Tuesday December 19, 36.2km/22.5mi

Pinto Mountains Wilderness (742.5/2200ft) to Joshua Tree NP – Johns Camp (765.0/3880ft) (CA)

We started off hiking in headlamps as usual, but it only lasted like 15 minutes. As soon as we dropped into a wash, there was enough daylight to see.

We hiked up a nice wash all morning, and made pretty good time. After an hour, we passed by another guzzler but it was mostly buried in gravel from the wash.

It seemed like it was built in a bad location, since this would constantly happen every time the wash had water. We continued up the nice wash, and eventually branched off into a smaller and crappier wash. It was very rocky and slow going, and sometimes I even had to dodge some sharp plants. After what felt like forever but was probably only an hour, we climbed up out of the wash and onto a nice broad ridgeline.

The ridge had great views in almost every direction and it was smooth walking on the “desert pavement”.

The view west, towards Joshua Tree National Park:

From there, we descended into another wash and followed that downhill for awhile, before we turned up a side wash and climbed up it for an hour.

After climbing out of that wash we emerged onto another ridge. There was definitely a pattern today! And from that ridge of course, we could see down into the next wash that we would be hiking.

Once we descended into that wash, we stopped and had lunch. There wasn’t much sunshine since it was a little cloudy today, but it was just enough to do some charging on the solar panels. After lunch we followed that very nice wide wash uphill for an hour, and eventually it turned into a road.

The rest of our afternoon was spent hiking uphill on a series of dirt roads, that took us to the boundary of Joshua Tree National Park. From the top of that pass, we could see down into the park.

We followed a park maintenance road down into the main part of the park. Along the way I saw this hilarious sign!

And a few minutes later, we saw it in the namesake flora of the park, the Joshua Tree!

We continued down the park maintenance road, where I think the park employees were having some fun with the road painting machine.

For the last mile of the day, we hiked in a very nice wide wash.

And the sunset looked absolutely stunning from that vantage point.

We didn’t want to camp directly in the wash, since that’s where the cold air settles, so we found a flat grassy bench just above the wash and setup our tents there. Only two more days until the finish!

Monday December 18, 38.8km/24.1mi

Sheephole Valley Wilderness (718.4/2120ft) to Pinto Mountains Wilderness (742.5/2200ft) (CA)

We left camp at 5:50am and immediately headed down into a deep wash. It felt very narrow, especially by the light of our headlamps.

A few minutes later, we stumbled upon a Bighorn sheep skull and horns! Cool.

After a short while, we climbed out of the wash and followed Bighorn sheep trails up and over a couple of little passes. Looking south from the last pass in the Sheephole mountains:

After the passes, we had a nice hour of flat hiking across a plateau…

… before dropping down another wash, and down into this valley.

It was surprisingly cloudy all morning, and it never really warmed up above 55F/13C. Brrr. We crossed the valley, which was like four miles of small sandy dunes. It was easy to navigate, but the soft sand slowed us down.

Just before we crossed the paved highway, the sand increased, and our pace decreased.

After crossing the highway, we hiked another couple of miles, and had lunch next to the dirt road we had been traveling. It still was only 60F/16C and cloudy, so we didn’t stay long. After lunch, there was more nice roadwalking.

As we were crossing over a pass, the clouds started to disperse, and I was actually warm. Hooray!

At the bottom of the pass was some interesting roadside graffiti, though it seemed too old to call it graffiti.

The rest of the afternoon was relaxing roadwalking, on nice firm sandy tracks.

And there was even a bit of cross-country on “desert pavement”, a naturally flat, firm, and relatively smooth gravel surface.

We filled our water bottles at a quail guzzler, enough to take us 14 miles tomorrow to the next guzzler. It was getting dark, but we hiked another 10 minutes, since you’re not allowed to camp near a guzzler. (I wouldn’t want to camp there anyway, all the animals would be visiting the water source all night long.) We setup our tents, and it was surprisingly warm, which was nice. Only three more days until this trail is finished!

Sunday December 17, 40.1km/24.9mi

Mojave Trails National Monument (693.5/680ft) to Sheephole Valley Wilderness (718.4/2120ft) (CA)

It was a pretty uneventful day, just a bunch of easy miles across the low desert. We started at 5:45am and hiked toward a very vivid sunrise.

