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
I'm not a huge fan of developed campgrounds, but I often camp here because I like it so much. This is my first time at site #9. Old-growth juniper-pine forest on one side of my tent, a landscape that burned during the 2005 brush fires on the other. - 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
I set up my tent last night so as to get some morning shade from an adjacent juniper tree. I take the morning slow and easy. - Some of the juniper trees, like this one, at Mid Hills campground are quite old
However, people keep cutting off branches of these trees for their campfires! The forest fire of 2005 consumed a lot of the old trees around here as well. - Here and there, an orange mariposa lily pops up among the banana yuccas, junipers, and pinon pines at Mid Hills campground
I've always liked how yuccas (which look like desert) mix with the pines and junipers here (which look like a forest). I have my usual camp breakfast of granola, nuts, dried fruit, coffee and vitamin C drink. - I walk over toward the campground's overlook and stop at the campsite where "the other bicyclist" said he was camping
He has already left, so I walk up the hill to the right to take in the views. - From the Mid Hills campground overlook are open views across to Cima Dome
It's really windy up here, so I'm glad I'm not camping on this side of the campground. I can see Clark Mountain in the distance off to the right, and Cima Road climbing the hill in front of me. - I remember seeing patches of these small, daisy-like flowers when I was here last year
I think these are fleabane (Erigeron concinnus). - It's time to prepare the bicycle for a ride down to Hole-in-the-Wall campground, where I can recharge my cell phone
I don't need to carry a lot of water, since I can fill up there, but I do need to bring items like warm clothing for later, snacks, a spare tube in case of a flat tire, and epipens in case of yellowjacket sting. - Just before noon, I leave Mid Hills campground and ride down Wild Horse Canyon Road without the weight of my camping baggage
Mid Hills campground is about 10 miles away, downhill, a really nice mountain-bike ride. - On the way down Wild Horse Canyon Road, I pass the little road that leads to the Eagle Rocks area
I spent a couple of hours hiking Eagle Rocks last year; highly recommended. I wont be stopping there today however. - After a couple of miles, I reach the smaller "Gold Valley Road" on my left and leave Wild Horse Canyon Road
I rode part of today's route last year, and my photo from this location on Wild Horse Canyon Road looks almost the same! - The first part of Gold Valley Road passes through a meadow thick with mature sagebrush
Amazingly, this relatively small tract of land survived the brush fires of 2005, which burned everything around it. - I pass a herd of cows on Gold Valley Road, with Table Mountain in the background
Most of the greenery in the burned landscape here is Antelope brush (Purshia tridentata), which is sprouting from its roots after the 2005 brush fires here. - The bovines along Gold Valley Road look at me for a moment
... then they decide to trot away - The upper part of Gold Valley Road rolls up and down over gently folding terrain
Perfect for mountain biking! - 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
Much of this area has no cell signal, but I remember that I had a signal around here during last year's trip. - This old juniper tree was mostly burned, like everything surrounding it, during the 2005 brush fires, but its crown lives on!
Orange desert-mallow flowers are everywhere in the Gold Valley hills right now. Twin Buttes sit in the background on the far side of Gold valley. - Gold Valley Road rises up a gentle hill and arrives at a higher area with nice views of the surroundings
I'm at just under 5450 feet elevation here, and it will be downhill from here to the Hole-in-the-Wall visitor centre. - Desert mallows bloom in the middle of Gold Valley Road near its summit
Presumably, not many folks drive through here. Good views from here ahead to Wild Horse Mesa, which I visited a couple of years ago. - Also at the summit of Gold Valley Road is a scattering of boulders
Also here is a sign for the hiking trail that passes by, connecting Mid Hills campground to Hole-in-the-Wall campground. - Finally, Gold Valley Road dips down into Gold Valley itself
This downhill is a mountain-biker's dream (in the downhill direction). Not quite single-track, but that's unimportant. There are plenty of small obstacles to keep you awake, and great mountain views. - On the way down the hill, I stop at the windmill and water tank near Gold Valley Spring
This windmill is still in operation, since cattle still graze in this area. - The Gold Valley water tank is overflowing
The ladder here invites me to climb up and take a look inside. - A tank of deep blue fresh water in the desert?
