Home / Mojave Preserve and Desert bikepacking trips / Fall 2010: Route 66 and Kelso Dunes Wilderness Bicycle Camping / Day 3: Day hike into Kelso Dunes Wilderness to the south end of Broadwell Mesa 81
Perfect hiking weather today: bright sunshine, a bit chilly, but not cold. I don't encounter any other humans today, but I will see a few bobcats, an owl, a jackrabbit, and lots of volcanic rock.
Today's route was prepared just last night, to replace my originally planned hike further south in the Bristol Mountains. However, I didn't make it far enough into the mountains yesterday to do that hike today.
I'll drink about four litres of water, eat three energy bars and some almonds, and collect three stray balloons. 18.6 hiking miles plus approximately 1100 feet of elevation gain.
- Here in the Bristol Mountains foothills, I'm awake early enough to see the gorgeous light of sunrise, a rarity for me
- I heat up water for my instant Starbucks coffee, eat granola, dried fruits and nuts, and prepare my backpack for today's hike
- The distant flat of Broadwell Dry Lake and the Cady Mountains beyond get a lot of my attention as I peck at my breakfast
- Shortly after I begin hiking northward across the Bristol Mountains alluvial fan, I cross a former road and its newer ant hills
- Very few plants in this area of the desert flower at this time of year, but here are a few minimal flowers
- I cross the first of several drainages from the Bristol Mountains; this small tree seems to like living here in the flood zone
- This low area on the west side of the Bristol Mountains collects blowing sand
- I'm surprised when I find myself briefly hiking across a flat, prairie-like expanse in the Kelso Dunes Wilderness
- Zooming in, I can make out the tidbit of civilization that is Ludlow, California along old Route 66 and I-40
- I dip down into another drainage wash while walking across the alluvial fan of the Bristol Mountains
- Oh, another lost balloon in a wilderness area...
- Out here "in the middle of nowhere" in the Kelso Dunes Wilderness Area is a rock cairn with something attached to it
- The cairn here serves to identify a survey marker, "$250 fine for removal," it says
- I encounter a field of small lava rocks as I walk toward the Bristol Mountains
- Already, I've encountered a second stray balloon that reached its death in a wilderness area
- In the drainages crossing the alluvial fan just west of the Bristol Mountains grow a lot ghostly small bushes
- A couple of hours after starting out, I finally reach the wash that I chose and beginning hiking up into the Bristol Mountains
- Very cool! There's an unexpected old cabin here in "South Broadwell Wash"
- The wood of the old cabin is very, very weathered
- The cabin has no floor other than the natural gravel, and no apparent foundation
- A fire ring, which hasn't been used in a long time, sits out in front of the cabin
- I walk up the old road behind the cabin, which leads to the old prospects marked on my map
- From the low hill behind the cabin, I have a nice view down into the wash and toward flat-topped Broadwell Mesa
- I've noticed very little debris in this area so far, despite its previous usage, but one exception is this chemical bucket
- I continue hiking up "South Broadwell Wash," following an old set of dirt-bike tracks
- Ah ha, I spot another stray balloon as I hike in the wash toward the south end of Broadwell Mesa
- I'm at a high-enough elevation now that I'm occasionally seeing a few small barrel cacti
- The amount of rock strewn about in "South Broadwell Wash" increases as I continue hiking
- The landforms are becoming more interesting as I get closer to Broadwell Mesa
- Erosion formation in "South Broadwell Wash"
- This rock in "South Broadwell Wash" collects water from time to time, making the local wildlife happy
- As I enter the Broadwell Mesa formation, I'm paying more attention to the route I prerecorded on my GPS
- A cascade of sloping volcanic rock edges this wash in the Kelso Dunes Wilderness Area
- Bird droppings on rocks above the natural tank suggest that ledges up there might be used as nests
- I arrive at a dry "natural tank," where water accumulates as a temporary pond after water events
- The waterfall and natural tank here are dry right now, but there is a hole in the sand down there
- Perhaps 1/4 cup of water exudes from the little hole at the bottom of the natural tank, which is otherwise dry right now
