Home / Mojave Preserve and Desert bikepacking trips / Spring 2012: Mojave National Preserve Bicycle-Camping and Hiking / Day 1: Mojave National Preserve: Primm, NV to Mail Spring, New York Mountains foothills, by bicycle 44
33.3 bicycle miles and about 3000 feet of elevation gain. This wouldn't be so difficult except that I'm not yet acclimated to 90-degree F heat and the 10-ton bike! Despite fatigue and heat, it's a great to leave the grid again.
- I spent last night at Whiskey Pete's Casino Hotel in Primm, NV and I'm more than ready to get going this morning
I'm not a fan of casinos, so I don't have a fun benefit from staying here like many people would. However, the Amtrak bus stops here, so it's a good place to start a Mojave National Preserve bicycle-camping trip. - Sunscreen on, and the 10-ton bike packed up, I pull away from the hotel at Primm
After a quick boring breakfast at the McDonald's in the hotel, my first stop will be the Starbucks on the other side of the freeway, and the gas-station store for water. It's amazing how terrible the tap water in the hotel tastes. - After my coffee and water stop at the gas station (I don't need gas), I leave pavement and ride down this dirt road out of Primm
The morning is already quite warm, and temperatures in the high 90s F are forecast for today. Hitting the dirt road feels really good. - It's nice to see the I-15 freeway and its traffic getting smaller as I ride down the dirt road away from Primm
It's less nice though to see the giant towers of the new solar-power plant under construction that is ruining a chunk of Ivanpah Valley over there below Clark Mountain by blanketing it with mirrors. - I reach the main dirt road from Primm to Nipton, often called Nipton-Desert Road, and note that I'm 10.5 miles from my next stop
I send out a couple of text messages to let folks know that I've left Primm, I'm in the Mojave Desert for real now, and I'm sweating already. - I've got about 7 miles of bumpy dirt road to ride on the way to Nipton (the last 3 are old pavement)
It's a slow ride due to the road's roughness, and it's ever so slightly uphill, rising about 500 feet from Primm to Nipton. But it's *my* road, essentially traffic-free except for me. - I pass a few old household items dumped along Nipton-Desert Road
A suitable foreground for the freeway and solar-power-plant towers in the background, I suppose. - After almost an hour and a half in the heat, I'm already getting hot, and grab some shade under the railway tracks
This is going to be interesting... I'm only partway into today's ride and I'm already starting to overheat! - While taking my shade break under the train tracks, I notice a washed-out cattleguard on the old road to the Lucy Gray Mine area
These days, people just drive around the cattleguard, instead of over it! - I'm happy when I get past Desert siding, cross under the tracks, and reach some old pavement
I stop to take a quick look at the old corral here, as I've done before. One of those really long freight trains is passing me on the right. - A few Coyote-melon vines extend out into the road along Nipton-Desert Road
That "baseball" on the ground is one of the coyote melons. - That patch of buildings ahead is Nipton; I'll take a break there in a few minutes
And there in the background is the New York Mountains. I expect to be in that area by the end of the day. - Nipton, California, population 20; I take a half-hour break here
Sometimes I camp here, but today I'm just filling up on water (my 10-litre water bag), having a cold drink, eating some chips, and passing through. A kind European tourist who doesn't speak much English offers me a small bottle of water. Thanks! - After my break at Nipton, I return to the dirt road parallel to the train tracks for the next 10-mile segment
My bike is so heavy now after adding 10 litres of water to the front rack, bleh. This part of the road is commonly referred to as Nipton-Moore Road. New York Mountains, here I come! - 2.5 miles beyond Nipton, I'm feeling hot again and notice some potential shade as I cross under the power lines
It hasn't been long since my break at Nipton, but I think it's time for another short break. - This short stretch of Nipton-Moore Road is extremely sandy where it crosses a wash near the power lines
I'm getting off here anyway to take a break under the train tracks. - I hide under the train tracks for a few minutes to get out of the hot sun
While I'm here, I send another text message, since I'm still in cell-phone range, and won't be for much longer. - Back on the road, I pedal onward, slowly, toward the New York Mountains
I see another railway siding up ahead. - I pass by a road leading down into the Ivanpah Valley toward private property
"Road not maintained," I am warned, in case I decide to head on down that way (I don't). - Ooo, another railway undercrossing along Nipton-Moore Road; I think I should stop here for a moment to check it out
Anything for another quickie break out of the hot sun! - Scape sunscreen: I feel like a chemical test site: it's bubbling and foaming in the extreme heat (high 90s F), how weird
I brought some of this new-to-me brand of sunscreen, which is supposed to be good under athletic conditions, because I was running low on my preferred brand (REI), which was out-of-stock. I won't be buying this again. - Just ahead on the other side of the tracks is the old Ivanpah store, which means this segment of today's ride is ending
I'll be on pavement again for a couple of miles. - Here in the Ivanpah area, I'm at about 3500 feet elevation, about 1000 feet above where I started down at Primm
