Home / Mojave Preserve and Desert bikepacking trips / 2008: Mojave National Preserve Mountain-Bike Camping and Hike / Day 1: Baker, California to Globe Mine Road, Mojave National Preserve 39
Today I ride from Baker to a campsite near the end of the middle fork of Globe Mine Road, with a stop at the Mojave National Preserve visitor centre at Kelso Depot to fill up on water. 43.7 bicycle miles with elevation changes from 925 feet to 3800 feet to 2100 feet to 3000 feet.
Except for the unpaved Globe Mine Road, today's route is all paved, and I've ridden the paved part of today's route several times during previous trips here.
The temperature is in the 80s in the valley outside of Baker and around Kelso, but it's a pleasantly breezy and cool evening up on Globe Mine Road at 3000 feet.
- Yesterday morning I left San José and took Amtrak train and bus to Baker, California to start the trip
After a short ride to the train station from home in downtown San José on the 10-ton bike, I spent 11 hours on the Amtrak train and bus combination to get to Baker, gateway to Mojave National Preserve. - My friend and housesitter hangs out on my front porch as I pull away
I'm looking forward to my two weeks exploring Mojave National Preserve and he's looking forward to having some peace on the property. A budding native chaparral mallow pokes its stem into the photo. - I start this Mojave National Preserve trip by waking up in my kitchy 1980s room at Baker's deteriorating Royal Hawaiian Motel
Time to go for a walk up Baker's main road to get some breakfast at the Big Boy breakfast buffet. This will be my last non-backpack meal for the next week. - Baker's "world's tallest thermometer," next to the Big Boy restaurant, registers a balmy 71 degrees this morning
Temperatures will be in the 90s here in Baker today (it was still in the 80s when I arrived here last night at 20h30), but it will be cooler where I'm going in Mojave National Preserve. - Roadside view of the Royal Hawaiian Motel, my home last night while waiting to begin the bikepacking trip
I often stay here while passing through Baker because it's the cheapest motel in town at $49 if you pay cash. It's a bit seedy and the oldest part of the motel is abandoned, but its well-worn 80s decor lends a special character to the place. I've taken more photos of this place during my earlier trips here. - From my balcony at the Royal Hawaiian, I can see Kelbaker Road heading into the cherished emptiness of Mojave National Preserve
After my huge meal at the breakfast buffet, I return to my motel room to pack up and get going. - The 10-ton bike is now packed and assembled, ready to leave the Royal Hawaiian and spend two weeks in Mojave National Preserve
I considered starting my trip last night when I got off the Amtrak bus at 20h30 by riding off into the dark and camping near Indian Springs. However, I was quite tired, so I ate a big meal at the Mad Greek restaurant and stayed at the motel instead. - Leaving Baker, the 10-ton bike and I cross the I-15 freeway and head toward Mojave National Preserve
This is my fifth bikepacking trip in Mojave National Preserve starting in Baker. Crossing over the freeway to leave town is always a milestone of sorts. - A quarter mile or so beyond the freeway crossing, I reach the Mojave National Preserve entrance marker and leave the past behind
There's almost no traffic on Kelbaker Road here and it already feels quiet. Most of the traffic coming off the noisy freeway behind me turns in the opposite direction, heading into Baker. - Almost 13 miles up Kelbaker Road, I stop briefly at the rough dirt road to Indian Springs, Mojave National Preserve
Just before I stop, a passing dust devil pelts me with sand. Ouch. It's a very windy day, which is common in the Mojave Desert, and I'm lucky that most of the wind has been behind me so far. I spent two nights at Indian Springs during my Xmas 2007 Mojave National Preserve trip a few months ago and did a day hike in the area; great place. I may stop here again at the end of this trip on my way back to Baker. Since leaving Baker a while ago, I've risen close to 1200 feet (to 2100 feet elevation here), but it doesn't seem like it because the uphill is so gradual. - I always enjoy passing the lava flows along Kelbaker Road just beyond the road to Indian Springs
In addition to the scenery, I also enjoy this stretch of road for the dip here that creates a brief downhill on the way up this gradual 22-mile-long uphill slope. - Time for a break: I pause for a Clif bar at Black Tank Wash along the lava flows adjacent to Kelbaker Road
