Home / Mojave Preserve and Desert bikepacking trips / Spring 2011: Mojave National Preserve and area bicycle camping / Day 2: McCullough Mountains hike, South McCullough Mountains Wilderness, Nevada 79
Day hike into the McCullough Mountains to two unnamed peaks (6557 and 6425) from a campsite near Pine Spring. I was hoping to do this hike last spring, but ran out of time. 9.2 hiking miles plus about 2200 feet of elevation gain.
I'll drink a bit more than two litres of water, and see a bluejay, a few lizards, and a couple of jackrabbits. Otherwise, the day will be rather quiet critter-wise. I won't see any people today.
- One nice thing about my Pine Spring campsite is a little sandy drainage area near my tent, perfect for a cat hole
- Waking up after the first night of a camping trip is always special; I've finally arrived. It was chilly overnight and I'm feeling exhausted from yesterday. I was so tired that I didn't wake up once during the night. It always takes a few days to build u
- Gold flowers growing in the gravel near my tent, which I think at first are goldfields (Lasthenia californica)
- I start today's hike after a slow breakfast and notice an old coconut-juice can by Pine Spring Road
- My energy is really low this morning as I start walking up the road toward the McCullough Mountains
- There are also a few old pinyon pine trees along Pine Spring Rd: not a surprise given the name of this place
- A few healthy barberry bushes grow along Pine Spring Road
- I must be near Pine Spring; here's an old rusty tobacco can lid
- I'm surprised to find a trough at Pine Spring, overflowing with water of decent quality; a few bees are living on the margins
- The Pine Spring water trough is inside a corral, which is apparently still in use by cows
- A bit beyond the Pine Spring corral is an old water trough and a rusty water tank
- I've hiked two miles up Pine Spring Road, which ends here, so I climb a hill to get oriented for the day's off-trail hiking
- From this hill above Pine Spring, I see a possible route to the McCullough Mountains ridgeline straight ahead, a bit to the left
- Out of nowhere, a grasshopper pops into the air and lands nearby
- A few mariposa lilies are blooming on this hill above Pine Spring
- On the way down to the wash, a patch of ankle-high cacti requires careful avoidance hiking
- I arrive in the sandy wash and prepare to climb the hill on my left, on my way toward one of the McCullough Mountains peaks
- Diminutive chia sages grow in the wash here
- Some larger desert sage bushes (probably Salvia dorrii) are also blooming in this wash
- I take note of this light-pink Mojave Desert native thistle: Cirsium neomexicanum
- I check my GPS again and begin the climb into the McCullough Mountains, straight up this hill
- At the top of the blackbrush hill, I turn around for a moment to enjoy the views back down into Piute Valley
- Atop the blackbrush hill, I check out the upward route ahead to the McCullough Mountains ridgeline
- A rock outcrop atop the hill ahead is my next target
- Nice views back down into Piute Valley from the rock outcrop
- Now that I'm above the rock outcrop, I can see the next hill on my way up the McCullough Mountains
- I walk past some banana yuccas and toward a stand of joshua trees on my way up this next McCullough Mountains hill
- Time for another energy bar, already, on my way up into the McCullough Mountains
- A few red penstemons are flowering today in the McCullough Mountains
- This steep, rocky hillside in the McCullough Mountains provides good footing on the way up
- A couple of claret-cup cacti are blooming on this McCullough Mountains hillside
- Finally, I reach a point from which the remainder of my route uphill is visible, following the rising ridge at centre-left
- OK, climb up that hill, now!
- After climbing that last short steep hill... now the McCullough Mountains peak 6557 is right in front of me
- Almost there... Peak 6557 is that hill ahead to my right
- A pile of rocks sits upon McCullough Mountains unnamed peak 6557
- I sit on McCullough Mountains Peak 6557 for a good 15 minutes and enjoy the views
- Looking to my right, I see the high point of this range, McCullough Mountain, at just over 7000 feet
- I bet the valley below, between here and the Lucy Gray Mountains in the middleground, would be an interesting place to explore
- Looking way off into the distance, I can see a snow-capped mountain, which I presume is Charleston Peak near Las Vegas
- I'm hoping to continue hiking along the ridge, but it looks like there may be a drop-off beyond those two junipers
- It's quite steep, but I conclude that I should be able to wind my way down the hill safely, and stay on the ridge line
- Once I get past the crazy, steep and rocky part at the beginning of the short descent, the rest is easy
- Phlox, cacti and pinyon pines on the McCullough Mountains ridge line
- I spy an old tree trunk on the McCullough Mountains ridge line
- From this McCullough Mountains saddle, I can still see across the Lucy Gray Mountains to Ivanpah Dry lake and Clark Mountain
- This banana yucca in the McCullough Mountains is getting ready to bloom
- This McCullough Mountains saddle also has great views eastward down to the Piute Valley
- From the saddle, I look back at McCullough Mountains Peak 6557
- I stop to look at a cactus growing in an unusual horizontal habit, one pad at a time
- Cacti and a few blue phacelia flowers enjoy the shade under this pinyon pine in the McCullough Mountains
- I almost missed these claret-cup cacti flowers under an old juniper while walking past
- The next marked point on my hike today will be McCullough Mountains unnamed peak 6425, the high point just ahead
- On the way up to Peak 6425 in the McCullough Mountains are a few rock piles
- I've seen this white flower before; I think it's Desert tobacco (Nicotiana obtusifolia)
- One last little climb up to McCullough Mountains Peak 6425
- From McCullough Mountains Peak 6425, I look back at where I was earlier, on Peak 6557, center
- McCullough Mountains Peak 6425 also has great views eastward across the Piute Valley
- I can still see a bit of the Ivanpah Dry Lake area from McCullough Mountains Peak 6425
- McCullough Mountains Peak 6425 marks a decision point as far as route-following is concerned
- I'll start the hike back to camp by hiking up the hill at centre-left, then following the ridge down to the hill in the middle
- This is one of the more scraggly pinyon pines I've come across today in the McCullough Mountains
- About 10 minutes later, I notice a hillside that might make for a good descent down to a wash
- I climb carefully down the steep hill, past the bunch grasses, blackbrush, and the occasional banana yucca
- I start hiking down the rock-strewn wash, which is like a staircase in a few places
- It's dry right now, but I can imagine a rush of water being funneled down this drainage during the wet season
- The wash begins to widen slightly, collecting sand that runs down from the McCullough Mountains
- The wash continues to wind its way down from the McCullough Mountains
- A primrose blooms in this McCullough Mountains wash near an old tree trunk
- The star of most every desert-wilderness trip: the stray balloon
- I'm seeing some footprints in the sand now as I get closer to the Pine Spring area
- Another Palmer's penstemon starting to bloom
- I'm surprised to notice a few barrel cacti along Pine Spring Road on my way back to the tent
- I have an easy one-mile walk down Pine Spring Road to finish off the day's hike
- And there it is, home again for the night near Pine Spring, with a flowering beavertail cactus along the way
- Time to boil water for this evening's instant meal: Mountain House Rice with Chicken (yum)
- After dark, I write notes in my journal and wind down as the evening gets progressively cooler
- Elevation profile of McCullough Mountains hiking route from Pine Spring area
- McCullough Mountains hike route from Pine Spring area