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Home / Mojave Preserve and Desert bikepacking trips / 2009, Spring: Mojave National Preserve / Day 12: Cima Dome (Sunrise Rock) to Pachalka Spring by bicycle, Mojave National Preserve /

The view northwest from my Pachalka Spring campsite provides no colourful sunset this evening due to cloud cover

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03852-pachalka-spring.jpg Most of the day's clouds have lifted in the south and I can see that it's getting close to full moonThumbnailsBicycle route from Cima Dome (Sunrise Rock) to Pachalka Spring, Mojave National Preserve (Day 12)Most of the day's clouds have lifted in the south and I can see that it's getting close to full moonThumbnailsBicycle route from Cima Dome (Sunrise Rock) to Pachalka Spring, Mojave National Preserve (Day 12)Most of the day's clouds have lifted in the south and I can see that it's getting close to full moonThumbnailsBicycle route from Cima Dome (Sunrise Rock) to Pachalka Spring, Mojave National Preserve (Day 12)Most of the day's clouds have lifted in the south and I can see that it's getting close to full moonThumbnailsBicycle route from Cima Dome (Sunrise Rock) to Pachalka Spring, Mojave National Preserve (Day 12)Most of the day's clouds have lifted in the south and I can see that it's getting close to full moonThumbnailsBicycle route from Cima Dome (Sunrise Rock) to Pachalka Spring, Mojave National Preserve (Day 12)

The wind picks up later in the evening. I see the Kingston Range from here toward the right and a few flashes of light make me wonder if there is lightning somewhere, or perhaps just a few happy campers down by the power-line road.

Supper tonight is Mountain House Sweet and Sour Pork (tasty again), some Trader Joe's teriyaki beef jerky, and those two bottles of Newcastle beer that I bought earlier at the Valley Wells store (and which are still somewhat cool). I feel like I really need all those calories.

There were a lot of flies around when I first got here, but they dissipate with the setting sun.

In addition to the strong late-evening winds, I listen to quail clucking around sunset, crickets throughout the evening, a bit of airplane noise from Las Vegas, and some distant freeway traffic rumbling from Interstate 15 a few miles away.

After writing a journal entry for the day, I read some of Edward Abbey's "Desert Solitaire" and finally get to sleep around 1h30. The moonlight is beautiful tonight.