Diet Taco... trying to keep things light

Hey Ken! Just wanted to thank you for motivating me to finally buy a PLB. This decision was set into motion following your comments on the DV thread earlier this year, and further aided by your insights there and above.

Hope you're already or will soon be enjoying the use of your truck again!

 

Return to Death Valley... finally
June 2021

With vaccination numbers up and infection rates down it was finally time to get back to the truck and the desert. June is not a particularly sensible time to visit Death Valley but after 16 months away I wasn't going to be too picky. As it turned out my brother was going to be able to join me for the full trip and was bringing his new to him Jeep for a shake down trip.

The original plan based on typical temperatures was to be up around Lee Flat and the Nelson Range at about 6,000 feet. As it turned out the week of our trip was forecast for low temperatures and lots of wind so we opted for lower elevations and more sheltered sites. In the end we actually spent two of the nights at the same spot just enjoying resting so the trip report doesn't include much in the way of exploration this time.

Usual early departure from BWI, in Las Vegas before 9 am and my brother picked me up from the airport. Collected the truck which appeared to be running just fine after an unexpected 16 month storage, provisioned and got the tires rotated while having my first In & Out in over a year. Headed out of Vegas by noon.

We stopped at the Furnace Creek Visitor Center to get annual passes. I don't think I've seen the parking lot that empty in well over a decade or more. Summer is typically mostly European visitors and there aren't any this year. As we headed out on Cottonwood Canyon Road there appeared to be only one recent out and back set of tracks on the road. As we reached the canyon mouth dust was picking up in the valley.

Seeking Shelter​

Our first stop was to be in Cottonwood Canyon to shelter from the sun and forecast strong afternoon winds. There is a grotto there fit to purpose. It was perfectly pleasant hanging out in the shade with occasional breezes at around 95F. There was moderate to thin cloud cover and we worried if it stuck around like a blanket the evening might not be as cool as hoped for. Fortunately as sunset approached the clouds began to depart promising a cool evening and morning.

Shady Afternoon
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After relaxing a few hours and catching up we decided to move over to Marble Canyon so we would be in position to start a hike right at sunrise. My brother was still getting the feel of the manual transmission in the Jeep so these rocky washes were great practice.

Not a Tacoma
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The Flip-Pac deployed just fine and I had my camp setup in a few minutes as usual. After snacking all afternoon we didn't bother with a hot dinner. My brother spent a fair bit of time digging around for things, arranging stuff and discovering things he did and didn't need as is typical for a first trip in a vehicle. As the sun set the last of clouds disappeared to the east and a spectacular night sky emerged. The temperature began to fall quickly and it was very pleasant sleeping weather.

Marble Canyon Camp
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Both still on east coast time it was easy to wake up a bit before sunrise and get our vehicles all packed up and our day-packs prepared for the not very long hike up to the second narrows in Marble Canyon. This morning the hike was delightfully cool and shady all the way to the narrows. This was the third time in just a few years I had done this hike and so it was all very familiar.

Marble Canyon Second Narrows
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The hike back down canyon was equally delightful and we probably walked less than four minutes total in the sun as it was so early the canyon bottom was almost entirely in shade the whole way still. We returned to Stovepipe Wells and checked the weather again which was still forecasting low temperatures but increasingly strong winds.

Our next camp would be in one of the canyons draining the Panamint's steep western escarpment. To make the trip a little more interesting we decided to get there via Emigrant Pass and have lunch at a higher elevation. The winds were definitely picking up even more and the blowing dust meant there weren't going to be views of the Sierras above Wildrose so we opted to have our lunch down in Wildrose Canyon instead. There is a small picnic area there which it turned out had some perfectly shaded and sheltered spots. Wind was just roaring up the canyon but we found a sheltered spot under cottonwoods to have a pleasant lunch.

Finishing lunch we left the pavement for Ballarat and aired down. Post Office Spring was being grazed by a number of burros. No round up happening out here near as one could tell.

Gregarious Burros
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A little further south we turned left to begin the climb out of the valley. It is quite a steep and at first intimidating looking climb since your eye is drawn to some crazy roads that cut switchbacks but the main road is not too bad though quite steep and rocky definitely requiring 4WD and high clearance. This was a good break in for my brother whose off-road experience had been mostly constrained to washes, playas and alluvial fans on various government testing ranges. A steep, twisty, rocky climb was something new and seeing a vehicle with a larger wheelbase make short work of it in front of him gave him the confidence to head up what he said he likely wouldn't have tackled otherwise.

The lower canyon and wash drops too precipitously for a road so the first part climbs the adjacent ridge. At the highest point before the road traverses to the narrow canyon bottom we stopped for a rest and the view.

Last Grand View
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We found a delightful spot as expected where we could shelter from the wind and sun while also enjoying some additional unexpected amenities. The plan for the next day was to continue a loop up the range and down another canyon but as it turned out neither of us were a fan of the road that climbed out of the canyon above our camping spot. It was a totally doable road but a very narrow ledge road that would require lots of spotting which made me nervous and my brother downright uninterested in proceeding. This turned out to be just fine as we opted instead to spend another day at the same spot and found ourselves to be quite exhausted anyway.

