Mojave National Preserve - February 2018

Mojave National Preserve

    After several weeks of debating whether to go to Death Valley, Joshua Tree, or Anza Borrego for our desert sojourn this winter, we decided on Death Valley. Over several dinners we reviewed maps, routes, campgrounds, trails, sights. We’ve visited this geologically grand national park several times and looked forward to another stay.

Our Ford Traverse, Alabama Hills.

    Doug shuffled Old Blue, our Ford Traverse Westy-style camper, and our real VW Westy back and forth to car shops for maintenance.

VW Westies, Death Valley. Ours is far right.

    We were ready to go when Doug mentioned Amboy Crater, which he’d visited briefly last November. I got interested as I read about it, and we considered making the 3-hour drive there from Death Valley. Or, we could go to Amboy and nearby Joshua Tree National Park instead. Then I noticed on the map Mojave National Preserve, read about it, and was intrigued.

    So on the last Sunday of February at 7:00 AM, we headed to Mojave National Preserve. We made a pitstop in Baker next to a large Tesla charging lot—with not a single car charging—

Empty Tesla charging lot, Baker.

then turned south into the preserve. By noon we were at the Visitors Center at the former Kelso Depot, where we talked with a ranger. 

The museum displays Kelso's history and the natural resources of Mojave. There are so many different rocks and types of formations in the desert.
    Kelso was largely a company town, its residents Union Pacific employees. 

Mexican Gandy Dancers at Needles, CA. Gandy Dancers maintained rails & railbeds.

    In World War II the population swelled to 2,000 with additional railroad employees and mine workers at the Kaiser plant. There iron ore was used to make steel for Liberty Ships. The cargo ships were produced by plants in Richmond, CA, Portland, OR, and other places.

 

WWII Liberty Ship.

    By 2:00 we’d found a boondocking campsite by the White Cross, a World War I memorial, and were putting on our boots to hike the 4-mile-roundtrip Teutonic Peak Trail. 

Far left: Teutonia Peak. Right: Cima Dome, unusual for its symmetry and size—it covers 70 square miles.

Old mines abound throughout the area.

    I was glad for hiking poles, as the hike was over a fair amount of rough ground. 

Marilyn en route to Teutonia Peak.

Joshua Tree.

A man and the outdoors, just below Teutonia Peak.

    The shapes and colors of plants fascinate me, and I love taking close-ups of them.

 Stems with curlicues.

Curlicue close-up.

Don't come near me!

Rock topped with own miniature landscape

Red stems.

Judging by the size of its trun, this prickly pear (I think) has been around awhile.

Nature's art work.

Blue pointy flowers.

We're coming, too!

Heading back down the trail.

    Back at our campsite after the hike, I shivered in the cold wind directing Doug as he drove the van about 3 miles around in circles and back and forth trying to get it level. Finally agreeing it was good enough, we dined on rotisserie chicken and salad in-a-bag. 

    We were just below 5,000 feet, and the nighttime temperatures promised to drop to the 30s, so we were glad for our down comforter, quilt, and down blankets to add to our sleeping bag.

Desert sky: Joshua tree, white cross, contrail, moon.

    We awoke the next morning after sleeping long and soundly to a car pulling up next to us. A smiling man came around to say Hello and said he'd be replacing the wood sign on the monument with a more durable metal one. Doug helped out and learned that the man is a volunteer: maintaining the monument is part of his offering, as he did not serve.

    We had a leisurely breakfast over our books, then lowered the van's top, stored everything, and drove to the intersection of Cima Road and Interstate 15 in search of cell service. There, we called Doug’s son and wish him Happy Birthday. 
    We could have turned east and been in Las Vegas in 90 minutes, but it holds less interest for us than the desert. I was there once 17 years ago, and Doug has never been. Maybe we'll go together some day. For now, we turned back south on Cima Rd.
    Mojave boasts the largest Joshua tree forest in the world. The variety here is somewhat smaller and fuller than those in nearby Joshua Tree National Park.

Joshua tree forest.

Fallen Joshua tree.

    Note: Two years after our visit, in 2020, the Cima Dome Fire burned over a million Joshua trees in Mojave National Preserve. Restoration has been underway since. 

Unusual Joshua tree.

        We stopped at the Mojave Rd marker. looking at the now 4WD road snaking out across the hills we imagined traveling it. American Indians used this route for trade and to reach the Pacific coast. In the 1770s they guided Spanish explorers along it. The U.S. Army improved the route and established outposts. In the 1880s, the railroad replaced the Mojave Road as the main access between the middle of the country and Los Angeles.

Old Mojave Road on left. 

    While we were pondering, a rental Jucy camper stopped. ts occupant. Then Jonathan, a young man from Montreal, asked the way to Las Vegas, which was the opposite way he was going. Then he parked and took an enthusiastic look at the Traverse. Turned out he's a traveler like us who prefers the Blue Highways. 

