500 feet of elevation gain.
Elevation profile of bicycle route, Piute Gorge to Hackberry Spring via Rattlesnake Mine
36.5 bicycle miles and about 1500 feet of elevation gain.