After an hour, we crossed the big paved road that goes to Amboy, and had a nice morning of cross-country hiking, with the Bristol Dry Lake on our left side.

TopShelf and I regrouped at a dirt road junction, and spent the rest of the morning heading southwest in a perfectly straight line along the utility road.

We stopped for lunch near the end of the road, and enjoyed the warm sunshine. The solar panels loved it too, and our phones were mostly charged by the time we packed up. The afternoon was more cross-country hiking thru some sparse creosote bushes.

We arrived at our first water source since town, 32 miles ago. The quail guzzler was full of water, and that was a relief. We spent awhile filling all our bottles, since it’s another 28 miles to the next water.

The remaining two hours of the day was spent hiking up and down three little passes, usually using washes for ease of travel.

The views from the passes were surprisingly good, given how little we had climbed.

The view from the last pass of the day!

From there it was another mile to our planned camp spot, and I made it just before darkness set in at 5pm. A lot of miles, but an easy day!

Saturday December 16, 18.5km/11.5mi

Roy’s Motel and Cafe (682.0/640ft) to Mojave Trails National Monument (693.5/680ft) (CA)

We slept in later, knowing the store didn’t open until 8am. I packed up my tent and walked back to the store, arriving a few minutes after they opened.

The premises had a bunch of touristy and Route-66 themed stuff.

The inside felt cozy, and the manager, Nicole, had decorated it for Christmas.

And the store had plenty of snacks and frozen microwaveable food to keep us fed!

We sat at the counter, which looked like a 60s-style affair, complete with stools and shiny countertops. For my 2nd breakfast I had a frozen pasta meal, a burrito, chocolate milk, ice cream, and a wonderful beverage called Bundaberg Ginger Beer. Usually I can only find that beverage in Australia!

The resident dog, Xena, kept coming over for pats and head scratches.

After eating a ton of food and charging all our devices, we finally left the store at 12:30. We walked along the paved Route 66 for a couple of miles, leaving Amboy.

The road goes directly to Joshua Tree National Park, where we will be finishing this trail. But our route takes over 100 miles instead of only 49, ha!

During the 30 minutes we were walking on the road, only one car passed us, it felt very empty.

During that same timeframe, I saw 4 trains go by. A customer in the store had told us that he was an employee of BNSF railways, and they have about 100 trains per day thru here …seems about right. Just before we turned off the road, I got a photo of one of its nifty logos.

We turned into an attraction called the Amboy Carter National Natural Landmark.

There was a trailhead with a parking area and bathrooms, and even a real trail!

The crater was a mile away, it looked pretty big. The sign said it was 250 feet tall, and 1500 feet in diameter.

The crater up close! The trail continued up to the top of the crater, but our route continued directly south. I’ll have to come back someday to hike up the crater.

Behind me, I could hear yet another train going by, and I realized the view of the Amboy valley was pretty nice too.

Looking ahead, we had to hike thru 4 miles of lava fields.

It was a fun puzzle, linking together smoother sections of ground, and avoiding the rockiest patches. It was slow progress, and I distracted myself by finding all the random flowers that like volcanic soil.

Eventually the rocks started to subside, and we could see a straight path ahead to the south.

Our next terrain feature was Bristol Dry Lake, which we hiked across.

I’m sure at some point in the year it had water, but most of the time it’s just a barren flat expanse of land. It should’ve been easy hiking, but every 25 steps or so, the ground would randomly collapse, and punch thru a few inches. Annoying. It made a great sunset photo though!

After the dry lakebed, we had a mile of cross-country, and then stopped to camp near a dirt road at 5:30pm.

Friday December 15, 42.7km/26.5mi

Base of Granite Mountain (655.5/3660ft) to Roy’s Motel and Cafe (682.0/640ft) (CA)

The weather must’ve changed, because we actually woke up to a non-frigid morning. I started hiking at 5:45am and I was wearing shorts! I used my headlamp for the first 15 minutes, as usual.

There was a short bit of cross-country hiking to a quail guzzler, which was brimming with water. I love it when it’s so easy to get water! Continuing onward, I climbed a small pass thru some granite boulders. The view looking south:

On the way down from the pass, I started seeing quite a few flowers. I hadn’t seen any in over a week, and all of a sudden they were everywhere. Blue ones!

