Home / Mojave Preserve and Desert bikepacking trips / 2010, Mojave National Preserve / Day 2: Kelso Peak hike, Kelso Mountains, Mojave National Preserve 65
8-mile round-trip day hike from my campsite on the nearby powerline road. I climb up to the Kelso Peak ridge and enjoy the views, but vertigo prevents me from hiking the very last bit along the ridge top to the peak itself.
Temperatures only reach the low 80s today, often with a nice breeze, so it's much more pleasant than yesterday.
I wake up to slightly cloudy skies, which is more polite than the typical blazing sun that makes a tent uninhabitable after 7h30
I refill my empty bottles from my water bag, have breakfast, and start out on today's hike across the fan to the Kelso Peak area
As I start hiking across the creosote-bush scrub, a fluffy winterfat bush (Krascheninnikovia lanata) catches my attention
I hike past a small patch of yellow flowers, which seem to be goldfields (the tiny ones) and tidy tips, the larger ones
I hitch up with an old road (now closed in a Wilderness area) and follow it toward Kelso Peak
I've seen several of these so far today: probably Krameria erecta (Range Ratany)
On the way to Kelso Peak, a few joshua trees are scattered across this area dominated by creosote-bush scrub
I start seeing the occasional Beavertail Cactus (Opuntia basilaris) in flower
Here's one of the many yellow flowers that inhabit the Kelso Mountains area: Cooper Dyssodia (Adenophyllum cooperi)
Looking behind me past a patch of indigo bush toward the Beale Mountains on the other side of Kelbaker Road
Another view behind me from a garden patch I'm passing through
I pick up an animal trail leading toward Kelso Peak after the old 4WD road fizzles out
I arrive at the unnamed wash leading into the Kelso Mountains which I had targeted on my maps and GPS
I climb down into the wash and start walking up into the Kelso Mountains
A big patch of paperbag bush (Salazaria mexicana) in the wash leading into the Kelso Mountains
I pass a few desert larkspurs (Delphinium parishii) popping up through some yellow brittlebrush flowers
Brilliant Indian Paintbrush never fails to get one's attention!
To my surprise, I come across a rather large guzzler installation in this wash in the Kelso Mountains
This guzzler system consists of three water-storage tanks and a small solar panel
Someone has built a nest in the rocks near the guzzler
The rock formations in the upper part of this wash in the Kelso Mountains are quite interesting
As I head toward Kelso Peak, it's clear from the smoothed rock in the wash that a lot of water passes here at times
The wash fizzles out, and now I'm on the foothills of Kelso Peak
Before I know it, I'm slowly on up way up the lower flank of Kelso Peak, with the cinder cones and my tent behind me
"So far, so good," I say to myself as I stop to enjoy a desert mallow and the views; I keep climbing
The views across Kelso Mountains toward the Kelso Dunes, and the Granite Mountains beyond, are inspiring
I climb up to the Kelso Peak ridge line, using my hands at times, and realize that vertigo is setting in; a good place to rest
Looking down from the Kelso Peak ridge line past a few joshua trees and indigo bushes, I wonder how I made it up here!
Vertigo man is fixated on how steep this is; I feel like a cat on a roof, not sure how to get back down
A few large rocks are blocking my ascent onto the ridge, so I slowly move across the slope in case there's an easy way up
I start looking for a way back down from the Kelso Peak ridge line, preferably not following the same route I ascended
The larger rocks on this part of the Kelso Peak slope make for a descent with better footing than I had on the way up
I zigzag across the slope, approaching a drainage that I identify on my GPS as a possible descent route
I descend a little further toward the drainage and realize that, yes, it should provide a better descent than my ascent route
Easy does it, as I descend from the Kelso Peak ridge line
I've made it down to that next saddle well below the Kelso Peak ridge line, and it will all be easier from here
Now that I'm on one of the low ridges north of Kelso Peak, hiking seems so easy again!
Looking back at the Kelso Peak hillside that I just descended
A bit further, I turn back to look at Kelso Peak again
A few beavertail cactus blooms add a splash of colour to a slightly cloudy, olive afternoon
It's GPS time again; I want to hike a few different ridges on the way back to my campsite
I've seen these little white flowers before, Fremont's pincushion, but this is the first patch of them I've seen today
I hike over several hills before choosing a wash for descending back down toward my tent
Hey, it looks like someone has been sleeping here!
I start walking down a wash out of the Kelso Mountains and notice that someone has lost his horns
This wash leading down out of the Kelso Mountains turns out to be a small one
The gently curved crest of Cima Dome is visible in the distance from parts of this wash
As the wash empties out onto the fan, the power lines are visible not too far away
It's not just creosote bush everywhere here; Indian paintbrush flowers pop up through a purple desert sage
Blue delphiniums (Delphinium parishii) flowering near some yellowish hopsage (Grayia spinosa)
A short distance later, I notice another hopsage, this one with more mature inflorescences
This tiny plant in a gravelly area reminds me of miner's lettuce; it's Oxytheca perfoliata (roundleaf puncturebract)
Also growing in the gravelly area near the Kelso Mountains is a scattering of goldfields
I've dubbed this as "my favourite joshua tree"
Another view of my favourite joshua tree
I approach the power lines and can see my tent in the distance at the left
Back at my tent, dark clouds linger above me while sun illuminates the Kelso Mountains where I hiked a few hours ago
The dark clouds are looking rather serious
My rear wheel rubbed against the frame yesterday from time to time, so I take a look at the problem
This evening's potential rain clouds are a bit creepy, but they create an awesome sunset!
What's more scenic than a tent in a Mojave Desert sunset?
I catch a final glimpse of the ball of fire before it drops down behind the distant mountains
I boil water for tonight's add-water-to-bag meal, and then wind down and enjoy the food coma; it rains for a while later on!
Kelso Peak hike elevation profile from my powerline road campsite, Kelso Mountains, Mojave National Preserve (Day 2)
Kelso Peak hike route from my powerline road campsite, Kelso Mountains, Mojave National Preserve (Day 2)