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.

Saturday December 9, 39.8km/24.7mi

Stepladder Mountains Wilderness (526.8/1440ft) to Old Woman Mountains Wilderness (551.5/3260ft) (CA)

We left camp at 6:15am and hiked along a dirt road for 3 hours. It was pretty dark for the first 10 minutes with only the glowing orange sky behind me.

Pretty soon it lightened up, and I could see the Old Woman mountains ahead of me to the west.

It was pretty cold maybe 40 F/4C, and rather windy, so I was happy to see the sunlight starting to approach the cold valley.

By 9am it had warmed up, and we had left that dirt road and started a short climb to a small pass.

And soon after we officially entered the wilderness area!

It was so incredibly windy, so even though it was 60F/15C by now, we kept most of our clothing layers on, and walked uphill into the wind.

We went over the top of the little pass and immediately hiked down the other side to get out of the wind. A mile later, we came to our first water source for today, another quail guzzler.

This one had a lid that was non-removable, so we had to get creative and fish water out of the skinny front portal, using a bottle taped to a hiking pole.

Once we had entered the Old Woman mountains, the landscape and geology around us changed noticeably. There were many more yucca plants….

… And much more of this type of rock, that I usually associate with Joshua Tree National Park.

We had lunch near this cool rock formation.

We spent pretty much all day very gradually climbing into these mountains, and now we could look down to the valleys to the north and see how much higher we were.

At the end of the day, there was a series of small but steep passes that we needed to hike over.

There were easier ways to get around these mountains, but instead the route chose to go through some of them. It was slow going and a little unexpected and out of character for this route, but we eventually got through the challenges. Looking down on a wash we were about to descend into:

We hiked in Sweetwater Wash for a couple of miles before it got dark.

After a series of confusing turns and some cross-country travel, we were hiking in the dark for an hour to get to our intended campsite near a water source.

We got to our campsite at 6:30 and promptly setup our tents, since it was getting extremely cold. Fortunately, the wind had stopped! I put on most of my clothing layers and crawled into my sleeping quilt.

Friday December 8, 37.8km/23.5mi

Turtle Mountains Wilderness (506.6/1580ft) to Stepladder Mountains Wilderness (526.8/1440ft) (CA) +2.5mi Whipple-Turtle shortcut, +0.8 quail guzzler

After watching the sky turn a glorious orange, I started hiking down the dirt road by headlamp.

I hiked by headlamp for maybe five minutes before it became unnecessary.

I stopped for a quick snack break after an hour, and TopShelf caught up. We hiked in Gary wash for the next hour, as the temperatures gradually warmed up.

Yup, we were going to be hiking up and over those mountains!

There were some fascinating rock formations around here.

Eventually the wash faded away, and we scrambled up a steep-ish rocky slope for a few minutes to a pass. It was super windy up there!

It was very cold in the wind, so we didn’t stay for more than a minute. I got a photo of our descent valley, and got moving.

Some of the really clever parts of this route are how its creator has found animal trails to use. We followed a sheep trail for 10 minutes, to where the terrain was more mellow.

Our descent ridge with the turtle mountains behind it.

We descended the ridge quickly, to get out of the gusty wind. When we reached our intended gully, it was noticeably steeper and slow-going.

We carefully and slowly picked our way down the rocky gully, which I thought was tons of fun, it reminded me of the Hayduke. I saw my shadow on terrain that was far below me, showing how steep it was!

Eventually the gully became a flat wash, and we found a spot to have lunch that was protected from the wind. And it has views of some of the Turtle Mountains that we had just hiked thru.

We hiked another hour, and arrived at a trailhead, which was funny because I can’t picture anyone driving here. It was so remote!

There was another short series of dirt roads, a nice way to spend the afternoon while my lunch digested.

And at the end of the roadwalk was a surprise…a picnic table and a shade shelter!

We took an unplanned break there, since neither of us can ever pass up a good picnic table! Afterwards, we had the pleasure of hiking on a beautiful singletrack trail, the first actual human-made trail I had seen in a very long time.

It was sunny and warm, with beautiful views and easy hiking… doesn’t get better than that.

The trail ended, and we made our way down into a wash, which we followed for an hour.

Down in the wash, we were protected from the wind, so it was nice and warm. The time flew by and pretty soon we were on a dirt road, our final segment for the day.

We hiked a couple of miles and setup camp near the road, then went down a side-route to get water. It was another quail guzzler, they seem to be the only types of water sources in this California section.