Purple ones!

I continued cross-country for a couple miles, eventually stopping for a break at Budweiser Spring. The spring was basically dry, with only a tiny amount of water and algae in the bottom of the trough. Yuck. Good thing I had plenty of water. TopShelf caught up, and we hiked down Orange Blossom Wash for a couple hours in the warm morning sun.

The wash became wider and easier to navigate, and I could hear the truck traffic as we approached the interstate 40.

We crossed under the interstate in the wash, and hiked a few more minutes before stopping for lunch, away from the noise of the freeway. The afternoon started off with more nice wash travel.

After we departed the wash, there was a convoluted series of turns, junctions, and passes…just to rejoin a road that we could see in the valley below us the whole time. It seemed pointless, and was my least favorite part of this section. After getting thru that part, we had a choice. Either descend on dirt roads to town, or take a fun Bighorn sheep trail down a steep mountain pass, rejoining the road in 3 miles. I chose the pass, TopShelf chose the road, and we agreed to meet in about an hour. From the top of the pass, I could see the valley I was about to descend into:

The trail was nicely contoured, although very narrow and rocky.

The view to the south, coming down one of the steep ridges:

After 30 minutes of fun ridge hiking, I had descended all the way into a wash with a nearby dilapidated cabin.

It’s called Miller’s Cabin, I think it’s an old mining cabin, but hard to tell. I hiked a mile down the cabin’s “driveway” to rejoin the road and meet TopShelf. They had an old mailbox at the end of the driveway, ha!

It was 3:45pm, and we hiked the rest of the day on old dirt roads. It was over 7 miles to town, and although we didn’t initially plan on making it there tonight, we just kept hiking.

It was hard to find good camping spots in this rocky valley, and eventually we ended up so close we just decided to camp a few minutes from Amboy. There was no cell service here, so I sent an inReach message to a friend to confirm the store would still be open when we arrived and happily it was!

My dinner consisted of a couple hot pockets, a microwave burrito, soda, ice cream and chips. We hung out talking to the store employee, who was really friendly and interesting to talk with. She owns 8 pet snakes, including some pythons. Cool. Eventually we left, and hiked back a minute onto public BLM land and setup our tents, and fell asleep.

Thursday December 14, 36.4km/22.6mi

Providence Mine (632.9/3920ft) to Base of Granite Mountain (655.5/3660ft) (CA)

We slept surprisingly well in our little wind-sheltered campsite, and by morning the wind had ceased. It wasn’t as cold, either. Our usual 5:45am start was much more pleasant, and we hiked downhill on an old road toward the sunrise.

After a sharp turn onto a westerly dirt road, I started climbing toward a pass, and noticed all these gourds growing nearby.

I picked one up, and it felt very lightweight, almost hollow. Weird. I looked behind me, and finally the sun had risen.

The climb up to the little pass involved some burro trails, which were almost impossible to find, but eventually we found a set of tracks that worked. Morning view to the west:

After a short descent, we hiked by some old mines. Usually the pits are filled in or covered, but this one was wide open!

Looking down along the hillsides, we could see more mining ruins and structures.

I’m not sure what this structure used to be, but I could tell from its construction style that it was relatively modern.

We soon came to an old miners cabin, which had been restored on the outside.

And of course there was a hilariously old car parked out front.

The inside was actually partially restored as well.

The main room was really quite nice, and we signed into the visitor logbook, and enjoyed a snack on the warm sunny porch. The little book collection above the fireplace was an interesting combination of titles.

And it even had an old-timey fridge! Someone had left a few foods inside, presumably to keep them safe from any rodents.

Back on the trail, we kept hiking west, towards these granitic mountains.

The rock type around here is so interesting, it reminded me of Joshua Tree, which is Monzogranite.

It makes the coolest shapes and formations!

After we had climbed another short pass, I could see something else up ahead, sand dunes!

The Kelso Dunes are a massive collection of sand, and are quite popular with tourists. Unfortunately, our route didn’t go near them. We hiked down from the pass, and had lunch in a wash. These little spots are great, protected from any wind, and usually vegetation-free so our solar panels can recharge our phones. After lunch we hiked thru a little cluster of boulders, more Monzogranite!

The rest of the afternoon was basically spent walking along a fenceline, which encircled the California State University’s “Granite Mountains Research Center”.

