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Home / Mojave Preserve and Desert bikepacking trips / 2008: Mojave National Preserve Mountain-Bike Camping and Hike / Day 2: Eight-mile day hike from campsite on middle fork Globe Mine Road to Tough Nut Mine via Good Hope Mine and back 58

I won't see any people today. Perched on a hill at 4100 feet in the shadow of the Providence Mountains, about 4 miles from my campsite at 3000 feet, the old Tough Nut Mine sits in a Wilderness area and can thus be reached only by foot or horse.

I fumble cross-country over hills and into washes and eventually find the old grown-in road leading to Tough Nut Mine. However, I only have enough time to visit the lower mine ruins when I get there.

The round-trip hike will take a little more than six hours. Distance is estimated at eight miles, but is probably longer than that because of constant zigzagging to avoid often-spiky plants while hiking cross-country.

Unfortunately, some of today's photos are overexposed due to a camera-setting error.