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've been needing some extra sleep, and I got some. I slept perfectly last night, but am still tired. Yesterday's warmth cooled down to a perfect comfort level during the night, probably around 60F. My water is almost cool this morning! - 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
I still feel a bit of yesterday's slight heat sickness. I'm not hungry for breakfast. I force myself to eat the usual granola, dried fruit (pluots and pineapple), and tamari almonds. However, my cool Starbucks Via coffee and vitamin C drink go down nicely. My MSR water bag has developed a slight leak around the cap, causing me to lose perhaps as much as a litre during yesterday's ride. Like all of my equipment, it does get (ab)used, so I'm not surprised when signs of wear develop. - As I start hiking across the creosote-bush scrub, a fluffy winterfat bush (Krascheninnikovia lanata) catches my attention
I saw a few of these on my way up Kelbaker Road yesterday, but none as fluffy as this one. - I hike past a small patch of yellow flowers, which seem to be goldfields (the tiny ones) and tidy tips, the larger ones
A single fiddleneck stem rises on the left side of the photo. I didn't know that tidy tips and goldfields grow in the Mojave, so I'm not sure if my observation is correct. - I hitch up with an old road (now closed in a Wilderness area) and follow it toward Kelso Peak
Even though Mojave National Preserve has almost no official trails, none are really needed given the number of old roads that can be followed (and cross-country desert hiking is usually easy too). - I've seen several of these so far today: probably Krameria erecta (Range Ratany)
I like how it looks at first glance like a pile of dead twigs. I probably wouldn't even notice it if it didn't have flowers on it! - On the way to Kelso Peak, a few joshua trees are scattered across this area dominated by creosote-bush scrub
I have several low hills go climb up and down to get over to a particular wash that penetrates into the Kelso Mountains. - I start seeing the occasional Beavertail Cactus (Opuntia basilaris) in flower
This little guy is growing in the meagre shade of a creosote bush. - Here's one of the many yellow flowers that inhabit the Kelso Mountains area: Cooper Dyssodia (Adenophyllum cooperi)
Apparently this plant doesn't smell very good, but I didn't brush up against it to notice. - Looking behind me past a patch of indigo bush toward the Beale Mountains on the other side of Kelbaker Road
Way off in the distance is the Mid Hills and its campground, my destination tomorrow. - Another view behind me from a garden patch I'm passing through
Cactus, pink buckwheat flowers, and more... The day is still a bit cloudy, so it hasn't warmed up as much as I was expecting. I like this, since my energy is still a bit muted from yesterday's heat. - I pick up an animal trail leading toward Kelso Peak after the old 4WD road fizzles out
Like most animal trails, this one disappears after a short distance, then reappears. - I arrive at the unnamed wash leading into the Kelso Mountains which I had targeted on my maps and GPS
It's a bit wider and sandier than I was expecting. - I climb down into the wash and start walking up into the Kelso Mountains
There are a lot of footprints in the sand, but it looks more like animal traffic than human footprints. In places, I detect faint tire tracks, which shouldn't exist here, given that this is a designated Wilderness area. - A big patch of paperbag bush (Salazaria mexicana) in the wash leading into the Kelso Mountains
The textures, lines and dots are fun to look at; a photorealistic painting of this would probably look non-representational. - The textures, lines and dots are fun to look at; a photorealistic painting of this would probably look non-representational. - I pass a few desert larkspurs (Delphinium parishii) popping up through some yellow brittlebrush flowers
Thanks for the plant ID, Lee; I didn't recognize these because I'm used to seeing much darker blue flowers than these. - Brilliant Indian Paintbrush never fails to get one's attention!