We hiked along it for almost two hours, and it felt a little tedious, given that there was basically no path or road. Eventually we arrived at our first water source for today, a quail guzzler. It was already 4pm, so we refilled quickly and continued onwards a couple more miles.

We hit our mileage goal, and then hiked a few more minutes to find a camp-able spot. It felt great ending before darkness!

Wednesday December 13, 38.3km/23.8mi

Hole-in-the-Wall Campground (609.5/4300ft) to Providence Mine (632.9/3920ft) (CA) +0.4mi to campground

We started off the day at 5:45am and hiked back to the trail. There were three other campers in vans and RVs in the campground, they weren’t even awake yet. The very first thing we hiked today was Banshee Canyon, a slot canyon with a bunch of metal rings installed for footholds.

The Rings Loop Trail took us down into the slot canyon, and since we were using headlamps, everything had an eerie feel.

I came to the first section that descended a short narrow chute, and the park had installed rings, like a ladder.

TopShelf coming down the first set of rings.

Hiking thru the slots of Banshee Canyon was so fun, and reminded me of parts of the Hayduke.

After 15 minutes, we started to emerge from the other side of the canyon, and I could see the morning sky again.

We left the canyon behind, and hiked up another singletrack trail for awhile, and then a short wash. The view behind us made us pause for a few minutes to appreciate it.

And a few minutes later, everything was awash in orange light.

Our next task of the morning was to climb up to an unnamed ridge, which was about 5500ft in elevation. I thought it might take awhile to climb up that high, but then I realized that we were already at 4500ft. We made quick time up the ridge, which surprisingly wasn’t even that cold or windy today.

Once we stood on top, there was a great view to the northwest.

In the distance to the southwest was Kelso Dunes, a huge collection of sand dunes, much like the ones back home in Colorado.

We easily descended from the ridge and back into a wash, unfortunately picking up a bunch of sharp bits of grass in our socks along the way. So then we took a snack break in the wash and cleaned out our socks and shoes.

Next time, I think I would bring gaiters for this section, which has had some of that sharp grass every day. Oh well. Once we get lower in elevation the grass should disappear again. The rest of the morning we followed the wash, which was nice easy navigation. After having lunch at a guzzler, we hiked some short xc sections over a tiny pass. I’ve been seeing these cacti everywhere lately, apparently they are California Barrel cactuses.

For most of the afternoon, we followed a series of dirt roads, and only once did we miss a turn. It tends to happen when we are hiking together, usually talking about town food, and quite distracted, ha!

The sun set, and we still had a couple of miles to cover. I got one last photo of the desert, and said goodbye to the sun.

We finished the day by hiking in a little wash, and then following a dirt road for a few minutes. It was so windy! While looking for camping spots, I got this great photo of a yucca.

We kept hiking, looking for a camp spot that was sheltered from the wind, and eventually found one tucked amongst some creosote bushes in a narrow wash. It was only 5:45pm, we made great time today!

Tuesday December 12, 33.0km/20.5mi

Mojave Wilderness (589.4/3400ft) to Hole-in-the-Wall Campground (609.5/4300ft) (CA) +0.4mi to campground

We packed up in the dark, and had our usual 5:45am start. After a mile of hiking, I could see the sunrise creep down the mountains across the valley.

It was a pretty cold day, and we hiked with most of our layers on all morning. There was some pretty enjoyable travel through a wash, which I always like because I don’t have to pay much attention to navigation.

After awhile, we left the wash and hiked cross-country over a small pass. Usually these little segments are short and fun, but this one was a little longer and it was full of grass that would leave sharp things in our socks and shoes. Ouch!

It was easy travel, but we would have to stop every once in awhile to remove an especially sharp piece of grass.

There was a pretty nice view from the top of the pass, the hills are so much greener here in the Mojave preserve.

Fortunately for much of the afternoon, we had some nice clean walking on dirt roads. No grass here!

Late in the afternoon we approached Hole-in-the-Rock State Park. The mountainside and cliffs were full of little holes, presumably from volcanic action.

When we entered the park, we actually hiked on a singletrack trail for a couple miles. It felt like such a treat!

We hadn’t hiked on a human-built singletrack trail for a long time, probably at least a week. The trail went right by one of the cliffs, so we got to see some of the little holes up close.

