Home / Mojave Preserve and Desert bikepacking trips / 2010, Mojave National Preserve / Day 12: Malpais Spring to Nipton by bicycle, plus Ivanpah Valley sunset hike, Mojave National Preserve 49
I wish I had time for another day at Malpais Spring. Instead, today I'll backtrack my bicycle route from a few days ago to Nipton and do a short hike in the creosote-bush flats in Ivanpah Valley at sunset.
27.2 bicycle miles, 1900 feet of elevation gain, 3500 feet of elevation loss, plus 4.4 hiking miles.
Time to pack up and leave Malpais Spring; it has been a great three nights here and I didn't encounter any other visitors
All packed up, I ride down the dirt road away from my Malpais Spring campsite
About a mile down the road from my campsite, I approach the defunct water tank and windmill of Stagecoach Well
I stop at Stagecoach Well when I hear a rubbing sound and, yes, my rear wheel is rubbing against the bike frame again
I arrive back at the "main road," Walking Box Ranch Road, and begin the 11-mile ride to the Nevada 164 highway
After a mile, I pass the "stateline" sign on Walking Box Ranch Road; I'm leaving California and entering Nevada
I stop briefly at an old corral behind which is an alternate old road leading to Malpais Spring
Residual pavement exists here and there on Walking Box Ranch Road
I pass the shot-up 5-mile marker on Walking Box Ranch Road
A field of pinkish-white buckwheat flowers in the joshua tree forest on the west side of Walking Box Ranch Road
A few more miles to go on Walking Box Ranch Road
Stop sign in the desert: after 11 dirt-road miles, I reach the end of Walking Box Ranch Road
I begin the gentle 900-foot climb up Nevada 164 between Searchlight and Nipton
I make a stop at one of the Wee Thump Wilderness signs along Nevada 164
Near the Wee Thump Wilderness sign is an old dirt road that leads inland toward the McCullough Mountains
After my break, I continue riding up Nevada 164 toward Crescent Peak
As I climb Nevada 164, I enter the land of desert mallows and joshua trees
Yellow desert marigolds decorate the shoulders of Nevada 164 east of Crescent Peak
The south side of Nevada 164 is very much alive
I park the 10-ton bike and go for a walk in the desert-mallow field along Nevada 164
Orange desert mallows bloom amongst the mature joshua trees across the road from Nevada's Wee Thump Wilderness
Joshua trees grow quite slowly, so these big trees here along Nevada 164 must be quite old
The trunk of this joshua tree near Crescent Peak on Nevada 164 is thicker than most
Back on Nevada 164, I cross Crescent Pass at about 4850 feet elevation, my high point of the day
The eight-mile downhill to Nipton on Nevada 164 begins!
I take a break from speeding down Nevada 164 toward Nipton to look at a dirt road that leads into the hills
I continue zooming down Nevada 164 toward Nipton, California: miles of excellent downhill riding
My eight miles of zooming downhill on the highway is about to end as I arrive at Nipton, that tuft of trees a mile or two ahead
At the Nipton store, I check in for another night of tent camping, chat a bit, and buy some beer and salty potato chips
I'm looking forward to a big meal at the Nipton café in a few hours, the building next to the store with the big covered porch
I set up the tent in the shade of Nipton's eucalyptus trees by the train tracks, like I did a few days ago
After a filling steak supper at the Nipton café and some socializing, I look across the train tracks; time to go for a walk
I cross the train tracks at Nipton for a short sunset hike (four miles round-trip) and enter Mojave National Preserve again
Walking westward through the creosote bushes of Ivanpah Valley, I find myself between two power lines
Most of Ivanpah Valley is dominated by creosote bushes, but here I pass through an area of small rounded shrubs
I pass two small hills that seem out of place in the wide-open Ivanpah Valley, and a pile of old barbed wire
I pick up an animal trail through the creosote-brush scrub as I head down into Ivanpah Valley
I discover an abandoned, deflated balloon under a creosote bush in Ivanpah Valley, not far from Nipton Road
The sun is dropping and the first glimmers of sunset in Ivanpah Valley are hitting my beard
A glance back toward Nipton, two miles away, reveals pink-orange hills
The orange glow cast across Ivanpah Valley hits the Lucy Gray Mountains in Nevada, just north of Nipton
I still have another mile ahead of me before I reach the city lights of Nipton, and my tent
Pink-orange stripes crown the New York Mountains on the southeast side of Ivanpah Valley
It's getting darker (and redder) by the minute as I follow a small drainage in the creosote-bush scrub on the way back to Nipton
Mojave National Preserve sunset looking up Ivanpah Valley toward the Cima Dome area
The end of sunset behind the Clark Mountains, viewed from Ivanpah Valley, produces a nice yellow glow
Ivanpah Valley sunset hike route from Nipton
Malpais Spring, Mojave National Preserve to Nipton bicycle route elevation profile
Malpais Spring, Mojave National Preserve to Nipton bicycle route