Home / Mojave Preserve and Desert bikepacking trips / Spring 2012: Mojave National Preserve Bicycle-Camping and Hiking / Day 10: Mountain-bike ride from Twin Buttes to Fenner and Essex on historic Route 66 via Woods Wash Valley dirt roads 56
My buddy calls this the 73-mile beer run (I'll buy beer at the Fenner store). I explore some of the expansive cattle-grazing country in the Woods Wash Valley. High of 102F in the Essex area. 73 bicycle miles and about 3500 feet of elevation gain.
I leave camp before 10h and ride past the Woods Mountains, at first on the way to Hole-in-the-Wall Visitor Centre to get water
I pause briefly at the high point of Woods Wash Road to check out remnants of barbed-wire removal
More remnants of barbed-wire removal along Woods Wash Road, with Table Mountain and one of the Twin Buttes in the background
After 5 miles, I arrive at Hole-in-the-Wall Campground and go for a short ride, noting that it's nearly deserted today
Lots of bees at the water spigot the Hole-in-the-Wall Visitor Center
I go for a walk on the nature trail by Hole-in-the-Wall Visitor Centre and pass a Cactus wren nest in a cholla cactus
I ride down a short section of pavement on Black Canyon Road southbound from Hole-in-the-Wall
I try riding a half-mile down a really sandy road near Rustler Canyon, but it doesn't work out and I decide to backtrack
This better, unnamed road in the Woods Wash Valley is also rather sandy, but it is rideable
Cow shit everywhere here in the upper Woods Wash Valley; 4WD required, I only have two (but I do have two feet in addition)
I notice a small water tank on the roadside and it's full of fresh, clean water
I go for a short ride up a side road, wondering where it leads, and it ends near a guzzler, which is dry today
I'm intrigued by a cow carcass that I discover along the road
Smile for the camera!
Ah, a view of Tortoise Shell Mountain in the Woods Mountains, where I hiked yesterday
Woods Wash Valley Road continues through remote territory
Riding across Woods Wash Valley, cattle-grazing land, I come across another of several water tanks
Bees in a water tank along Woods Wash Valley Road
Cow shit everywhere, I'm getting used to the smell in the hot sun!
As the road crosses Watson Wash ahead, I run across a rancher in a pick-up truck on the way up that hill over there
I pause to shoot photos at another water stop along the route, more cow shit everywhere of course!
I take a short energy-bar break in a sandy wash in Woods Wash Valley just before reaching the powerline road
The road quickly gets better and I pass another functional corral just before I arrive at the powerline road
Next, I have a nice 3.5-mile eastward ride on the powerline road across Woods Wash Valley and toward the Fenner Hills
Just before I leave the powerline road for Fenner Hills Road, I spot the remains of a balloon
Just before I leave the powerline road for Fenner Hills Road, I spot yet another balloon, near the one I just saw
After about 25 miles so far today, I get excited as I start riding the almost 9 miles down Fenner Hills Road toward Fenner
After a few miles, the rough Fenner Hills Road passes by a small hill on the right
On some parts of Fenner Hills Road, rocks provide the surface for short stretches
Some stretches of Fenner Hills Road are just a weak track through creosote-bush scrub
My Fenner Hills Road route crosses the (gas) pipeline road, both roads lightly traveled
Fenner Hills Road crosses a wide gravelly area thst was apparently once cleared of vegetation
Ugh, Fenner Hills Road passes through a couple of sandy stretches where I can barely ride my bike.
Out of the last sand-trap on Fenner Hills Road, the road briefly crosses a gravelly area, then returns to a soft earth surface
Occasionally, Fenner Hills Road almost fades away, in the gravelly stretches
It seems that riding down Fenner Hills Road is getting slower and slower, even though I'm riding mostly slightly downhill
Aha, I can now see trains down there rolling past Fenner by old Route 66, with the Piute Mountains Wilderness in the background
I'll be at Fenner shortly; I definitely need a break and I want some COLD water
34 miles into today's ride, just before arriving at Fenner, I exit Mojave National Preserve for a while
I arrive at the store at Fenner, CA and the outdoor thermometer reads 89F in the shade; no wonder I'm hot and thirsty!
Gotta love this weird sign in the door at the Fenner store just off I-40 and on old Route 66
I take a good half-hour break in the shade of the Fenner store, drinking a couple of bottles of Sobe orange-carrot drink
After my refreshment break at the Fenner store, I'm ready to ride on; I ride under the I-40 freeway and down old Route 66
A few Desert milkweeds pick up the sun along old Route 66 as I get close to Essex, CA
On the outskirts of Essex, CA, I stop to check out an old abandoned gas station and its empty sign
Arriving Essex, California, Route 66, by bicycle
Essex, California has a school
The 'core' of Essex, CA is the old post office house at left and the abandoned café straight ahead
Behind the Essex post office and the abandoned café is a short street leading to a couple of houses
According to the windows at the old Essex Café on Route 66, 'good food' was served here
Across the road from the old Essex Café, an abandoned house awaits something
After my brief visit to Route 66 Essex, CA, it's time to begin the long ride back to camp, beginning with Essex Road
It's fun to stop and watch I-40 freeway traffic for a few minutes while crossing over it on Essex Road on the way back to camp
I reenter Mojave National Preseve at dusk, and ride most of the final 20-some miles back to camp in the dark: a pleasant evening
Route of round-trip mountain-bike ride from Woods Wash, Mojave National Preserve, to Fenner and Essex, CA: Day 10
Elevation profile of round-trip mountain-bike ride from Woods Wash, Mojave National Preserve, to Fenner and Essex, CA