After spending time in the dry desert, this looks like an ocean in a can. - After my stop at the Gold Valley water tank, I still have a bit more downhill mountain-biking ahead
The Hole-in-the-Wall visitor centre, my first destination, is a few miles further, down in that valley, behind the hill on my right. - The lower part of Gold Valley Road has more sand; I sometimes lose traction and need to walk the bike occasionally
Several clumps of flowering sages (Salvia dorri) bloom along here, along with tiny chia sages, those tiny stems poking up in the middle of the road. - After crossing the valley, Gold Valley Road comes to an end and I join the larger Black Canyon Road
There's even a bit of pavement here, briefly, on Black Canyon Road, before I turn in on the short dirt road to the Hole-in-the-Wall visitor centre. - At the Hole-in-the-Wall visitor centre, I recharge my cell phone and chat with Preserve staff and a couple of visitors
Chats with staff and visitors are enjoyable and insightful. I buy a bag of beef jerky and vegetable chips, and eat it all while waiting for my phone to recharge. By the time I leave, it's almost 15h00, a bit late in the day for starting a hike. - Before leaving Hole-in-the-Wall, I refill my water bottles
There are always a lot of bees around the water spigot at Hole-in-the-Wall visitor centre! - I ride a few hundred feet on pavement on Black Canyon Road before turning off toward Saddle Horse Canyon
I was considering hiking the popular nearby Rings Trail, which I still haven't done, but want to explore Saddle Horse Canyon a bit too. Today I see pavement, though only briefly, for the first time in several days. - I start riding the lower part of Wild Horse Canyon Road and will park just before those hills almost two miles ahead
Saddle Horse Canyon is off to the left in those hills. I've been up on the flat-topped Wild Horse Mesa ahead, but I hiked up to it from the other side. - I pull over at a turn-out on Wild Horse Canyon Road, stash the bicycle in the bushes and begin the hike
Saddle Horse Canyon is that opening in the hills at the left. - A few desert sages (Salvia dorrii) are still blooming here on the approach to Saddle Horse Canyon
It's already late in the day, so I won't have time for a long hike, but a short hike should give me a good impression of the area. - On the approach to Saddle Horse Canyon, I pass another flowering plant that I like: Paper-bag bush (Salazaria mexicana)
This plant seems to like these areas between the high and low desert elevations. - I walk over to some rocky outcrops along the way and see something that I thought I might see in an area like this
Lots of lime-yellow lichen on these rocks, amongst other things. - Dramatic rock erosion at the entrance to Saddle Horse Canyon
It must have taken many fast-moving high-water floods to wear down the rock wall into this shape! - A few small holes in the rocks near the mouth of Saddle Horse Canyon
Volcanic? - At the mouth of Saddle Horse Canyon is a guzzler (a pad of concrete), dry right now due to lack of rain
It's as ugly as a shopping-mall parking lot on a small scale, but it collects water during rain and makes it available for wildlife after the rain is gone. Very useful. Some feel that the ugliness is worth it in a wilderness landscape, while others don't. - I pass a budding milkweed in Saddle Horse Canyon
... and a few orange Desert-mallow flowers. - 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
It's an easy hike, with perfect weather. - Paper-flower bush (Psilostrophe cooperi) in Saddle Horse Canyon
This looks like an obsessively manicured garden plant, an interesting contrast to the rugged desert surroundings. - Buckwheat flowers pop out between dark rocks that absorb the hot sun in Saddle Horse Canyon
These plants seem to love getting fried in the sun! Rocks like these often become hot to the touch during the hotter season. - The 2005 brush fires passed through Saddle Horse Canyon, but a few juniper trees survived
I'll keep hiking up around the next bend ahead. - 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'd like to continue all the way up to the top of Saddle Horse Canyon, only a mile further, where it reaches Wild Horse Mesa. That would also be an interesting place to be at sunset. - I turn around and start my way back down Saddle Horse Canyon, wondering if I shouldn't be turning around so soon
I made the mistake of not wearing long pants on this hike, the consequence being that I'm constantly stopping to pull out grass pieces from my socks that poke into my ankles like little thorns. - This bushy desert oak shrub in Saddle Horse Canyon seems to have grown back despite being burned in the 2005 brush fires
Charred branches stick out through the fresh foliage. - I take a closer look at that regenerated oak in Saddle Horse Canyon
I'm guessing this is a turbinella oak. - Purple four o'clock flowers poke through a Rhus trilobata bush laden with unripe berries in Saddle Horse Canyon
Soon, these berries will be red. - I'm enjoying these parts of Saddle Horse Canyon where I can walk in the dry drainage channel
There are no grasses in the dry drainage to get stuck in my socks! - Here's another part of Saddle Horse Canyon that allows me to avoid getting more grass stuck in my socks
I feel like I've spent as much time stopped, picking grass out of my socks, as I have hiking! - I'm back in an open, grassy area as I hike out of Saddle Horse Canyon
That means I'll have more grass in my socks in a few minutes, poking into my ankles, ugh. - A few small barrel cacti are on the side of Saddle Horse Canyon, some living, some burned
The cacti that were charred in the 2005 brush fires are interesting to look at. I presume they didn't actually ignite due to their high moisture content. - This charred barrel cactus is slowly resprouting after being burned in the 2005 brush fires
