Home / Mojave Preserve and Desert bikepacking trips / 2009, Spring: Mojave National Preserve / Day 9: Mojave National Preserve Mid Hills campground to Nipton by bicycle via Cima and Morning Star Mine Road 39
It's almost all downhill today on this route that I've ridden before. Whoooosh! If I didn't have to stop at the Cima post office to put my mortgage payment in the mail, I would consider taking a longer route that I don't know so well.
I almost change my mind and stay at Mid Hills campground another night, but I haven't had a shower in over a week, so Nipton's showers are calling me. I know it will be hot down there, but I hope not unbearably so: it is the beginning of June in the Mojave Desert.
42 bicycle miles and 2600 feet elevation drop today (almost 3600 feet elevation drop if you count the many little ups on the way down).
- OK, I really am leaving Mid Hills campground this morning; to go to Nipton
After spending the last six nights here at Mid Hills, it's feeling more like home than ever. I get up early because I know it will take me a while to pack up at my usual leisurely pace. - Almost everything I brought with me ends up on the picnic table, and then squeezed into my saddlebags
This is definitely not lightweight bikepacking here, and I should make an effort to carry a bit less stuff with me. - It will be almost all downhill riding today in Mojave National Preserve
Starting at 5600 feet elevation, I ride the 3/4 mile out of Mid Hills campground then head down Wild Horse Canyon for two miles on a stretch of road that is always challenging in the uphill direction with the 10-ton bike. - Next, I ride two miles down the washboarded Black Canyon Road, which ends at a T-intersection in Cedar Canyon
At the intersection of Black Canyon Road and Cedar Canyon Road, I'm already 600 feet below Mid Hills campground. - I follow Cedar Canyon Road westward for a few miles, which is also mostly downhill
Cedar Canyon Road is also very washboarded, so I don't ride very fast. This would be an awesome downhill if the road were paved, but please keep it wild and don't pave it! - The road rises out of Cedar Canyon to look out over Kelso Valley and I turn right here on Death Valley Mine Road
I crossed Cedar Canyon Road here yesterday and walked up Death Valley Mine Road. About a mile of today's bicycle ride overlaps yesterday's hiking route to Live Oak Spring. I can see the old Mojave Road rising up in the distance toward the Marl Mountains. - A mile up Death Valley Mine Road, I stop at Thomas Place for a Clif-bar-and-water break like I did yesterday
I watch the passing train along Kelso-Cima Road down in the valley as I make another cell-phone call to change my outgoing message to let people know where I am. This is one of the areas around here where my cell phone works. - After my break at Thomas Place, I get back on Death Valley Mine Road and ride north through the joshua tree forest
I have about four miles to ride on this road, some of which is slightly uphill, some slightly downhill. - I've ridden Death Valley Mine Road a couple of times on previous Mojave National Preserve trips, and I always enjoy this one
This less-used route to Cima removes several hundred feet of downhill and uphill, and is much more tranquil. Tire tracks show that this road does get used, but I haven't encountered a motor vehicle here yet. - I make a mistake and turn down a well-travelled road that I think at first is Cima Road
After a quarter-mile, I check my maps and GPS and realize that the road is not indicated and I'm not on Cima Road. I turn back to rejoin Death Valley Mine Road and discover the real Cima Road a short distance further. - After a pleasant five miles on Death Valley Road, it ends, and I turn west on Cima Road, with Cima Dome and Kessler Peak ahead
Two more miles on dirt road with a gentle elevation drop of about 175 feet before. The collection of buildings known as Cima is visible in the distance at centre-left. - At the bottom of Cima Road, I cross the train tracks, arrive on pavement, and ride over to the Cima Store
It feels so modern to be on a paved road again. - Predictably unpredictable, the Cima store is closed, even though it should be open according to the posted hours
On a bikepacking trip, one needs to treat this store like a spring that might not have water: carry enough water so that you don't have to rely on the store, but if the store is open, you may may be able to fill up and dry-camp somewhere unplanned. - The heavily weathered board-and-batten exterior of the Cima store is in need of restoration work
Hopefully this building won't be allowed to return to nature like many old houses around Cima. The historic Cima post office has been at this site for almost a century; the current postmistress and store operator has been here since the early 1960s. - Inside the lobby of the Cima post office
During open hours, the flake-board panels open up to expose the postal service counter. - The real gem of the Cima post office is its set of antique postal boxes, apparently still in service
I wonder if these postal boxes are about to be retired some day soon. New weatherproof postal boxes now sit outside in front of the post office. - The interior mail slot taped shut, I follow the instructions and drop my mortgage payment in the mailbox outside
Another sign in the Cima post-office lobby mentions attempts to minimize disruption of service during some work that will be done here soon. - Behind the Cima store is an old house, presumably the residence of the store owner and postmistress
The house's board-and-batten exterior matches that of the Cima Store out front. The six-over-six window at the far left may date back to the early 1900s, while the wider windows to the right look like later additions, perhaps from the 1950s. - Two very crooked old sheds rest on the property behind the Cima store
