Moments in Dirt and Ink

Barstow BLM San Bernardino National Forest Click for map. When I realized I'd have extra morning chores before the hike up Granite Peaks, I probably should have turned my attention to the shorter Silver Peak hike, but it does seem a little less romantic a thing. This is another Hundred Peaks Section listed peak and it seems more straightforward. There's a couple of ridges that present themselves as likely start points to connect to a road over the top. Yep, that's right, it can be done as a drive up. I ain't counting no drive ups. Most people have hiked up it from the south side when they engage a similar ethos. The road is open to there, but I'm here, so I'll try it from the east, give or take some degrees north. I did stop a bit short of my previous parking spot because I felt I was almost there anyway only to find I still had a mile to go. Whatever. It's a much shorter hike. I can do another mile on the road up. Silver Peak and just this plai...

Barstow BLM San Bernardino National Forest Click for map. I managed to drive up with less beating on my car than the day before when I was only seeing if I could. The road has plenty of wide spots and I took one just before an intersection. I'm going down the road at the intersection and expect it to be worse. With a higher car, I could probably get a mile closer. With 4WD, I could get two miles closer. To further slow down my start, I had to make some pancake mix before I could turn it into breakfast. It's no use fretting about such things. I get moving along. The side road is narrower, but generally not so rough except for a couple nasty dips. The road is not so bad here and has plenty of parking on the weed covered side. Round Mountain on the right has a few little mines that weren't noticeable in comparison to the huge mass of tailings on the left. Somewhere out there is another road that I also considered for my approach, but could not determine if it...

Barstow BLM Click for map. I came up the road first to see how far I can get on it and second to grab the benchmark on the hill. I decided that if I'm going to beat up the car, I should only do it once and turned back. This is just a little hill, but the contours look very tight on the map indicating a very steep terrain. To the point I stopped for the hill, the road is fine even for little cars although there are some deteriorating parts. After this, it hits a wash and becomes full of medium rocks. I seem to have stopped in front of a couple prospects. They're a smaller version of the larger mine workings around the place. Those larger ones have foundations and a few other artifacts surrounded by audits and holes. These are just little holes with some tailings. Meanwhile, the hill looks very doable. At second glance, those contours are actually 20 foot contours instead of the usual 40 foot. Not so much up between each, so not so difficult. The Old Woman benchmark i...

Needles BLM Click for map. A week has already passed and there's a hike with some Hundred Peaks Section folks, but they're actually doing a couple things off the Desert Peaks Section list. The one on Saturday made me pause. I think I could do it on my own, but with a group I'd be slowing the rest down. The Sunday hike looks much easier, although the stats are a little worrisome. Only 4.5 miles and 2100 feet gain, but it'll take "5-7 hours, possibly longer." (I can find this out because the DPS peak guides are now available to all online, not just members. I don't even have enough DPS peaks to become a member yet.) Yikes! But it is nearly 1000 feet a mile with class 2 climbing and no trail. Well, there could be the tiniest bit of old prospector trail at the start, but then nothing. With a 7AM start, we have plenty of time to get up and back in the day. Unfortunately, after an in car navigational problem, we're actually starting at 8AM. Still mor...

Barstow BLM Click for map. Copper Mountain is north of the college named for it and its peaks wrap around the east side of Coyote Lake or Sunfair Lake depending on what map one is looking at. This generally dry lake bed is a better known spot to get some free dispersed BLM camping while visiting Joshua Tree National Park. It and Copper Mountain are also quite popular with the off roading crowd, so I expect this hike won't be quite as nice as the last one. The climbing might be easier. I've spotted a rough road up this side of the high point to aim at. It is a little hard to see when looking directly into the sun in the morning, but I'm sure it's still there. The high point of Copper Mountain with a radio antenna and a few other bits and bobs is at the south end of the chain that make up this mountain. A long, narrow bulk is at the north and some smaller bumps pop up in between. Setting off across the flats, there are distinct vegetative zones. I expe...