By the afternoon we were quite thankful the road had turned us back since the winds had reached a fever pitch. Finally as the sun set on our final evening in the desert the winds began to decline as forecast. The morning was absolutely delightful with calm winds and low temperatures. It was, however, time for us to return to Vegas and we reluctantly began the drive out. It had been a delightful return to Death Valley for me and a motivating first trip out for my brother in his new camping rig.

Kissing Bugs (Conenose Bugs)

As an aside I learned something new about a desert creature this trip though I could perhaps have done with a less participatory lesson. Against my usual practices on the last night I setup a cot in a well maintained shelter and had a pleasant sleep. In the morning as I packed up I found two bugs below my cot. They weren't too remarkable, a bit less than an inch in size and I was fairly certain I had seen similar bugs before other places. In order to keep the shelter pest free I gave them a quick squish with my shoe. I was surprised to discover they were full of an amazing amount of blood - presumably mine. Definitely not ticks and far too large to be a bed bug I was puzzled.

After getting internet connectivity again I sorted out what they were. So called "Kissing Bugs" which carry a horrible disease in Central and South America have a few harmless relatives in the southern parts of North America. I'm fairly certain the species I encountered were Paratriatoma hirsuta based on what they looked like and where that species is found. They don't carry any blood borne diseases and people rarely have any sort of reaction to them so they don't produce itching or welts like mosquitos. They don't appear in urban settings and are more common around wild animals. So you are most likely to encounter them in a sheltered area visited often by wildlife - like where I was sleeping.

Some more about them for the curious:

https://escholarship.org/uc/item/59k2m8wt
https://www.gbif.org/species/2008519
https://bugguide.net/node/view/1365219
https://www.discoverlife.org/mp/20q?search=Paratriatoma+hirsuta&flags=col2:&res=640

The ones I encountered were not in their adult form yet and so were missing wings.

Anyway, another reason to stick to sleeping in the Flip-Pac...

​

 

..great you got out to DV!
'chagas disease'...Darwin may have had some issues with this bug. growing up in the hot Sierra foothills, i was familiar with this ugly creature, fearful of them. one morning making breakfast before school i looked over to the chair at table where my shirt was draped and the bug was on the shirt sleeve...assasin

 

So great to see you getting back out to DV.
Not so great about the kissing bugs. Had no idea they existed out there.

 

Nice to see you in your natural habitat!

 

Awesome. Good thing your not there this week. 120F+ all week

 

Yeah, we absolutely lucked out on the temperatures. Graph below from the Eureka RAWS at 3000 ft. Circled points are the days where we were near those elevations in DV:

 

Expensive Camp Chair Selection

Chairs are clearly something there isn't a "right" answer to as there is just so much personal preference and body shape at play. That said, as I try to keep things compact but functional in Diet Taco and I just spent a bunch of time trying some out I figured it worth a post.

What I've been using

To date I've been using the REI Camp Stowaway Low Chair which is presently discontinued but you can find similar designs many places (Cascade Mountain Tech makes a version still).

Here they are in use some time ago:

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These are inexpensive, fold up reasonably compactly, comfortable for eating lunch or dinner and being low to the ground compatible with a small child that is always looking to plunk down in someone's lap. They pack in a cylindrical stuff stack and fit nicely under my raised floor.

The downside to these chairs is you really can't snooze or recline in them as they have a relatively low back and no means of head support. As a result I rarely take them out on my solo trips and find myself more often laying in the Flip-Pac rather than being outside when in camp.

The Candidates

I decided that I finally wanted to pony up for something I'd use more frequently to lounge around in camp on my solo trips and the primary goal here was comfort enough to doze off, sit and read indefinitely and bonus points for good stargazing.

There are of course many excellent and comfy reclining camp chairs but many of them are quite large when folded and I wanted something that packed quite small. This immediately means looking at the various chair designs that use folding shock-corded poles in their construction and these can get fairly pricey for a camp chair as they fall into the backpacking and kayaking price categories. All of the options listed below actually manage to pack down smaller than the REI chairs above despite being higher off the ground and with higher backs.

In the end I tried out four, one in the store and three in my house before settling on one to keep as my own which I then used on my most recent trip.

Helinox Sunset Chair

My starting point was the well reviewed Helinox Sunset which I could pick up with a 20% coupon from REI.

​

I tried this one out in an REI and it was pretty quick to setup and take down and was actually quite comfortable. Downsides were that it was just barely tall enough to support my head (I'm 6'1") and figuring out what to do with my arms with no arm rests seemed awkward. Since this thing lists for $149 these weren't compromises I was looking to make.

What my experience told me was I probably wanted a bigger version of this.

