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Home / Mojave Preserve and Desert bikepacking trips / 2009, Spring: Mojave National Preserve / Day 15: Pachalka Spring to Button Mountain, Mojave National Preserve via Aiken Mine Road /

Two miles before reaching Valley Wells, the paved road curves away from a dirt road leading off to my right

04270-excelsior-mine-road.jpg I haven't seen pavement in a few days, so the six miles on asphalt from Pachalka Spring Road to Valley Wells is a smooth changeThumbnailsA power-line access road and a petroleum pipeline cross Excelsior Mine Road just north of the Cima Road exit on Interstate 15I haven't seen pavement in a few days, so the six miles on asphalt from Pachalka Spring Road to Valley Wells is a smooth changeThumbnailsA power-line access road and a petroleum pipeline cross Excelsior Mine Road just north of the Cima Road exit on Interstate 15I haven't seen pavement in a few days, so the six miles on asphalt from Pachalka Spring Road to Valley Wells is a smooth changeThumbnailsA power-line access road and a petroleum pipeline cross Excelsior Mine Road just north of the Cima Road exit on Interstate 15I haven't seen pavement in a few days, so the six miles on asphalt from Pachalka Spring Road to Valley Wells is a smooth changeThumbnailsA power-line access road and a petroleum pipeline cross Excelsior Mine Road just north of the Cima Road exit on Interstate 15I haven't seen pavement in a few days, so the six miles on asphalt from Pachalka Spring Road to Valley Wells is a smooth changeThumbnailsA power-line access road and a petroleum pipeline cross Excelsior Mine Road just north of the Cima Road exit on Interstate 15

The dirt road appears to be a leftover alignment of Excelsior Mine Road from when the paved road was re-rerouted to join the Cima Road crossing of Interstate 15. It probably doesn't get much use these days.