Home / Mojave Preserve and Desert bikepacking trips / Spring 2011: Mojave National Preserve and area bicycle camping / Day 8: Gold Valley bicycle ride and a short hike in Saddle Horse Canyon, Mojave National Preserve 83
As always, it's great to wake up at Mid Hills campground. I'll spend a couple more nights here.
I need to recharge my cell-phone battery, so I ride down to Hole-in-the-Wall visitor centre from Mid Hills campground. I won't have time for a full-day hike, so I do a short one in Saddle Horse Canyon. 19.7 bicycle miles and 3.4 hiking miles.
It was chilly again last night, and windy, but the sun is warm on my first morning at Mid Hills campground
On the other side of my tent at Mid Hills campground site 9 is a wide-open space that burned in the 2005 brush fires
Some of the juniper trees, like this one, at Mid Hills campground are quite old
Here and there, an orange mariposa lily pops up among the banana yuccas, junipers, and pinon pines at Mid Hills campground
I walk over toward the campground's overlook and stop at the campsite where "the other bicyclist" said he was camping
From the Mid Hills campground overlook are open views across to Cima Dome
I remember seeing patches of these small, daisy-like flowers when I was here last year
It's time to prepare the bicycle for a ride down to Hole-in-the-Wall campground, where I can recharge my cell phone
Just before noon, I leave Mid Hills campground and ride down Wild Horse Canyon Road without the weight of my camping baggage
On the way down Wild Horse Canyon Road, I pass the little road that leads to the Eagle Rocks area
After a couple of miles, I reach the smaller "Gold Valley Road" on my left and leave Wild Horse Canyon Road
The first part of Gold Valley Road passes through a meadow thick with mature sagebrush
I pass a herd of cows on Gold Valley Road, with Table Mountain in the background
The bovines along Gold Valley Road look at me for a moment
The upper part of Gold Valley Road rolls up and down over gently folding terrain
I stop on a low bluff to try my cell phone and it works, so I take a short break and send a few text messages
This old juniper tree was mostly burned, like everything surrounding it, during the 2005 brush fires, but its crown lives on!
Gold Valley Road rises up a gentle hill and arrives at a higher area with nice views of the surroundings
Desert mallows bloom in the middle of Gold Valley Road near its summit
Also at the summit of Gold Valley Road is a scattering of boulders
Finally, Gold Valley Road dips down into Gold Valley itself
On the way down the hill, I stop at the windmill and water tank near Gold Valley Spring
The Gold Valley water tank is overflowing
A tank of deep blue fresh water in the desert?
After my stop at the Gold Valley water tank, I still have a bit more downhill mountain-biking ahead
The lower part of Gold Valley Road has more sand; I sometimes lose traction and need to walk the bike occasionally
After crossing the valley, Gold Valley Road comes to an end and I join the larger Black Canyon Road
At the Hole-in-the-Wall visitor centre, I recharge my cell phone and chat with Preserve staff and a couple of visitors
Before leaving Hole-in-the-Wall, I refill my water bottles
I ride a few hundred feet on pavement on Black Canyon Road before turning off toward Saddle Horse Canyon
I start riding the lower part of Wild Horse Canyon Road and will park just before those hills almost two miles ahead
I pull over at a turn-out on Wild Horse Canyon Road, stash the bicycle in the bushes and begin the hike
A few desert sages (Salvia dorrii) are still blooming here on the approach to Saddle Horse Canyon
On the approach to Saddle Horse Canyon, I pass another flowering plant that I like: Paper-bag bush (Salazaria mexicana)
I walk over to some rocky outcrops along the way and see something that I thought I might see in an area like this
Dramatic rock erosion at the entrance to Saddle Horse Canyon
A few small holes in the rocks near the mouth of Saddle Horse Canyon
At the mouth of Saddle Horse Canyon is a guzzler (a pad of concrete), dry right now due to lack of rain
I pass a budding milkweed in Saddle Horse Canyon
Quite a few Cliff roses (Purshia) grow in Saddle Horse Canyon
I continue hiking around plants and rocks on my way up Saddle Horse Canyon
Paper-flower bush (Psilostrophe cooperi) in Saddle Horse Canyon
Buckwheat flowers pop out between dark rocks that absorb the hot sun in Saddle Horse Canyon
The 2005 brush fires passed through Saddle Horse Canyon, but a few juniper trees survived
Well, this is about as far up Saddle Horse Canyon as I'll go; I want to be riding up Wild Horse Canyon Road around sunset
I turn around and start my way back down Saddle Horse Canyon, wondering if I shouldn't be turning around so soon
This bushy desert oak shrub in Saddle Horse Canyon seems to have grown back despite being burned in the 2005 brush fires
I take a closer look at that regenerated oak in Saddle Horse Canyon
Purple four o'clock flowers poke through a Rhus trilobata bush laden with unripe berries in Saddle Horse Canyon
I'm enjoying these parts of Saddle Horse Canyon where I can walk in the dry drainage channel
Here's another part of Saddle Horse Canyon that allows me to avoid getting more grass stuck in my socks
I'm back in an open, grassy area as I hike out of Saddle Horse Canyon
A few small barrel cacti are on the side of Saddle Horse Canyon, some living, some burned
This charred barrel cactus is slowly resprouting after being burned in the 2005 brush fires
Near the mouth of Saddle Horse Canyon is a small stand of Desert trumpet buckwheats
Thamnosma montana (Turpentine-broom) in Saddle Horse Canyon
On the way back out of Saddle Horse Canyon, I decide to walk along the rock walls
Bubbles in the rocks
I've passed through the Hole-in-the-Wall area here so many times without stopping to take it in on foot
A bush of some kind manages to grow up on top of these rocks at the mouth of Saddle Horse Canyon
More big bubbles and fractures in the rocks
One of several rock shelters in the Hole-in-the-wall area
Camouflaged in the rocks is a small concrete dam to retain water running down from the hills
From another rock shelter in the area, I peer out into the sunshine
The rocks at the mouth of Saddle Horse Canyon are more interesting than further up the canyon
It's time to walk back to the 10-ton bike, parked half a mile away over by Wild Horse Canyon Road, just over there
I pass a tangle of white and purple flowers on the way back to the bike near Wild Horse Canyon Road
I'm back at the bike, which is hiding in the bushes just off Wild Horse Canyon Road, ready to ride home to Mid Hills campground
Before I start the ride up Wild Horse Canyon Road, I pick out some of the annoying stickers in my socks and shoes
I start riding up Wild Horse Canyon Road, the lower part of which is washboarded and sometimes sandy
I look behind me as I climb up the lower part of Wild Horse Canyon Road
Wild Horse Canyon Road pops out of the canyon and onto higher ground, where I catch the beginning of sunset
I enjoy the impending sunset as I slowly ride up Wild Horse Canyon Road
The Wild Horse Mesa area picks up a warm glow as I ride past
A car passes me along this stretch of Wild Horse Canyon Road, the only one I'll see on the way back to camp
Bovines along Wild Horse Canyon Road
This bull poses for a portrait along Wild Horse Canyon Road
I turn back for another look at the Wild Horse Mesa area, which is still picking up a bit of sunset light
The sun hides behind Columbia Mountain as I ride up Wild Horse Canyon Road
Wild Horse Canyon Road dips down into the upper part of Macedonia Canyon as I ride back to Mid Hills campground
After passing Columbia Mountain, I look back at what remains of sunset and ride on to Mid Hills campground
Elevation profile of bicycle route through Gold Valley to Saddle Horse Canyon from Mid Hills campground
Route of Gold Valley bicycle ride from Mid Hills campground, plus a short hike in Saddle Horse Canyon