Home / Mojave Preserve and Desert bikepacking trips / 2010, Mojave National Preserve / Day 10: Malpais Spring, Castle Peaks area, day hike, Mojave National Preserve 87
Absolutely perfect weather on today's 8-mile hike in the Castle Peaks area of the Mojave National Preserve to Malpais Spring, Indian Spring and Taylor Spring. The high elevation up here keeps things comfortable, with my campsite at 4593 feet elevation and and the high point of the day at 5430 feet.
- A peaceful morning of solitude at the top of Malpais Spring Road
- After coffee and the usual breakfast of granola, nuts and dried fruit, it's time to dig a cat hole
- Before starting the hike to nearby Malpais Spring, I lock my bike to a joshua tree, for what it's worth
- As I climb down into the canyon leading to Malpais Spring, I'm greeted by pink cactus and range ratany flowers
- A few steep rock outcrops edge the Malpais Spring canyon
- Here's an old pipe, presumably leading to the source of Malpais Spring
- After a short distance, I climb up out of the canyon to circumvent a thicket of willow, desert willow and catclaw
- Once past the big thicket, I climb back down into the Malpais Spring wash past a patch of orange desert mallows
- I follow the pipe up the wash toward Malpais Spring
- I walk up a wide slot in the Malpais Spring canyon, still following the pipe
- I pass a big rock wall in Malpais Spring wash
- A rock outcrops juts out from the wall of Malpais Spring wash like an arrowhead
- I get excited when I discover this little stream; I'm close to the source of Malpais Spring
- Near the source of Malpais Spring is a moist, grassy area that's probably underwater during wetter periods
- The stream from Malpais Spring is very shallow, so I try digging a hole deep enough to accommodate the end of my water filter
- Just above Malpais Spring is another thicket area with lots of willows, and these upright bushes that I don't recognize
- I climb up the canyon wall a bit to get an overview of the Malpais Spring area
- Quite a few moths flutter about in the moist area around Malpais Spring
- Above Malpais Spring are more interesting eroded areas to walk through
- One of several slots to walk through in the canyon above Malpais Spring, Mojave National Preserve
- I climb up the hill above the slot canyon and look back down into the area above Malpais Spring
- Atop a rocky outcrop above Malpais Spring, I notice a lizard near my feet, who thinks I don't notice him
- The walls of Malpais Spring canyon are less tall as it rises up to meet the highlands
- The white blooms of Cliff rose line some stretches of the upper part of Malpais Spring canyon
- Orange desert mallow flowers bloom out the side of reddish rock in upper Malpais Spring canyon
- I'm enjoying the rocky constrictions in Malpais Spring wash, and I find myself hiking toward another one
- Deposits of sand and silt fill the drainage between the rocks
- I reach a small dry waterfall to climb
- Just beyond the dry waterfall is a narrow, curving slot to walk through
- I take a look back toward my tent and Hart Peak after climbing out of the slot canyon
- I hike up the wash beyond the slot canyons above Malpais Spring, then hike cross-country over to Indian Spring
- At Indian Spring in the New York Mountains is an old fence that has collected a lot of rock and sand over the years
- At Indian Spring in the New York Mountains is a dry, abandoned cistern
- Indian Spring, New York Mountains, Mojave National Preserve has water!
- The water in the Indian Spring cistern is clean, aside from minor algal growth in the tank
- A bee sits on the edge of the Indian Spring cistern, enjoying the water's edge
- When I arrived here at Indian Spring, a flurry of doves took flight and left; this one watches me from a nearby branch
- Now that I know there's good water here at Indian Spring, I'll be back tomorrow to fill up
- Beyond Indian Spring, I start hiking up the remnants of an old road that leads upward
- As I approach a ridge in the New York Mountains, I notice pink cactus flowers popping out of a boulder
- A patch of phacelias bloom under the shade line of an old juniper tree
- From this ridge in the New York Mountains, I recognize Ivanpah Dry Lake and Clark Mountain in the distance
- I walk along this ridge in the New York Mountains, parts of which are quite lush in a Mojave Desert way
- A little further along the ridge, I gaze across the plateau over Malpais Spring toward the area of Searchlight, Nevada
- I stop to look at an old, dead yucca trunk laying on the ground
- An open area on the ridge is dotted with tufts of pink cactus flowers
- Well, since I'm at the base of one of the Castle Peaks outcrops, it's time to decide whether to continue upward or not
- I decide not to climb up to the Castle Peaks, and instead hike down a wash and across the plateau toward Taylor Spring
- Occasional colour juxtapositions make for a scenic hike down this wash east of the Castle Peaks
- I walk through a patch of yellow desert marigolds (the large flowers) and goldfields (the tiny yellow ones)
- This plant (snakeweed, I think) is so odd for its dense, rounded shape
- More purple desert sage and yellow desert marigolds as I glance up at the Castle Peaks
- A GPS check shows that Taylor Spring lies somewhere past the large rounded hill ahead
- A patch of pink buckwheat flowers sits in my view of the Castle Peaks as I hike down the wash
- I hike over several low hills and across drainages on my cross-country hike toward Taylor Spring
- I take a short energy-bar break on a big rock pile before hiking down the next wash on the way to Taylor Spring
- I look up to Castle Peaks again before I head down the wash toward Taylor Spring
- This cactus is different from all the others that I've seen today
- I wonder what is this ghostly grey bush
- I walk down the wash toward Taylor Spring with Castle Peaks in the background
- Joshua tree fruits hang low at ground level
- Taylor Spring should be somewhere around the next bend
- I almost walked past this old, fallen-down, unhewn-wood fence around the Taylor Spring site without noticing it
- I walk up and down the wash a little and locate the Taylor Spring site
- I start walking down the wash below Taylor Spring in a random route back to my campsite near Malpais Spring
- Orange desert mallow flowers contrast with the greenery in this sometimes-wet drainage (but not today)
- Foiled! I reach a barbed wire fence across the wash below Taylor Spring
- The walls of the wash are steep and cactus-covered here at the fence line
- I arrive at a gravelly area on the plateau with an other-worldly purplish colour
- I dip down into this purplish and reddish wash
- A neato little slot to pass through in this unnamed wash between Malpais Spring and Taylor Spring
- A lone bird sits high up on a rock, twittering away
- Ha, foiled again! I'm back at another segment of that barbed-wire fence
- I climb the short, steep hillside up out of the wash and take a look back down
- My Malpais Spring campsite is not too far ahead, just in front of that large rocky hill
- I rejoin the old Indian Spring Road (now closed) for the final 1/3 mile walk back to the campsite
- A few miniature lupines grow in the gravel of Indian Spring Road
- Indian Spring Road skirts the ridge above Malpais Spring wash, so I walk over to see where I started today's hike
- Red Indian paintbrush decorates the joshua tree forest on the old Indian Spring Road
- As I approach my campsite, I get a good view of Searchlight, Nevada down in the valley
- I enjoy watching the sun set from my tent near Malpais Spring
- I fill my pot from my big black water bag next to pink buckwheat flowers; I'll make my instant meal shortly
- The sun sets nicely behind the Castle Peaks
- Clouds beyond the Castle Mountains pick up the last sunlight of the day
- With sunset completed, it's time to boil water for tonight's instant meal and settle in for the evening
- Elevation profile of today's hike to Malpais Spring, Indian Spring and Taylor Spring, Mojave National Preserve
- Route of today's hike to Malpais Spring, Indian Spring and Taylor Spring, Mojave National Preserve