- I stare at the dry waterfall and decide that I should be able to climb up it and continue my hike in the wash beyond
- I continue hiking up the wash beyond the dry waterfall, feeling like I've entered an unexplored land
- I come around a bend, and a noise interrupts the quiet, startling me
- An interesting pile of scat and bits of fur
- The wash reaches another dry waterfall that will need to be climbed over if I want to continue onward
- I notice a low-flying bird overhead that turns out to be an owl when it lands in the nearby brush
- The occasional streams of water here have carved their presence into the rock
- From my perch near the top of the dry waterfall, I look down at the tiny pool of water remaining amongst the rocks
- Above the dry falls, the wash continues rockily along, and it looks like it pops out onto the top of Broadwell Mesa soon
- I scramble back down into the wash, and head toward the piece of flat-topped Broadwell Mesa visible a short distance down-canyon
- A few more slugs of water are needed in this dry landscape, even though it's a chilly day
- Some of the volcanic rock in this wash appears to have been meticulously arranged by a bricklayer
- Many old, red plant stems (buckwheats perhaps) and fresh green catclaw acacias grow in this wash
- I climb up a narrow drainage and find myself on the top of the south end of Broadwell Mesa
- From up on Broadwell Mesa, I look down at a sandy patch in the wash where I've been hiking
- Centuries of erosion have created this drainage canyon through the south end of Broadwell Mesa in the Kelso Dunes Wilderness
- I'm just close enough to I-40 here on Broadwell Mesa that I have cell-phone reception, so I send off a couple of text messages
- I climb back down the volcanic rock into the wash to resume my return hike down "South Broadwell Wash"
- I'm hiking rather quickly, so every footstep around or on the rocks is an opportunity to slip and break an ankle
- Approaching the dry waterfall, this time in the downhill direction, a partial "staircase" begins the quick descent
- The drop-off ahead is only about 10 feet high, best climbed down backwards as if descending a ladder
- I made it down the little rock wall easily, but the short, blind descent was just enough to set off my vertigo
- I'm now out of the dramatic volcanic-rock canyon in the Bristol Mountains and back in a wider wash
- I hike through an area of heavy erosion in "South Broadwell Wash" west of Broadwell Mesa
- Erosion in "South Broadwell Wash" exposes earth layers that would otherwise be hidden
- Erosion has exposed a series of small air pockets in one of the earth layers, and a few small bushes grow on up the crest
- Water has exposed a swirling pattern in the earth and rock layers here
- As I continue my return hike, I notice an old road climbing a hillside, which I didn't notice while hiking up the wash
- Further down the wash, I notice the old dirt-bike tracks again
- Curved layers of rock in "South Broadwell Wash"
- A parade of smoke trees in the wash catches the sun as I approach the alluvial fan east of Broadwell Dry Lake
- My return hike back down "South Broadwell Wash" comes to an end as I approach the fan above Broadwell Dry Lake
- I glance north in the Bristol Mountains as I begin my southward hike across the fan back to my campsite
- This rich-red volcanic-rock field on the fan east of Broadwell Dry Lake looked so black earlier today
- Last year's dry Gutierrez bushes (I think) nicely pick up the late-afternoon autumn light
- Asclepias subulata (Rush milkweed) growing on the fan
- Yellow early-sunset glow in the Cady Mountains, on the other side of Broadwell Dry Lake
- A pink glow washes across this desert plain in the Kelso Dunes Wilderness Area
- This little wash trickling down from the Bristol Mountains wins the prize for picking up the richest rays of the day
- Pink begins to fade as I point myself toward my campsite at the base of the mountains ahead and keep walking
- The sun goes down for good behind the Cady Mountains, not to be seen again until tomorrow
- A few clouds are rolling in east of the Bristol Mountains at dusk
- I cross another small drainage at dusk; I'll have several more to cross, a few quite deep, by flashlight, on my way home
- Elevation profile of Kelso Dunes Wilderness Area "South Broadwell Wash" hiking route