After getting back to our campsite, we got warm in our tents and made dinner.

Thursday December 7, 40.6km/25.2mi

West side of Whipple Mountain (476.0/1920ft) to Turtle Mountains Wilderness (498.5/1580ft) (CA) +2.7mi impromptu shortcut

After a tough day yesterday, today’s easy miles were greatly welcomed. We started off at 5:45am with a short section of xc hiking, with surprisingly sparse vegetation.

We crossed a wash, where I found an antler shed! I figured it’s from a mule deer, though I haven’t seen any recently.

We hiked over a low pass, where the sun finally greeted us. It’s so much warmer in the sunlight!

The rest of the morning was on flat and easy roads. Perfect!

It was relaxing to not have to constantly navigate, or figure out where to place my feet. And we had a decent view of the upcoming Turtle Mountains.

TopShelf was ahead of me all morning, and I think I see more wildlife when I’m alone. When two people are together, we tend to make more noise with talking, etc. This snake was sunning itself, and it wasn’t at all interested in moving.

I caught up to TopShelf and we stopped and had lunch. It was a really warm day, so we ate in the tiny shade of a creosote bush, ha! After lunch and some solar charging, we found an old tortoise shell. Poor guy.

There was an hour of walking in a wide wash, which was a little slow since it was loose gravel.

Finally we made it to a quail guzzler, our first water source in 30 miles! These are all over the desert of southern California to help thirsty birds, and are maintained by volunteers.

We filled all our water bottles, as the next water source is 32 miles away. We slowly hiked away, as our packs were now 4kg/8.8lbs heavier from the 4L of water we were now carrying. After crossing highway 95, we hiked up a wash and into the Turtle Mountains!

The wash was pretty terrible, with a weird combination of loose sand and boulders. It was often faster to hike right next to the wash, using it as a handrail. Eventually we tired of that game, and I devised a shortcut to a dirt road. It saved us 3 miles, and after an hour of night-hiking thru unexplored terrain, we landed at the dirt road and setup camp.

Wednesday December 6, 32.0km/19.9mi

Whipple Mountains Wilderness (456.1/1320ft) to West side of Whipple Mountain (476.0/1920ft) (CA)

We started the day at 5:45am, which is when it’s just getting light here. The easy roadwalk continued for another hour, which was a nice warmup to the day.

By 6:30, the sun made its appearance into this valley, and everything was washed in light.

We turned a corner, and entered the massive Whipple Wash.

For most of the morning, we were surrounded by towering cliffs and we hiked completely in the shade. It was pretty warm today, so that was welcome.

After an hour of hiking in the gravelly wash, it became narrow and rocky. Soon we were hiking between boulders and cliffs.

The whole time in the Whipple Wash canyon, we kept searching for water. We saw plenty of signs of subterranean water, such as this shockingly green grass.

TopShelf coming up one of the scrambly bits.

Several sections were narrow with rocky slabs, and we were hopeful to find water here…but there was none. The map marked several places as “possible seasonal water” but so far all of them were dry.

Eventually we found water, courtesy of the local burro population. They can smell water, and will dig holes to find it. We came upon a freshly dug hole, and filled all our water bottles, as it’s almost 30 miles to the next water source!

We continued up the narrow canyon, which was entertaining and enjoyable.

A surprise skeleton awaited us around a corner. I’m pretty sure it used to be a burro.

We had lunch in a shaded spot in the gravelly wash, and then started our long climb up to the summit of Whipple Mountain. It was steep at first, but soon we gained a ridgeline and had some more gradual climbing, and some views.

Looking back down into the canyon that we had hiked in all morning.

After a couple of hours hiking on the ridge, we neared the summit. The final push to the top, with great views!

I’m pretty sure that’s Lake Havasu below us. We arrived at the summit just 30 minutes before sunset, so we didn’t linger long at all. There was a summit benchmark, and more views!

And of course a summit cairn.

We hiked along the ridgeline for another 20 minutes…

…and then started dropping steeply off the west side.

We spent the last hour of the day descending a rocky ridgeline in the dark. My headlamp is pretty bright, but it would have been helpful to see more than 100ft/30m ahead of me, to more efficiently navigate. Eventually, we were at the bottom of the peak, and back in a wash. We hiked a few minutes further, looking for a flat spot to camp, and found one in the wash. We setup camp at 6pm and by 7:30 I had eaten, cleaned up, and fallen asleep!