Home / Mojave Preserve and Desert bikepacking trips / 2009, Fall: Mojave National Preserve / Day 5: Hike to Rex Mine and west edge of the Providence Mountains, Mojave National Preserve 81
Camp stays set up while I go for a hike over to the old Rex Mine. I improvise my route after that and end up in "West Edgar Canyon #3" on the west edge of the Providence Mountains. Great scenery all day long and I still have a bad cold.
10.8 hiking miles and 1575 feet of elevation gain. I drink only 2.5 litres of water while hiking (in warmer weather I could drink double that) and eat two energy bars.
Temperatures recorded in Baker, CA: a high of 69F, low 37F.
Another sunny morning on Cornfield Spring Road; I'm still coughing a lot from my cold, but am ready for another hike anyway
To get over to Rex Mine Road from my campsite on Cornfield Spring Road requires a 1.5-mile hike across the rocky fan
The dense scattering of rocks on the fan east of Kelso induces what I call, "avoidance hiking"
Oh look, a lost set of four bright-blue ballons tied together, stuck to a young creosote bush, framed by a Kelso Dunes backdrop
Numerous gulleys need to be crossed while hiking the fan betweeen Cornfield Spring Road and Rex Mine Road
The sides of the drainages coming down the fan are mostly not very steep, but they do make for clumsy hiking
I finish the hike across the rocky fan and begin the easier walk up Rex Mine Road
The only signs marking one's arrival at Rex Mine are these no-camping and no-campfires sign
I check out one of several debris piles at Rex Mine and find an ornate electrical socket
An old Copenhagen tobacco lid rusts quietly amongst other, less identifiable, cans at the old Rex Mine site
The old "cabins" at the Rex Mine site are actually old railway boxcars
It looks like a tiny flat-roofed addition, just big enough to be a closet, was built on to the near cabin
The boxcar cabins at Rex Mine have a board-and-batten exterior
This boxcar cabin at Rex Mine leans to one side, anxious to collapse one day
This boxcar cabin at Rex Mine had electricity
Interesting wall coverings in this boxcar room at Rex Mine
A closer look at the wallpaper, cardboard, and wallpaper interior at the Rex Mine boxcar cabin
This Rex Mine boxcar-cabin room has the luxury of wooden interior walls
Abandoned stove at Rex Mine site, Mojave National Preserve
Abandoned bedspring at Rex Mine, Mojave National Preserve
Cold-storage building at Rex Mine, Mojave National Preserve
A gently switchbacking road winds up the hill to the Rex Mine ore bin
Gee, the Rex Mine boxcar cabins look so small from up here
The track to the ore bin at Rex Mine looks like it's headed straight for Kelso
At the end of the trackway at Rex Mine, a chute drops down to the ore bin below
Along the trackway is an open shaft and the main headframe, with the Providence Mountains in the background
I take a peek down the shaft at the Rex Mine headframe
Attached to one of the timbers is bottle containing mining claim papers
While at the Rex Mine headframe, I get out my maps and decide where to go next
I decide to walk up the trace of an old road beyond Rex Mine and try climbing that first hill ahead
On the way to my chosen hill beyond Rex Mine, I come across another claim marker
My little hill on the western tip of the Providence Montain range is an interesting climb
Nice view from this hill into a little canyon; I think I'll climb back down and hike up that way
Great view to the north from here also, overlooking the Rex Mine area, that little hill in the middleground
I pluck my way back down the hill to the wash, carefully
On the way down the hill, I find a horn
As I walk up the wash toward the Providence Mountains, I decide to skip the first canyon and visit the next one instead
A barrel-cactus garden at the mouth of "West Edgar Canyon #3," Providence Mountains
West Edgar Canyon #3 is, as you might expect, full of rocks, big and small
As I enter West Edgar Canyon #3, I think I see a very faint trace of a road along the bottom of the hill at my right
There is a faint old road cut here after all, but it's so grown-in that it doesn't always make for a good hiking trail
Desert dudleya growing in West Edgar Canyon #3
West Edgar Canyon #3 gets narrower and passes through some deep shade
For a moment, I think I've noticed a post way up on top of the canyon walls, but conclude that it's probably an agave plant
At 3300 feet, it's time to stop for an energy bar break and to consider backtracking out of West Edgar Canyon #3
West Edgar Canyon #3 makes a tight left turn just ahead, and continues to rise into the Providence Mountains
Two tufts of yellow grass decorate a jumble of rocks in West Edgar Canyon #3, Mojave National Preserve
Exiting the shaded part of West Edgar Canyon #3
Another skull fragment, this one with fur still attached
Against a Kelso Dunes backdrop, chollas and creosotes glisten at the exit of West Edgar Canyon #3
The relatively smooth gravel in this part of the wash is a nice break from all the rock higher up the canyon
I'm doing well for time, so I'm going to climb over this hill and connect to an old dead-end road from Rex Mine
At the top of the hill, in addition to the great views, is a bunch of scat
While pausing to plot a good route down the short steep hill, I notice a small cave in the hillside
Entrance to the small cave is via a narrow ledge
I carefully edge my way along the ledge and am surprised to find that the cave is empty
I stop to look back up at the cave as I carefully climb down the hill
On the way down the hill from the cave, I notice a long train climbing up the Cima Grade down in the valley
I now join an old dead-end road from Rex Mine, leaving the cave up on the hill behind me
The old road ends at the rooster comb, as I thought it might, with excellent views over Kelso Valley
At the base of the rooster comb is a lot of scat, none of it fresh
Atop the rooster comb is another claim or survey marker
I linger for a few minutes on the rooster comb to take in the view over to Rex Mine, Kelso Dunes and far beyond
Looking toward Kelso from the rooster comb, I keep looking for my tent, which is too small to be visible in this view
I climb down from the rooster comb and notice a small tailings pile of greenish shale-like strips
Back on the old road, it's time to head back to camp; the upper-left of the hill ahead is where I visited the cave a while ago
The old road passes an official Wilderness marker (non-Wilderness begins here) with the Rex Mine headframe in sunset silhouette
Passing the Rex Mine boxcar cabins under the red glow of sunset
Time to say good-bye to Rex Mine; it has been a long and interesting day exploring the area
As I leave the Rex Mine area, I notice a grave site that I didn't see earlier
Catching the last hot-red rays of sunset as I walk down Rex Mine Road, with the Providence Mountains behind me
Heading down Rex Mine Road toward Kelso, a glimmer of red sunset light remains
Looking behind me yet again (I can't stop!), there's still a fading pinkish glow on the Providence Mountains
I reach a point on Rex Mine Road where I decdie to start hiking across the fan back to my campsite on Cornfield Spring Road
It's dusk and I'm hiking across the Kelso Valley fan back to my tent
This narrow drainage is easy to cross, even at dusk, but there are a few deeper, wider ones to cross
The very last light of day illuminates a cholla cactus while it dissipates in the distance somewhere west of Kelso Dunes
It's 17h and already dark; I'm not an early-riser (I wish I could be), so I really dislike the short days at this time of year!
Hiking by flashlight on the fan east of Kelso amidst small rocks and small cacti
Hiking route to Rex Mine and West Edgar Canyon #3 from Cornfield Spring Road campsite, Mojave National Preserve
Elevation profile of hiking route to Rex Mine and West Edgar Canyon #3 from Cornfield Spring Road campsite