More beautiful singletrack trail.

This state park also had a campground, which we took advantage of. It was only 4:30pm, and we were a couple of miles short of our usual distance, but it was such a nice and welcoming place to camp.

It had been a very long time since I was able to take a photo of our campsite, since we are almost always setting up camp in the dark.

It was a pretty cold day, and it felt like it was warm for only a couple of hours in the afternoon. As soon as the sun went behind the mountain, it was very cold again. This campground is well over 4,000 ft in elevation, so I expect it will get quite cold tonight…maybe almost freezing.

Monday December 11, 24.0km/14.9mi

Hi Desert Oasis Store (574.5/2080ft) to Mojave Wilderness (589.4/3400ft) (CA)

I woke up at 6:30 and ate “first breakfast” in my tent. An hour later TopShelf and I walked over to the convenience store to buy second-breakfast. Our tents looked pretty funny up against this backdrop.

The store was a decent size, but everything was way overpriced so I chose my food carefully.

After a breakfast burrito and orange juice, it was time for breakfast #3. Spaghetti and ice cream!

The store’s resident dog, Mari, was adorable and kept coming over for more head pats.

We bought more microwave meals for lunch, and finally left the store just before noon. After packing up our tents, we headed out. As we left the property, we noticed a neat little oasis with pools and palm trees. It was a shame they didn’t maintain it.

For almost the entire afternoon, we hiked north into the Mojave National Preserve.

Yup, mostly walking on disused dirt roads.

The cloudy sky made the sunset extra orange.

I’ve been hiking by all these desert plants for months now, and I finally remembered to get photos. I think this one is Desert lavender:

And Cholla:

And Creosote bushes:

Walking under the high-voltage power lines always feels so futuristic. And they created a cool perspective into the distance.

Just after sunset, we entered the Mojave Wilderness!

Because we left the store a little later than expected, we hiked in the dark for over an hour to make it to our planned mileage for the day. It got cold fast!

We found a spot amongst some creosote bushes, and dove inside our tents to get warm. We had gradually been climbing all day, so now we were 1500ft/450m higher… it’s much colder up here!

Sunday December 10, 37.0km/23.0mi

Old Woman Mountains Wilderness (551.5/3260ft) to Hi Desert Oasis Store (574.5/2080ft) (CA)

I woke up and a thermometer inside my tent said 35F/2C, so cold! It took a few minutes longer to get packed up in the morning, since my cold hands were a little uncooperative but eventually we left camp a few minutes before 6am.

By 7:30 the sun had come over the hillsides, and I could feel the warmth!

Most of the day was pretty easy and relaxing walking on old dirt roads. By 8:30, it had warmed up to comfortable temperatures, and we stopped to take a break and sit in the sun.

I think pretty much all of our water sources in California are quail guzzlers.

We stopped a little early to have lunch, and realized that if we kept going at our current pace, we would be in town by 5pm. We decided to go for it, and camp in the public BLM land nearby the convenience store. The whole afternoon was walking on old dirt roads, usually in a wash.

On a long gradual descent to the valley, we came across a group of cows, and two of them were juveniles! Cool.

We kept descending slowly down into the valley to the north. After awhile, we could start to hear the traffic from interstate 40 and also the railroad.

Pretty soon we departed the “Heart of the Mojave” preserve, with only a couple of miles to go.

And immediately after we crossed a very disused looking paved highway, which happened to be old route 66. It used to run all the way from Chicago to Santa Monica!

We hiked up to the interstate and the railroad, passing under the railroad tracks right before a train went over them.

And of course I had to get a photo of the freeway sign.

Our resupply point for this section isn’t a real town, but merely a convenience store called the “Hi Desert Oasis”, an extremely overpriced Route-66 themed gas station and convenience store.

We setup our tents on the nearby public BLM land, and then hiked a couple more minutes to the store to buy some food. They didn’t sell any hot food, so I bought plenty of microwave burritos, frozen dinners, and frozen pizzas and put them all in the microwave. There was a little seating area inside with a few tables, and we spent a few hours just sitting there constantly eating, while charging our phones. After consuming about 4,000 calories (I was keeping track) at dinner, I decided that I was finally no longer hungry. Weirdly, I also wasn’t full either. We finally left the store at 8:30pm and went back to our tents and fell asleep.