Joshua Tree National Park Click for map. I wanted to be sure I stopped by an oasis while around Joshua Tree, so made my way to Fortynine Palms. The trail outside of Twentynine Palms starts just inside Joshua Tree National Park, but does not have an entrance fee. Again, there is a sign detailing the statistics of the hike and stressing that it might be too strenuous for you. Here it gets particularly worried about the passers by because part of the trail on the way out is uphill. Mounted on the side is a huge thermometer so people can know exactly how hot it is out. Today, that isn't even all the way up to 60°F. Signs at the start of the trail. The first bit of the trail is climbing. It doesn't actually start in the canyon with the oasis, so has to climb up and over to the correct canyon. Twentynine Palms comes into view below, stretching far and somewhat obscured by fog. The desert terrain to hike through. The rocks take on odd shapes. This looks over t...

Joshua Tree National Park Click for map. I decided to be social and signed up for some hikes going on as part of the Holiday Hooplah. This is an annual party put on by the Hundred Peaks Section of the Angeles Chapter of the Sierra Club with hikes in and around Joshua Tree National Park. I've been to a bunch already, so am running out of new peaks to climb. (For more Sierra Club outings including these past Holiday Hooplahs, click the "Sierra Club" tag.) Today, I am up for Queen Mountain and Mount Inspiration in two separate hikes. I get to save the $30 entrance fee because I can sit in a car with someone with a senior pass. First is Queen Mountain, which is going to be a little bit further than usual because the roads were closed after the recent rains. Parking is at an interpretive turnout instead of the usual small loop of dirt at the end of a road. We can see Queen Mountain right away. It is a lot of flat and a deceptive amount of up. Of the two taller bu...

Mojave National Preserve Click for map. There is a closer parking spot off the road a little to the north, but that one has gotten a bit rumpled after some flooding last summer, so I decided to just start where I was. I noticed I was just east of a benchmark right out there in the middle of the sands and thought I'd have a go at finding it first, then off to the cliffs I can see out there and around to some prime spot to head for the first peak: Tortoise Shell Mountain. First to head vaguely winding between the spines to a road, and then along that road until near the benchmark. The real first destination of the day is the lump of rock that is Tortoise Shell Mountain. Then on to the rest of the Woods Mountains for the high point, which is the third from the left. The weatherman says the day will be cloudy in the morning and sunny in the afternoon. Certainly has the first part right. Finding the benchmark is straightforward enough although it takes a little cir...

Mojave National Preserve Click for map. Off to another mountain! This one took a little time to find parking, but eventually I found a bit along something I wasn't sure was a real road. It takes a bit of a jump of about 4 feet up quite suddenly which a few users have found a way around, then looks a bit like it is trying to be a camp site, then settles into being a road going on and on towards whatever it might desire. It is even on my map. It is easier to pull off to the side of than the main road so helpful as parking before that sudden up. From here, it should be a jaunty walk across the fairly flat desert followed by a general attempt to go up quickly, but not so quickly as there is a cliff to try to scale. Like the other peaks in the area, this one has a number of cliffs to ring it. Rough stuff doesn't bother the people who come here. This is the Mojave National Preserve! I follow the road a little bit, but its direction is far too much to the south for my...

Mojave National Preserve Click for map. I noticed there was a spring marked on the electronic map not more than a mile from my campsite and decided to see what it may hold. Probably the cows know about it and it is just a mess. Certainly man knows about it, it's on the map. Probably it has been piped for the cows. Zooming closer, a name appears. "Cave Spring" probably means it's another mine that hit water. Anyway, I resolve to stride out across the desert and see it, then wander back along the ridge it is nearly on and see the road side caves on the way back. The spring is supposed to be on this close ridge of Wild Horse Mesa. It is around a couple corners from here. Setting off, there is very quickly a cow path going my way. I follow it across the desert edging around the side of the ridge, until it gets lost in an area of cow sitting about. I just go on for I am not quite ready for sitting about. Cow paths develop under me again as I climb over a l...

Mojave National Preserve Click for map. The Hole-in-the-Wall visitor center for the Mojave National Preserve has a little notoriety to its local trails because one is set with rings to help travelers traverse a couple spots that otherwise would be somewhat difficult climbs. There are two loops possible to combine with the short rings loop, one to the south known as the Rings Loop is about a mile, one to the north known as the Barber Peak Loop is about six miles. The Rings Loop heads out from the south side of a parking lot near the visitor center and returns through the Hole to a picnic area on the same spur road but past the visitor center. There is a sign to show the start. This sign also explains the trail markings that are put up frequently along the route to that it is more easily distinguished from washes, cow trails, random abundances of human footprints off trail, and whatever else might exist to get folks lost. The visitor center in front of Barber Peak and, not ...