This is one plant I should try growing in my garden at home. - To my surprise, I come across a rather large guzzler installation in this wash in the Kelso Mountains
The guzzler provides some water to wildlife during dry times. I guess this explains the faint tire tracks I've been noticing in the wash. - This guzzler system consists of three water-storage tanks and a small solar panel
Some wilderness lovers have negative opinions about guzzlers. They are indeed a blight on the landscape when one anticipates true wilderness, and some see the benefit of providing off-season water to desert animals as unnatural and unnecessary. - Someone has built a nest in the rocks near the guzzler
The scat on the twigs is most likely not from those who built the nest! - The rock formations in the upper part of this wash in the Kelso Mountains are quite interesting
The vertical rocks here are old enough to have smooth edges from weathering. - 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
I would like to see what a place like this looks like during a summer flash flood or a winter rain. - The wash fizzles out, and now I'm on the foothills of Kelso Peak
I keep walking onward and upward. - 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
I keep looking at my GPS and the views in front of me, trying to pick a decent route upward. - "So far, so good," I say to myself as I stop to enjoy a desert mallow and the views; I keep climbing
This is scenic. It has been steep, but not insanely difficult, but the next part up toward Kelso Peak looks like it may be tougher. - The views across Kelso Mountains toward the Kelso Dunes, and the Granite Mountains beyond, are inspiring
One thing that always amazes me when absorbing a view like this is that most of the hills in front of me never have human explorers. A handful of mountain climbers come out to this area for Kelso Peak, and that's about it. - 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
There was a lot of loose rock on this last little stretch, and vertigo man now grits his teeth while he clings to the hillside, contemplating his next move. - Looking down from the Kelso Peak ridge line past a few joshua trees and indigo bushes, I wonder how I made it up here!
Steep hikes and bike rides don't bother me, but it's very different when loose rock, instead of a trail, is the climbing surface. I guess I'm still a hiker, and not a mountain climber. - Vertigo man is fixated on how steep this is; I feel like a cat on a roof, not sure how to get back down
I've spent a good 15 minutes resting up here, but I'm still feeling shaky. I hate vertigo; maybe if I wait a bit longer it will just go away? - 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
If vertigo would subside, I might be able to climb a few of the boulders behind and above me, and then hike the Kelso Peak ridge. However, it might be a better idea to start looking for a way back down. - I start looking for a way back down from the Kelso Peak ridge line, preferably not following the same route I ascended
I make careful switchbacks so as not to lose my footing. Larger rocks usually provide support, but caution is required because some of them move just when I think they will hold me. - 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
Careful! Careful! Steep grade ahead! - I zigzag across the slope, approaching a drainage that I identify on my GPS as a possible descent route
I frequently consult my Delorme GPS to see contour lines from the USGS maps and how they match up with the actual surfaces here. Despite vertigo, I'm really enjoying being up here; it's just that I can't go any higher. - I descend a little further toward the drainage and realize that, yes, it should provide a better descent than my ascent route
I take another break here to enjoy the spectacular views, before my descent causes them to disappear. My knee and shoe intrude into the photo. - Easy does it, as I descend from the Kelso Peak ridge line
Zigzagging down the hill is getting a bit easier. I'll stop next at that little rock-pile saddle down below. - I've made it down to that next saddle well below the Kelso Peak ridge line, and it will all be easier from here
I do need to adjust my course so that I land on one of the low ridges off to my right; if I keep heading straight down, I'll be on the wrong side of the Kelso Mountains for my return hike to camp! - Now that I'm on one of the low ridges north of Kelso Peak, hiking seems so easy again!
Great views of the cinder cones in the distance and I'm no longer experiencing that shaky feeling caused by vertigo. - Looking back at the Kelso Peak hillside that I just descended
Gee, that was steep, but not all that high, and it didn't take as long as I was expecting. - A bit further, I turn back to look at Kelso Peak again
Now that my vertigo-induced adrenalin rush has faded, I'm a bit disappointed that I didn't hike the last piece of the ridge line to the peak. Maybe I need to challenge my vertigo again one day soon with another steep hillside hike... - A few beavertail cactus blooms add a splash of colour to a slightly cloudy, olive afternoon
I've never been out here late enough in the summer to see what the cactus pears on this plant look like, or taste like. - It's GPS time again; I want to hike a few different ridges on the way back to my campsite
The wash I ascended into the Kelso Mountains was scenic, but maybe others are just as interesting. - I've seen these little white flowers before, Fremont's pincushion, but this is the first patch of them I've seen today
I've only noticed these growing in patches like this. - I hike over several hills before choosing a wash for descending back down toward my tent
Great views from here across the lava beds, with the Clark Mountain Range, a wonderful area to explore, in the distance at the far centre-right. - Hey, it looks like someone has been sleeping here!
