dryfj.com / drycyclist.com (kevin cook)

A sandy wash near my tent makes for a nice place to dig my morning cat hole, but of course I won't disturb this chia sage

Light clouds moved in overnight, attenuating the morning sun and allowing me to sleep in until 9h30, wow!

The wind has picked up again, so I place large rocks inside my tent before leaving on today's hike

I've been hearing occasional bluejay chirps all morning

The Five Springs hike begins and I pass a blooming Goodings verbena as I walk away from my campsite

A couple of bluejays perch on a burned tree, watching my tent

I start by walking up the road toward Howe Spring, spring #1 of 5 on today's hike

Approaching Howe Spring, I notice some old scrub oaks growing back from their burned structure

The old cistern at Howe Spring is dry, but there is some water in the adjacent hole in the ground

The water at Howe Spring is quite stagnant!

I continue walking up the wash beyond Howe Spring toward the top of one of the forks of Butcher Knife Canyon

I relax at the top of Hill 1751-T above Butcher Knife Canyon and try my cell phone before hiking down to the sandy wash below

The hike down into Butcher Knife Canyon starts off as a small, rocky drainage

A few yellow Groundsel flowers and orange Desert mallows brighten up the burned area here

Upper Butcher Knife Canyon just looks like a bunch of sand at first, but many little pincushion flowers grow here

An instant later, I arrive near the top of Butcher Knife Canyon and start the downhill hike

A little further down Butcher Knife Canyon, a green carpet covers the sandy ground

I've just reached the really green part of Butcher Knife Canyon

Aha, a trickle of water passes by these Mimulus bushes (Monkey flower) and their yellow flowers in upper Butcher Knife Canyon

There's enough water here in upper Butcher Knife Canyon that the stream channel is quite brushy

The stream in upper Butcher Knife Canyon is not big, but it is constant

As much as possible, I try to walk along the rocky sides of Butcher Knife Canyon, instead of through the thick brush

On the other side of Butcher Knife Canyon, I find myself on ground too steep (again), and have to climb back down to the stream

Nice, a little pinyon pine growing on the side of Butcher Knife Canyon

I come around a bend in Butcher Knife Canyon and get my first view out toward Cima Dome

I have more patches of brush to cut through or circumvent here in Butcher Knife Canyon

I've seen a few penstemons blooming here in Butcher Knife Canyon today

I climb up some rocks, but it's a dead-end, so back down to the Butcher Knife Canyon stream I go

I'm getting close to the mouth of Butcher Knife Canyon now

There's enough water at this spot in Butcher Knife Canyon for a small pool to form

This is my official photo of Butcher Knife Spring, spring #2 on today's five-spring hike

Exiting the mouth of Butcher Knife Canyon, erosion in the sand shows that there's quite a bit of water here from time to time

I'm finally out of Butcher Knife canyon and walking down an easy-to-hike sandy area

A few verbenas are still flowering in the mouth of Butcher Knife Canyon

The road up to Butcher Knife Canyon is just outside the Wilderness boundary, beyond which vehicles are prohibited

Ah, an old Gordon's dry gin bottle...

I hike across an area with a lot of Fremont pincushion flowers

Cottonwood Spring is only a bit more than a mile away

Burned joshua trees are scattered across this plain, but fragments of the old juniper forest survived the 2005 brush fires

There's quite a bit of Paperbag bush growing on the burned plain between Butcher Knife Canyon and Cottonwood Spring

I'm always happy to pass flowering Desert sages (Salvia dorrii)

Other animals before me have carved a bit of a path in the stiff blackbrush on the the plain

There's never a shortage of rock formations to amuse one's eyes while hiking in the Mid Hills and New York Mountains

I locate the stream that emanates from Cottonwood Spring and start following it upstream

I arrive at what appears to be the source of Cottonwood Spring, spring #3 on today's hike

I figure that I might as well walk over the hill to the real Cottonwood Spring as marked on my maps, since I'm in the area

My next goal is to climb over those hills and arrive at the Cabin Springs area, spring #4 of the day

Part of the hillside leaving Cottonwood Spring is covered in sagebrush, and a few pinon pines

I stumble across a small prospect above Cottonwood Spring, Mojave National Preserve, not marked on my map

One of the hilltops between Cottonwood Spring and Cabin Springs is topped with numerous flowering cacti

The hills between Cottonwood Spring and Cabin Springs are high enough to provide great views

This open hillside in the Mid HIlls boasts a few delphiniums and Desert sage flowers between the junipers and pinon pines

Hmmm... a pink ribbon tied to a tree branch, marking a hiking route in this remote part of the New York Mountains

More awesome zoom-in views across Ivanpah Valley from the hills between Cabin Springs and Cottonwood Springs

I'm on a little plateau now, headed toward the Cabin Springs area

That rock outcrop on the ridge line at far left looks like a hawk's head

This views down the hill toward Cima Dome across upper Ivanpah Valley are quite nice

I keep looking at the hawk-head rock formation as I walk past the hills near Cabin Springs

I reach a sandy wash near Cabin Springs, so I walk down it briefly

More rocky ridges near Cabin Springs

I arrive at a stream flowing down from Cabin Springs and follow it for a short distance

It's past 16h30 now, and I realize I have to climb up over the ridge and skip a side trip to Live Oak Spring

To my surprise, out here in the middle of nowhere in the New York Mountains, I come across a rock cairn

The hill above Cabin Springs that I need to climb is fairly steep

I have good footing on this hill, but have to be careful not to get to close to those yuccas in case I slip!

Just look at the rocks and keep climbing upward!

More rocks, and even a few old fallen trees, to climb over on the way up the hill above Cabin Springs

As I reach the top of a rock staircase above Cabin Springs, the views begin to open up behind me

I'm getting closer to the ridge, near one of the spires that tower over the Cabin Springs area

As I get close to the New York Mountains ridge, I can now see all the way across Ivanpah Dry Lake in the distance

I reach the crest of the New York Mountains; my world suddenly changes with views to the other side

The route back to my Pinto Valley campsite will be cross-country, with lots of little ups and downs

I cross over to another small drainage, then follow it uphill a short distance

The wash I'm following enters a semi-moist, shady area, so I climb up out onto the hill alongside it; where to go next...

I find myself on a open area of the New York Mountains from which my eyes can follow Black Canyon Road across Round Valley

I check the GPS and decide to head for the slot between those two hills, then turn slightly to the left

From here, I can see all the way to the Providence Mountains if I zoom in hard enough

After another GPS check, I see I need to climb over this little hill ahead, to the left of the pinnacles

I'm almost back to Pinto Valley, but not the part where I want to be (Bathtub Spring)

OK, Bathtub Spring should be over that way, beyond the hills just to my right

I start hiking over and around this pile of rocks, aiming at Bathtub Spring

From this hill, I get a good look at the back (north) side of Pinto Mountain, part of which I hiked last year

I'm between a few hills, and I should find myself overlooking the Bathtub Spring area once I reach the top

I get a decent view from these hills of Drum Peak as the sun goes down

I start my final descent for the day, into the little valley where I should find Bathtub Spring

I arrive at Bathtub Spring at sunset, which is not the same Bathtub Spring where I hiked last week

Despite some algae, the water quality here at Bathtub Spring is quite good this year, but my MSR water filter is having problems

My camera and I catch some nice sunset colours on the way back to my tent; I arrive around 20h15

Five-springs hike in the northern Mid Hills/New York Mountains: route

Five-springs hike in the northern Mid Hills/New York Mountains: route