I bet these sheds are full of no-longer-used items! - The Cima Store property also serves as a graveyard for many expired motor vehicles
An old toilet sits out here too. If the area weren't still occupied, it would be interesting to walk behind the fence and explore this chaotic outdoor museum. - Faded paint on this old truck behind the Cima Store labels it as a possession of Providence Land and Cattle
A Google search for "Providence Land and Cattle" turns up nothing. Best to ask some locals about the history of this truck; someone will know. - More old motor vehicles, and another crooked shed, behind the Cima Store, Mojave National Preserve
A few daturas have grown next to the truck and are showing off pretty, poisonous, white blossoms. - I depart Cima and ride down Morning Star Mine Road, one of Mojave National Preserve's main, high-speed, paved roads
It will be fast downhill soon enough, but the first three miles are are ever-so-slightly uphill: I gain about 100 feet in elevation. - I reach the point on Morning Star Mine Road that I call "the big curve," after which the serious downhill begins
I've ridden this fast road quite a few times on past Mojave National Preserve trips. One day I may try the slower, more remote, dirt-road route to Nipton along the train tracks (Nipton-Brant Road) instead of Morning Star Mine Road. - Downhill on Morning Star Mine Road is not steep, but it is long: about 11.5 miles on a 2 percent grade
It's a lot of fun going down, but quite time-consuming and tiring to ride in the uphill direction. The 11.5-mile-long hill drops from about 4285 feet elevation down to 2750 feet. - It's down, down, down on Morning Star Mine Road, Mojave National Preserve
Due to a fairly strong headwind today, I'm only reaching 25 miles per hour as my maximum speed. Sometimes I'll approach 35 miles per hour on my way down this hill. - Still rolling quickly downward on Morning Star Mine Road, Ivanpah Valley comes clearer into view
Nipton, my destination today, is on the other side of Ivanpah Valley. Best of all, there hasn't been all that much traffic on Morning Star Mine Road today, which makes bicycling less stressful. - The amazing 11.5-mile downhill on Morning Star Mine Road abruptly ends at a T-intersection and stop sign at Ivanpah Road
I'll turn left at the intersection here onto Ivanpah Road to partially circumvent and then cross Ivanpah Valley on the way to Nipton. - After three miles on Ivanpah Road, I head east on Nipton Road for the final seven miles across Ivanpah Valley
Nipton is the cluster of buildings at centre-left. The last five miles to Nipton are a slow one-percent grade from about 2625 feet to 3000 feet elevation. It's hotter down here in the valley, in the mid 80s. - Crossing the floor of the Ivanpah Valley on Nipton Road, I stop for a very short break to take in the scenery
I should do a hike in the expansive flats here some day. The pale green appearance of the land here is quite different from most of the flats in Mojave National Preserve which are studded with olive-green creosote bush. - After the slow rise out of Ivanpah Valley, I pull up at the Nipton store at 3000 feet elevation, the end of today's bicycling
Hot and sweaty from riding across Ivanpah Valley, I step inside for refreshments (including beer) and to pay for an expensive campsite. - Next door to the Nipton store is the Whistle Stop Café, which is what I'm really looking forward to
The café at Nipton closes for a couple of hours at the end of the afternoon and then reopens at 18h for folks like me looking for a home-cooked evening meal. I'll be back then. - While setting up my tent under the eucalyptus trees just south of the Nipton store, a train rushes past
Nipton was once a train stop on an important cross-desert route. The extreme noise of an occasional train passing a few hundred feet from one's tent is both charming and annoying. But I like it here. - In the heat of the late afternoon, I drink lots of cold beer, which goes down like water after a hot bicycle ride
Tom, at the Nipton store, made a makeshift refrigerator for my beer out from a big plastic bag and lots of ice. It works really well! I was hoping for Sierra Nevada beer, but they don't sell that anymore because the guy who used to buy it left town. - Behind my tent at Nipton lays a series of old railroad ties concealing a stinky septic leach field, and a few tent cabins beyond
Not visible, just to the left, is the quonset hut which houses Nipton's bathrooms and showers. I cool down in the shade here with beer and have a good buzz going by the time the café opens at 18h! The tent cabins are unoccupied tonight. - At Nipton's Whistle Stop Café, Bill cooks me a delicious New York steak, salad and fries
I'm not usually a huge meat eater. However, Bill's hamburgers are really good, and that's what I was intending to eat. Today I've decided to splurge and order a steak, for the first time ever. - Bill's dog keeps me company while he prepares our meals
Two other tables at the café arrived before me, so it takes a while to get my meal, since everything is cooked to order by Bill. Excellent meal, and it's worth eating here even if you are just passing through and not staying at Nipton. Satiated after the big meal and the evening's beer fest, I fall asleep in my tent around 22h45. - Bicycle route from Mid Hills campground to Nipton via Cima and Morning Star Mine Road (Day 9)
42 bicycle miles. - Elevation profile of bicycle ride from Mid Hills campground to Nipton via Cima and Morning Star Mine Road (Day 9)
42 bicycle miles. To my surprise, I actually rode up, mostly on very gentle grade, 988 feet on the way down to Nipton at 3000 feet from Mid Hills campground at about 5600 feet.