I'm working up a bit of a sweat, feeling rather out-of-shape and not used to the hot weather and the weight of the 10-ton bike yet. I'm disciplining myself to drink lots of water to stay hydrated, which needs to become habitual on warm-weather trips like this with lots of exertion. I camped once at this location during my 2006 Mojave National Preserve trip. - I'm noticing a lot of white-flowered buckwheats along Kelbaker Road on the way up toward the summit
One probably wouldn't notice these while driving Kelbaker Road in a car. - I keep pedalling slowly up Kelbaker Road, Mojave National Preserve
I've already passed the cinder cones, which are visible behind me. A couple of motorcyclists have passed me and waved, and an oncoming SUV honked and waved as it passed. - I'm almost at the Kelbaker Road summit now, which is marked by the power lines crossing the road
I've been slowly riding uphill for more than 20 miles now, so I've been watching the transmission towers with anticipation as they germinate and grow on the horizon. - I take another break when I reach the coveted Kelbaker Road summit at about 3800 feet
With no direct views back down to the starting point, and some higher hills nearby, it doesn't look like much of a summit up here. However, I have risen nearly 3000 feet over 22 miles since leaving Baker a few hours ago, and my leg muscles are aware of that. While munching on another Clif bar, I check out some of the wildflowers I see in the area. - Orange desert mallow flowers at the Kelbaker Road summit, Mojave National Preserve
I planted one of these in my yard in downtown San José a couple of years ago and it grew into a five-foot bush instead of a one-foot shrublet like this one here. - Banana yuccas getting ready to flower at the Kelbaker Road summit, Mojave National Preserve
These stubby yuccas are seen often at higher elevations in Mojave National Preserve. - Mojave aster flowers at Kelbaker Road summit, Mojave National Preserve
An interesting purple-yellow juxtaposition. - Replenished, I begin the slow 12-mile descent to the Mojave National Preserve Kelso Depot visitor centre 1700 feet below
Some of the pavement here is a bit rough and has been patched many times. - Kelbaker Road drops down toward Kelso and the sand piles of the Kelso Dunes become visible in the distance down in the valley
Today's destination, Globe Mine Road, is situated somewhere on the distant left near the base of the Providence Mountains. The hot and hazy weather of the day is obscuring the view somewhat. - As I reach the floor of Kelso Valley at 2100 feet, I focus on the small group of buildings ahead that is the town of Kelso
I'm having some problems with the strong crosswind here that has almost blown me out into the middle of the road a couple of times. I'm glad there's not much traffic along here, just a few cars per hour. At Kelso, a formerly abandoned, but now refurbished, grandiose 1920s train station called Kelso Depot now serves as a Mojave National Preserve visitor centre. I also keep looking off to the left at the base of the Providence Mountains, trying to figure out where today's destination is exactly situated. I know it's in that area somewhere, but I haven't been there before, so I can't quite place it. - I hang out at the Kelso Depot visitor centre for almost an hour, fill up my water supply, and ask rangers about area conditions
This is my last sure water stop before heading off to the Globe Mine Road area, where a couple of probably-dry springs just might contain water. With salt stains on my face, I make sure my four 1.5-litre bottles, two-litre Camelbak, and 10-litre water bag are full. This 18 litres of water (4.75 gallons) weighs just under 40 pounds (18 kg). Ugh, heavy. I chat with two helpful rangers at Kelso Depot. I had spoken at length with one of them during my last trip and he highly recommended a visit to the Piute Springs area, which remains on my list, but didn't make it into my route for this trip. The other fellow recognizes me because he stumbled across my previous Mojave National Preserve travelogues on the web. - Just before I leave Kelso Depot, I stop to visit the ruins of a house across the road
There are only a few ruins left here at Kelso, which makes it hard to believe that this was a town of 2000 people back in the 1940s. - I begin wobbling up the gentle grade of Kelso-Cima Road away from Kelso Depot up to Globe Mine Road