... or at least taking a rest. - I start walking down a wash out of the Kelso Mountains and notice that someone has lost his horns
I look around for bones from the presumably deceased animal, but don't find any. - This wash leading down out of the Kelso Mountains turns out to be a small one
No human footprints here. When was the last time that someone hiked here? - The gently curved crest of Cima Dome is visible in the distance from parts of this wash
Cima Dome is so subtle that it's often unnoticeable in many views of it. Kessler Peak is the mountain at the distant right. - As the wash empties out onto the fan, the power lines are visible not too far away
My campsite is off to the right somewhere, so I hike cross-country in that direction, across the creosote-bush landscape. - It's not just creosote bush everywhere here; Indian paintbrush flowers pop up through a purple desert sage
I haven't seen sage in profusion today, but it's fairly common in areas higher than my campsite, up into the lower reaches of the Kelso Mountains. - Blue delphiniums (Delphinium parishii) flowering near some yellowish hopsage (Grayia spinosa)
Desert colour juxtapositions are often so subtle, and yet striking after you've been living in the desert for a day or more. - A short distance later, I notice another hopsage, this one with more mature inflorescences
The actual hopsage flower is quite tiny and almost unnoticeable in the context of the surrounding reddish bracts. - This tiny plant in a gravelly area reminds me of miner's lettuce; it's Oxytheca perfoliata (roundleaf puncturebract)
Thanks again for the plant ID, Lee. - Also growing in the gravelly area near the Kelso Mountains is a scattering of goldfields
I still find it odd to see goldfields in the Mojave Desert, since I'm used to seeing it flowering on hillsides in the spring in hillsides outside of San José. I even planted a few in my garden one year, which flowered, but didn't reseed. - I've dubbed this as "my favourite joshua tree"
Joshua trees gesture in the most interesting ways, but this one stands out for me. - Another view of my favourite joshua tree
It's sad to think that some people buy up desert land and remove these interesting trees because they aren't "pretty" enough. - I approach the power lines and can see my tent in the distance at the left
Today's hike is pretty much over... - Back at my tent, dark clouds linger above me while sun illuminates the Kelso Mountains where I hiked a few hours ago
It didn't look like this here this morning, nor yesterday; I almost feel like I'm somewhere else. - The dark clouds are looking rather serious
I'll ignore them for now. Typical Mojave end-of-the-afternoon winds have picked up, and I'm hoping they don't last throughout the entire evening. Sometimes they do, sometimes they don't. - My rear wheel rubbed against the frame yesterday from time to time, so I take a look at the problem
The rear-brake spring seems bent, but not causing problems. Rear-axle quick-release was a bit loose though. After tightening, then a test ride on the powerline road, I decide that it's OK. Good, I have a long ride tomorrow to Mid Hills campground. - This evening's potential rain clouds are a bit creepy, but they create an awesome sunset!
Despite the dark clouds hovering overhead, it looks like they may still have a bit of sunshine way over there. - What's more scenic than a tent in a Mojave Desert sunset?
The prettiness of the view makes up for the fact that I still feel only 80% recovered from the slight heat sickness I developed yesterday in getting here. - I catch a final glimpse of the ball of fire before it drops down behind the distant mountains
I drank about 3.5 litres of water, but only ate two Clif bars, during today's hike. As much as I needed more calories, food hasn't appealed much today. Time to think about supper! - 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!
Tonight's meal is Mountain House Jamaican Jerk Chicken with rice, a real winner (Backpacker's Pantry makes a rather bla version of this same instant meal). It's a rather windy evening, a bit noisy in the tent with the walls flapping back and forth. Just as I crawl into my sleeping bag (it's cool enough to do that), a bit before 23h, I hear the pitter-patter of raindrops on the tent, and then the sound of real rain. Luckily, it only lasts an hour and nothing gets wet. It's fun to peer outside occasionally and see dark, clear skies with many twinkling stars just beyond the clouds which are raining on me. Tomorrow, I'll learn that the people 10 miles down the road at Kelso didn't know about tonight's rain here. - Kelso Peak hike elevation profile from my powerline road campsite, Kelso Mountains, Mojave National Preserve (Day 2)
7.9 hiking miles with 1304 feet elevation gain (and drop). - Kelso Peak hike route from my powerline road campsite, Kelso Mountains, Mojave National Preserve (Day 2)
7.9 hiking miles with 1304 feet elevation gain (and drop).