The living part of this cactus represents six years of growth since the fire. - Near the mouth of Saddle Horse Canyon is a small stand of Desert trumpet buckwheats
(Eriogonum inflatum.) - Thamnosma montana (Turpentine-broom) in Saddle Horse Canyon
A twiggy, leafless plant that looks like a psychedelic hairdo... - On the way back out of Saddle Horse Canyon, I decide to walk along the rock walls
Texture, and more interesting stuff... - Bubbles in the rocks
... erosion and more. The rocks break apart, and then fall. - I've passed through the Hole-in-the-Wall area here so many times without stopping to take it in on foot
I'll have to try the popular Rings Trail over by the campground one of these days... I almost went there today instead of hiking over here. - A bush of some kind manages to grow up on top of these rocks at the mouth of Saddle Horse Canyon
I walk around a stand of thorny Catclaw acacia here to get closer to the rocks. - More big bubbles and fractures in the rocks
If you stare at the left outcrop long enough, you might start imagining a lizard head. Funny how rocks can be so evocative... - One of several rock shelters in the Hole-in-the-wall area
The vegetation on the hill above appears to have burned heavily in the 2005 brush fires. - Camouflaged in the rocks is a small concrete dam to retain water running down from the hills
I take a peek, and it's dry right now. - From another rock shelter in the area, I peer out into the sunshine
I look around for snakes, but don't see any. - The rocks at the mouth of Saddle Horse Canyon are more interesting than further up the canyon
However, I didn't hike all the way up the canyon to Wild Horse Mesa, so I may have missed the best. - 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
Light cloud cover this afternoon is creating a pale, diffused golden light in the pre-sunset hours. - I pass a tangle of white and purple flowers on the way back to the bike near Wild Horse Canyon Road
The purple is Desert sage (Salvia dorrii) and the white is Desert wishbone bush (Mirabilis bigelovii). - 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
I always set a GPS waypoint when I leave the bike concealed in bushes so I can find it when I get back! Yes, I have had difficulties finding my bike in previous situations like this... - Before I start the ride up Wild Horse Canyon Road, I pick out some of the annoying stickers in my socks and shoes
The stickers are small, but they keep stabbing my feet. It was a mistake to hike here in my short pants; I should have kept my long legs on, to protect my shoes, despite the warmer temperature in this area today. - I start riding up Wild Horse Canyon Road, the lower part of which is washboarded and sometimes sandy
Since there's no traffic here except me (so far), I ride on whatever part of the road that looks like it provides the best riding surface. - I look behind me as I climb up the lower part of Wild Horse Canyon Road
I have to walk the bike up this stretch because there's too much sand for me to get traction (see my tire tracks?) However, not too far ahead, I'll be back on well-packed sand and gravel. - Wild Horse Canyon Road pops out of the canyon and onto higher ground, where I catch the beginning of sunset
Here, I'm looking east at an area sometimes known as Lobo Point. I'm at about 4500 feet elevation here, about 1000 feet below home (Mid Hills campground). - I enjoy the impending sunset as I slowly ride up Wild Horse Canyon Road
I've got 7.5 more bicycle miles ahead of me. - The Wild Horse Mesa area picks up a warm glow as I ride past
I'm looking forward to tomorrow's hike into the northern Providence Mountains, during which I'll pass through that area. - A car passes me along this stretch of Wild Horse Canyon Road, the only one I'll see on the way back to camp
The road does roll a bit, so it's nice to have these brief almost-downhill segments on the way up the hill. - Bovines along Wild Horse Canyon Road
I wonder if these are the same cows that I saw earlier today while riding Gold Valley Road, not far from here. - This bull poses for a portrait along Wild Horse Canyon Road
White Desert thistle flowers (Cirsium neomexicanum) bloom in abundance at this location. - 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
Hmmm... this looks like a promotional product-placement image... - Wild Horse Canyon Road dips down into the upper part of Macedonia Canyon as I ride back to Mid Hills campground
It's great to have a little downhill on the way uphill! That spot down on the road ahead is a cow, I believe. - After passing Columbia Mountain, I look back at what remains of sunset and ride on to Mid Hills campground
I make it back to Mid Hills campground a bit after dark, at 20h25. It's predictably windy again tonight while I enjoy another add-boiling-water-to-bag meal. The campground is rather empty tonight (Sunday); it's great to be here again. However, the evening silence is broken for a couple of hours. One of the few campsites occupied on this Sunday night is the one across the road from mine. A family camping there is singing campfire songs. I'm really happy to hear these folks enjoying themselves with their kids out here, and with no TVs or cell phones (a lost skill these days). Still, I wish I didn't have to listen to them. Regardless, tomorrow night I'll be back in the wilderness, and probably alone for a few days, perhaps remembering how cool this family across the road is. I get to sleep before midnight and wear my long underwear and sweater to bed again. I didn't expect to be wearing my long undies almost every night when I brought them along on this trip! I should have brought a scarf too, but didn't. - Elevation profile of bicycle route through Gold Valley to Saddle Horse Canyon from Mid Hills campground
19.7 bicycle miles plus 3.4 hiking miles. - Route of Gold Valley bicycle ride from Mid Hills campground, plus a short hike in Saddle Horse Canyon
19.7 bicycle miles plus 3.4 hiking miles.