I'm just high enough now to see across Ivanpah Dry Lake to a few specks in the distance that are probably the casino buildings at Primm, NV where I slept last night. - I'm back on pavement for a couple of miles and ride past the former Ivanpah store on Ivanpah Road
I've often stopped for a break at this building during past trips, but today I'll pedal on past it. I'm already tired and want to keep going. - Ivanpah Rd slowly climbs toward a pass in the New York Mountains: I look for another place to escape the sun for a few minutes
A couple of miles of pavement here makes the ride a bit easier. A bit of heat exhaustion is setting in, which I clearly recognize, so it's time to do something about it. Any shade around here? - I pull over for a heat-exhaustion break where the pavement ends on Ivanpah Road
Great views down to Ivanpah Valley from here, but all I care about right now is getting a bit of shade. There are some low hills to my left and and old building a few hundred feet off the road to my right. I start walking around, looking for shade. - Hmm, there will surely be some shade over by that old building over there that was probably part of the Goldome Mine complex
I like checking out old buildings and have never looked at that once up close before (I've ridden my bike past here several times over the years). I go for a walk toward there. - I'm hungry for shade right now, so I approach the old building as if it were a piece of food
From a distance, I thought it was a cinder-block building, and it is. - I take refuge from the hot sun on the shady side of the abandoned cinder-block building that I've been eyeing
Just as I arrive at the building, I notice a park-ranger vehicle stopping on the road over where my bike is parked. I wave over to her/him, hoping to somehow make a "all is fine" signal, and s/he sees me and then drives away. - Someone has set up a fire ring in front of the old building
With the nice views across the Ivanpah Valley below, and New York Mountains behind, this would be a great place for an evening campfire. - Perhaps this old building once served as a kitchen or showers for the adjacent Goldome mine
The building has a lot of plumbing in it. - Large window openings open onto big views of the Ivanpah Mountains and the Clark Mountains in the distance
Of course, there are no longer any windows in the window openings! - Somewhat rejuvenated from my break in the shade, I return to the 10-ton bike to continue the ride (or walk) up Ivanpah Road
The sun is a bit lower, thus not quite so hot, and the temperature has probably dropped into the low 90s F at this point, maybe even the high 80s. I try to eat an energy bar, but can only eat half of it. - As I ride (and sometimes walk) the 10-ton bike up Ivanpah Road, I notice the light somehow seems a bit weird
Then I remember that an eclipse is happening right now, blocking a bit of the sun, responsible for the fuzzy shadows that I'm seeing--which is not because of impaired vision due to heat exhaustion. Relief, I'm not crazy nor about to pass out! - Close-up of my fuzzy shadows caused by the eclipse
Disorientation. - A few years ago (2008), my overloaded bike rack broke while riding on the washboarded road here on Ivanpah Road
I learned a lesson. I now try to distribute more of my extra water weight on the front rack, which I hate doing, since it makes the bike even harder to ride. - As the sun goes down on Ivanpah Road, I pull over to look at the Bathtub Spring Peaks area where I hiked last year
Great area to explore on foot, humans apparently don't go up there often! - The sunset light on upper Ivanpah Road is incredible; tired, I'm walking the bike sometimes, enjoying the colours
I still have several miles ahead until I reach the Mail Spring area where I intend to camp the next few days. Take it slowly, but take it. I don't want to use what little energy I have left all at once. - Finally, I've reached the flatter, upper part of Ivanpah Road, still with blurry shadows due to the eclipse
I'm exhausted, but I can pedal a bit more now with the lower sun and slightly cooler air. Some phony positive-packaging folks would call this moment a renaissance; I call it running on empty with stamina. - The sun goes down behind me with a nice belt-of-Venus over Ivanpah Valley below as I continue riding up Ivanpah Road
It gets dark, and I ride past only one other oncoming car on my way to the Mail Spring area. I'm tired beyond tired, but I want to keep going to higher ground as originally planned in the hope that it won't be so hot up there tomorrow! - Well after dark, I find a nice campsite along a road near Mail Spring, Mojave National Preserve, and set up for a couple of days
I was hoping to make it further up this road, but too exhausted to go any further. Just happy to be here in the land of junipers and Joshua trees, hot here, but high enough to not be in the hotter area that I passed through below earlier today. - I set up the tent and lay down, too tired to boil water for an instant meal tonight (I just eat a lot of roasted almonds)
I send a couple of messages by satellite (Delorme InReach satellite beacon system) since I'm off the grid, and fall asleep exhausted, hungry but unable to eat, looking forward to a hike tomorrow. Hopefully I'll be able to wake up! - Mojave National Preserve: Primm, Nevada to Mail Spring, 3000 feet of elevation gain
33.3 bicycle miles and about 3000 feet of elevation gain. - Mojave National Preserve: Primm, Nevada to Mail Spring, 3000 feet of elevation gain
33.3 bicycle miles and about 3000 feet of elevation gain.