    Seeing a freight train coming, we crossed the tracks to the east and the drivable portion of the Mojave Rd.




We stopped to watch the train lumber slowly, so slowly, up the 2.5% grade. Before diesel engines, freight trains heading east stopped at Kelso Depot to hook up with a helper train for an assist up the 2.5% grade.

The 2.5% grade is very steep for a freight train.

    We took the Mojave Rd a short distance to the turnoff to Hole in the Wall Campground.

Mojave Rd heading east through the Joshua tree forest.

    In the campground were a pile of ashes, a couple of pieces of metal, and a tire all that remained of a trailer that had burned the previous day previous day. Fortunately the owners had not been inside. Doug reminded me that the only purpose of a fire extinguisher is to enable us to escape the van in the event of a fire. The ashes were a brutal exhibit of the flammability of these vehicles. 

    It was quite windy, so Doug parked the van facing into the wind. We sat in its lee to picnic and read.

    

Hole in the Wall Campground.

    After lunch, we walked the 1/4 mile nature path to the Information Center

Blue Yucca on nature trail from Hole in the Wall Campground to Information Center.

Mojave Yucca.

    There Roland kept us enthralled for some time recounting tales of himself and Mojave. Like many National Park Service employees, he was part-time and went from park to park. He was interviewing for a job at Kings Canyon, near our home.

Mojave National Preserve Information Center.

    From the Information Center we picked up the 1.5-mile Rings Loop Trail, so called because there are two sets of rings hikers must climb at the end of the trail. I of course took photos of many desert plants. I always intend to identify them later, but don't seem to get around to it.

I'm pretty sure this is a barrel cactus.

Another plant to give a wide berth.

Another barrel cactus. 

Any color stands out against the brown and gray landscape.

Purple flowers!

    A group of boulders beside the trail is covered with petroglyphs.

Doug looking at petroglyphs.

Petroglyphs.

Petroglyphs.

Petroglyphs.

    The trail wound along the base of buttes toward Banshee Slot Canyon.

    

Free-range cinnamon brown Criollo cattle, a breed suited to the desert, roamed the area.

Criollo cattle.

Are you coming?

    The rock formations are just amazing.    

Looking toward entrance to Banshee Slot Canyon.

It's warming up.

Rock formations at entrance to Banshee Slot Canyon.

The cliffs are full of notches.

Looks like someone's profile...

Plants grow where there's water.

Narrow entrance to Banshee Slot Canyon.

Where's Marilyn?

Here we go!

So many amazing formations to look at.

Lots of climbing around & over rocks.

Looking up 1st set of rings.

After a boost from Doug to manage the first big step up, Marilyn made it up the rings.

Looking down 1st set of rings.

Doug at top of 1st set of rings.

Where's the 2nd set of rings?

Looking up 2nd set of rings.

Doug going up 2nd set of rings.

Doug at top of 2nd set of rings.

Looking down 2nd set of rings.

Marilyn nearing the top.

Success!

Trail sign after 2nd rings. We were glad we did not try to go down them!

On every hike, Doug carried rocks in his pack to train for an intended backpack later this summer.

    We stopped back at the Information Center so Doug could buy me another pair earrings, red tail hawks—he'd already bought me roadrunners earlier. We met David, a full-time archeologist who has worked at and lived in the preserve for 17 years. He told us that an anonymous person donates large sums to the preserve most years. The preserve then buys the cattle ranches that were private when the land became a national preserve. The sales are always voluntary. David has had an offer to buy his 30 acres, but he’s not selling.

Cheesebush.

Pencil Cholla, one of several varieties of these cacti with barbed spines that will lodge at the slightest brush from a passerby.

 

Buckhorn Cholla.

Silver Cholla.

Blue sage wasn't too blue in winter.

    That Doug improvised a covering for the van’s tent with two space blankets placed around the inside. They worked great to keep the van warmer in the wind and low temperatures, and each successive night of the trip he improved on his design. So now we have our next van project: tent insulation constructed of space blankets that will velcro to the tent. 

    Snow had been predicted that night, but the sky was crystal clear and the moon so bright few stars were visible.

Van on a dark starless night.

    However, as we read over breakfast in the morning, I caught sight of white stuff. Large snowflakes descended horizontally  and then began to stick. We broke camp quickly, doing the minimum so secure everything, then hit the road.

Snow!

    It didn't take along to drop enough elevation for the snow to turn to light rain. Not long after, there was nothing.
    In addition to hikes and plants, we were treated to many animal sightings while in Mojave National Preserve—roadrunners, a bobcat, a coyote, lizards, cottontails, and jack rabbits. It was in all ways a good discovery, and we will return. For now, we were on to Amboy Crater.

Mojave National Preserve