Three Great Hikes at Mojave National Desert Preserve!

Thursday, February 20, 2014


Tomorrow morning we will leave the Mojave Desert Preserve after five nights of desert camping. We have thoroughly enjoyed our time in this beautiful and unique environment. We explored the lava beds next to our boondocking site, and had a long vista across the park from the top of them. Greg took a bike ride to explore the four wheel drive trails. He came back with a long distance biker from Oregon, camping his way around the southwest. Greg offered him some of our water, so we had a good conversation with the professional forest fire fighter before he left to bike further into the preserve. Our second night there we were all alone in the wash.

Hiking up onto the lava flow on an old mining road

The top of the lava flow looking toward the cinder cones that were the source

The lava looks fresh but it had trapped windblown soil that many plants thrived in.

Pahoehoe lava that looks very fresh

Beavertail cactus - like prickly pear with no prickly!

Desert holly

Parasitic growth on trees that produces berries

Mojave yucca amid the creosote

There are butterflies even with few flowers for nectar

Not just another tree hugger...

The old road to Zzyzx

Mining road up a side canyon

 Tuesday we drove the rest of the 18 miles into Baker. We fueled up the rig, visited the Alien Fresh Jerky store, and bought gyros for lunch at the Mad Greek, featured on the Food Network's “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives”. The gyros were pretty good, but the Greek pastries we took home for dessert were super tasty!
Then it was back to the desert wilderness. We took I-15 east up to another entrance into the park. Heading for the Hole In The Wall campground in the mountains, we discovered a boondocking site on the way and impulsively stopped there. We were parked behind a big rock with a cross on it, erected in the 30's by the VFW to honor the war dead. Walking across the road we reached the trailhead for Teutonia Peak and made the three mile roundtrip hike before the sun set. The trail wound through the largest and densest Joshua Tree forest in the world. At the top of Teutonia Peak we could see the broad sweep of the desert and mountain landscape around us, as well as Cima Dome.

The Mad Greek Diner

We watched but never saw...

VFW campsite at the WWI memorial on Cima Road

The world's densest Joshua Tree forest is on Cima Dome

The Cima dome granite had zones with huge phenocrysts of feldspar

Joshua Tree seed pods

Teutonia Peak

On the top of Teutonia

Looking north

Joshua's feet

Clustered cactus

Crossing another granite knob on the way back to the RV

 


The next morning we continued our travels to Hole In The Wall. The blacktop gave way to gravel as we climbed into the mountains. The road was washboarded, but tolerable and we arrived before lunch at the campground. We paid our $12 and got a well spaced campsite, and a place to dump and get water. The wind began to pick up and funnel through the mountain passes. Before lunch we walked the nature trail to the closed visitor center and found the trailhead for the Rings trail. After reading about the trail last winter, I put it on my bucket list.

Washboard on the way to Hole in the Wall - 10 MPH

The mesa next to Hole in the Wall

 

Hole in the Wall Campsite

Buckforn Cholla

Extra Prickly Prickly Pear

After lunch we walked back over to the trailhead and began our hike. The trail is only about a mile and starts out by circling around to the backside of a mesa. After hiking along the base of the backside of the mesa you enter Banshee Canyon. The volcanic rock is riddled with holes where erosion has carved out great little caves for birds and wildlife. We learned that many of the holes were inhabited the next night when owls called across the canyon much of the night. In order to get back to the other side of the mesa and the visitor center you must enter the narrow canyon and find the iron rings imbedded in the side walls and climb out. I didn't know if I could climb up the sides with the help of the rings, but I was determined to try! The pictures below are the evidence that we made it to the top. I only needed a little push in the derriere by Greg in one spot!

Petroglyphs on boulders near the trail

Caves in volcanic tuff that looked like concrete

Fierce wildlife - about 5 inches long

Banshee Canyon

Drama on the Rings

I would not want to climb this in the rain

The rings were essential but not easy

We spent last night at Hole In The Wall listening to the wind howl and shake the camper. It stopped by daylight, but I felt sorry for the tent campers snuggled up all night in the cold wind. This morning we filled up the water tank and our extra jugs, dumped, and drove only a mile to a boondocking site we found on the backside of the mesa near the entrance to Banshee Canyon. Greg took off on his bike to ride the 22 mile dirt road up to the other campground and back down in a circle. After he returned we decided to take showers in the rig and as we prepared, another boondocker showed up and parked right next to us in this small area. Nixed Greg's idea to use our outdoor shower! We were better spaced out in the campground. Oh well, they have been very quiet and we will be leaving in the morning. Time to move on to Lake Mead and explore the very southernmost tip of Nevada!

Boondock site at Banshee Canyon