I'll ride almost four miles up this paved road and climb a little over 400 feet. Nothing too strenuous, but the bike weighs more than it did earlier today and is rather unstable from the extra water I'm carrying. Best of all, I have the strong wind behind me now. - I exchange waves with the conductor of a passing freight train that rises slowly on the tracks along Kelso-Cima Road
These uphill trains are actually quite slow, and it will turn out that the conductor of each train that I pass during this trip will wave. These freight trains can be heard across much of Mojave National Preserve. - I've been riding on pavement all day (almost 40 miles), but this will end now that I've reached the sign for Globe Mine Road
I've passed this sign for Globe Mine Road numerous times on past Mojave National Preserve trips, but never explored the area up that road. - I cross the tracks at Globe Mine Road and it's official: I've just left pavement for a couple of days
I'm happy to be entering the world of new experience now, which is the real reason for this trip. Today's bike ride so far has all been on a route that I've covered several times during past Mojave National Preserve trips. - Just beyond the railroad tracks, Globe Mine Road splits into three unnamed roads
The left (straight-ahead) road heads way up into Globe Canyon, while the two right forks are shorter and lead to different areas near the base of the Providence Mountains. - I choose the right (south) fork of Globe Mine Road
Camp tonight will be somewhere near the end of the middle road. However, I've chosen to follow the south fork because it rises a little higher and might be less sandy. Near the end of the south fork is a "shortcut" road that leads back to the middle fork, which I'll take when I get there. - A garden of white buckwheat flowers and cholla cactus along the south fork of Globe Mine Road, Mojave National Preserve
Still on the alluvial fan, this area is mostly populated by creosote bushes. - This clearing along the south fork of Globe Mine Road is obviously an old site of something and well-used
I'm walking the 10-ton bike most of the way up this road. There's just enough surface sand to make it a bit slippery here and there, so it's just easier to walk a mile or two and enjoy the scenery, though it's tiring on the arms. I'm not in a hurry. Without my heavy load, this slightly uphill road would probably be ridable. Nothing is growing in this cleared area and a small can dump sits nearby. I wonder how long ago it was last used and for what (temporary housing in tents?). - After about two miles, I reach the "shortcut" from the south fork of Globe Mine Road to the middle fork
I turn left here on this short 1/3-mile-long connector "road." I'm almost in the rolling foothills of the Providence Mountains and the Mid Hills now, roughly 900 feet above Kelso Depot at about 3000 feet elevation. - Diminutive phacelia flowers grow in the road on the "shortcut" between Globe Mine Road's south and middle forks
I'm guessing that fewer than one vehicle per day drives this road, so these little flowers end up surviving. - The "shortcut" road dips down into a wash as it connects from the south fork to the middle fork of Globe Mine Road
I find this road to be ridable in places, since it is a slight downhill, but it is quite bumpy, so I take it slowly. - The "shortcut" ends at a junction with the middle fork of Globe Mine Road
This junction is a big sand pit and I have to drag the bike through it while trying to figure out where exactly the middle fork of the road is. - I follow tire tracks up a wash that seems to be the middle fork of Globe Mine Road and drag the bike through the deep sand
I can see a dark, boxy mine structure on the hillside a mile or so ahead, which is where I was hoping to camp tonight, but I'm not making much progress dragging the 10-ton bike through all this sand. - I decide that I don't really need to camp right next to that old mine site, so I pull over here and choose a campsite nearby
The sun is setting, so I'm happy to call it a day, dismantle my rig and set up camp right here. I look forward to waking up here tomorrow and doing a day hike up to that old mine site and beyond. It gets dark and I prepare my first just-add-boiling-water backpacking meal of the trip: Mountain House Beef Teriyaki. Excellent. It's a bit windy tonight, but the wind dies down from time to time to allow silent moments broken only by the rumbling of an occasional train down in Kelso Valley a few miles away. I stay up until midnight to see the late-night moonrise; until then it's dark, dark, dark out here where there's nobody except me, my bike, my tent, and my flashlight. - Mojave National Preserve map, Day 1: Baker to Globe Mine Road