Home / Mojave Preserve and Desert bikepacking trips / 2007, Christmas: Mojave National Preserve Mountain-Bike Camping / Day 4: Mountain-bike ride across Devil's Playground to Sands, California and back, Mojave National Preserve 36
I have enough water to last into tomorrow, so I'll stay here today and ride over to the abandoned settlement of Sands. I had hoped to camp at Sands last night, but I didn't make it that far. 13.5 bicycle miles.
- The first thing I do upon waking up is peer outside to see where I am, without leaving the comfort of my hooded sleeping bag
OK, this looks like what I expect the Devil's Playground to look like. I couldn't see much when I arrived here last night after dark. With the cloudy weather, I guess it will be a day of beige and grey. There's not much sun this morning and it's still chilly in the tent; I think I'll roll over and fall back asleep for a few more minutes. - An hour later, I step outside for a short walk around my new surroundings at Devil's Playground
Low sand dunes blanket this area and some of the fine sand blew into the tent overnight through its ventilation mesh. Soda Lake is visible in the distance here as it was from the hills above Indian Springs. This is the kind of landscape that many people imagine when one speaks of the desert, even though most of the Mojave Desert is more rocky than sandy. It's time to boil some water for coffee and get the day started! - This wavy-leaved plant reminds me of the "soap root" plant that grows in the Bay Area
As one would expect, the plant life here in the sand is quite different from what surrounded me the past two days up around Indian Springs. - These plants look like a cross between a daisy and a milkweed
They are flowering now, but their blossoms are all closed. I wonder if they only open on days of full sun. - My scenic morning cat hole with Soda Lake in the background
The dark colour indicates a fair amount of moisture just beneath the surface of the sand, which might not be present during the hotter, drier months. - Leaving my campsite at the bottom of Jackass Canyon to ride across Devil's Playground over to Sands
The big rocky mass behind me is Old Dad Mountain, which some mountain climbers like. Sands is five or six miles away. It was my destination yesterday, but I didn't make it that far. - And away we go toward Sands down the power-line road...
The road looks like gravel, but it's actually more of that decomposing residual pavement from decades ago. In fact, one of my maps indicates this road as paved. - I reach heavy sand a quarter mile down the road and a pile of paint cans that were recently dumped here
I rode into this sand last night, but turned back and set up camp, unable to see the extent of it. Today, with more time, I just walk the bike through it, no problem. I wish our garbage-collection fees could be increased to cover all garbage collection, so that nobody would have a desire to dump things like these paint cans on our public lands just to save a few dollars. - Some of the old pavement on the power-line road still functions as originally intended
... except, of course, wherever sand has blown across the road. - A couple of miles down from my tent, a branch in the road to the left will take me to Sands
I remember thinking last night that one of the branch roads to a transmission-tower near my campsite was this road; I was still a couple of miles away! - A few low hills jut up from the relatively flat landscape along the road to Sands
The hills are rocky, but their lower portions are covered with a thin layer of Devil's Playground sand. - On the way to Sands is the remains of an old plank road, built ages ago to provide "permanent" traction in the sand
One of Bill Mann's Mojave Desert guides lists this point of interest, but it's all covered with sand except for the small segment visible here. - The pristine sand layer on this segment of the road to Sands leaves the impression that nobody has come down here recently
My tires and feet leave fresh tracks here. - A few hoops like these are mounted on sturdy metal posts in a sandy area a short distance from the road
I'm not sure what these are. - A carpet of low, ground-hugging plants casts an almost lush green tint over this area near Sands
It would look greener if there were some sunshine today. - Sands should be just over there where the road comes to an end at the railroad tracks
... if I understand my maps correctly. - The railroad tracks at Sands cross the wash on a bridge
The road rises out of the wash to cross the railway grade. The back side of a sign is in front of me; I'll snap a photo of it on my way back. - I cross the train tracks to Sands and check out the remains of an old corral
Not much remains intact here. Sands is a sliver of private property sandwiched between Mojave National Preserve on the other side of the tracks behind me and the Kelso Dunes Wilderness in front of me. - Beyond the corral at Sands is an old ranch fence that heads off into the distance
I'm short on time, so I don't follow the fence to see how far it goes. The stark mountains in the background are part of the BLM's Kelso Dunes Wilderness and would make a great hiking destination. If I had made it this far last night, I would be climbing those hills today. - On the other side of the corral crumbles part of an old wall
Perhaps this wall is a remnant of the ranch house that used to be here. Bill Mann's Mojave Desert guide includes a photo of that old house from a few years ago, but I'm not seeing it here today. - I see just one extant structure at Sands: a shed next to what looks like part of an old water tower
The small concrete platform in front of me presumably served as the base of a now-deceased structure. - Inside the well-built shed sit some serious-looking mechanics
I'm guessing that this is some kind of pump intended to draw water up from a well. - Etched into the sheet metal wall is an oil-change reminder
Someone decided that the larger reminder wasn't visible enough and re-etched a smaller, but deeper, version of it immediately underneath. - A large trough just outside the shed looks like it was intended to collect water pumped from the well
A big hose, like something a firefighter might use, lays on the ground next to the trough. - Before heading back to camp, I ride 3/4 mile down the service road alongside the train tracks toward Kelso Dunes
The road is sandy, but traction is fairly good, at least on this part. I wonder if this road could be ridden all the way to Kelso Depot. None of my maps show this road as continuous all the way along the tracks to Kelso Depot, perhaps because it's a private road owned by the railway company. - I'm not seeing new points of interest along the service road, so I cross the tracks and ride back up to Sands
I'm enjoying seeing Kelso Dunes and Providence Mountains from this new (to me) vantage point; I'll probably end up in that area tomorrow. - Back at the road between Sands and my campsite on the other side of Devil's Playground, I re-enter Mojave National Preserve
Mojave National Preserve is one of the country's largest parks and has numerous back-road entrances like this one, with signs where one least expects to come across such a thing. This is the sign whose rear I saw just before arriving at Sands. - Crossing a dry mud flat near Sands on the way back across Devil's Playground
It seems odd to find mud in an area where dry sand dominates. - I'm back at that area of virgin sand, which I walk the bike through again
There's not much wind today, so my feet and tire tracks from a while ago are still present. - One of the rocky hills along the road tempts me, so I get off the bike and climb up it
I want to get back to the tent by sundown, but this should just take a few minutes. - This little hill provides expansive views across the Devil's Playground
I look back toward Sands. - To the east sit the Kelso Dunes
The bike waits for me on the road down below. - I look north toward Old Dad Mountain, the power-line road and my campsite at the bottom of Jackass Canyon
It's such a gloomy day that it looks and feels like we could have rain. I hope not, even though I've brought rain gear with me, just in case. - On the way back down the hill to the bike, I notice a few verbena-like flowers
In this light, against the sand, the purple blossoms take on a fluorescent glow. - I head back up the power-line road to camp, looking back toward Sands
A really nice sunset is forming off in the distance toward Barstow, where the gloomy cloud cover appears to end. - I arrive back at the tent just in time to enjoy a perfect Devil's Playground sunset
I'm hungry, and am thinking about tonight's add-boiling-water-to-bag meal: AlpineAire Hawaiian Chicken. It turns out to be similar to the Backpacker's Pantry Sweet and Sour Chicken meal that I ate a few nights ago, but less sweet and less cloying. It seems a bit bland at first, but I decide by the end of the meal that it's actually tastier. I'm also thinking about the fact that I'm running low on batteries for my flashlight and camera. I intend to stop at Kelso Depot tomorrow and I'm crossing my fingers that they sell batteries there. On my last bicycle-camping trip (to Henry Coe State Park), I brought too many batteries; this time I didn't bring enough, having underestimated the short length of the winter days. With all these clouds today, I guess it will be another dark night with the almost full moon concealed.