Helinox Savanna Chair

Well, wouldn't you know it but Helinox does make a bigger version - the Savanna Chair:

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With a much higher back my head was well supported and the attempts at arm rests did do a decent job of keeping my arms from flopping out if I tried to snooze. However, after sitting and reading in the chair for about an hour I just found it uncomfortable somehow. The seat itself is not particularly long restricting your ability to slouch. It was sort of an awkward amount of recline and amazingly I actually found my butt (or perhaps more accurately thighs) were sore after an hour of sitting. As the price had now climbed to $199 this chair wasn't making the cut but I suspect a fair number of folks would really like it depending on how you typically choose to sit.

Cheap Chinese Copy

Given the above options already involved compromises I decided to try one of the knock-offs available for around $50. As expected from the reviews the construction was certainly not as nice but adequate. More of an issue they were even slightly smaller than the Sunset chair was. Still at one quarter the cost of the Savanna it is probably worth a try particularly for smaller folks.

ENO Lounger DL

Finally I tried a chair that I had initially passed over based on mixed reviews, the ENO Lounger DL:

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This chair is $125 list but came in around $94 with a 20% coupon. It is much more like a hammock chair which appears to be sort of a love it or hate it design. Turned out that I liked it much, much more than the other options for my purpose. This really isn't the chair you'd pick first to sit around a dinner table as it is rather reclined but for chilling, reading or snoozing I found it ideal. It can also be setup at two heights (the lower legs can fold under the frame). The pseudo arm rests actually work really well and contain foam padding in them.

The pillow is fixed in position and happens to work well for my height but a common complaint was that it wasn't in the right place for many folks and isn't adjustable. Another knock against it is the lack of any mesh in the design which reduces cooling from breezes. Setup is more complicated but that's actually not much of an issue. More annoying is packing up as you've got more shock cord sections flopping around and because of the pillow and armrests there isn't a natural way to fold everything up before putting it into the stuff sack. I found wrapping the chair randomly around the folded frame and then shoving it in the sack worked more smoothly though it does suffer a little bit from the stuff sack being made smaller than is convenient. Perhaps with more practice it will go smoothly.

A bonus feature not documented but that I saw mentioned in a review is that instead of folding up all the legs for the lower seating position if you just fold up the rear legs you end up with an ultra-reclined position that is excellent for napping and stargazing. My back just begins to brush the support poles in this position but it isn't annoying at all.

I discovered that one of my Action Packers makes a nearly perfect ottoman to put my feet up when using the chair and of course if I use my food/kitchen one then I've got snacks right under my feet.

On my last trip we spent an entire extra day mostly lounging around so I had a lot of opportunity to hang out in this chair for long periods and it was a delight. I still wish they used mesh panels for those hotter days and they do use mesh in some of their other chairs but when I emailed ENO about it they said they had no plans for a mesh version of this model.

Again, these are such personal choices based on preference, body size and what you intended to use the chair for but I finally did find something I felt was worth the price tag and will give me a nice option to spend more time lounging around camp. I'm anxious to try a stargazing session in it as well!

 

That's a cool chair. I just got a couple budget shock corded chairs but they aren't that style.

I know it doesn't fit your requirements but the Kelly deluxe chair can be reclined. It does a pretty good job for stargazing

 

It was great to see a trip report from you Ken. Not so great to hear about the bugs.

 

I remember checking out the structures below that shelf road and thinking they were the least spooky I'd ever seen in the region. Perhaps even thinking to myself it would make a perfect place to ride out a windy night...

But nope, I guess all the cabins are spooky. Yikes!

I'll stick to the safety of my vermin-free camp gear. Or that's what I'd like to claim, but when I opened my camp chair last weekend, there was a big hole in the seat and a bunch of mouse poop everywhere! Oh well, at least it was a cheap one.

 

I am part of the iOS 15 Beta…an in it, the AirTags will alert if you leave one behind.

 

I saw when iOS 15 was announced the new feature for AirTags to alert when left behind and was excited. Thanks for testing and confirming! With this feature added I'm fairly certain at this point I'll be going the AirTag route rather than a third party tag to make up for my slowly declining mind...

 

I have found them to be very useful.

I bought a 4 pack, then bought 4 more.

 

When Builds Meet

We almost missed each other...

 

I somehow figured you two were long buddies. Glad you caught up, and boy, how I'd have like to meet him as well!

 

Mojave National Preserve - Part 1
September 2021

Originally I was planning on visiting NW DV at the end of September but the KNP Complex and Windy fires in the southern sierra were frequently filling that region with smoke so I pivoted to Mojave National Preserve instead. By luck my brother would be close to the area with some spare time and so he would join me for the first two days and there was a chance I'd cross paths with @ETAV8R mid-week as well.

Usual start to the trip up at 4AM in Baltimore, early flight to Vegas, picking up the truck, provisioning and having an early lunch at In & Out before heading out of town. There was quite a bit of smoke still along the I-15 at Ivanpah but it cleared rapidly to the south. As there were winds forecast for the night (which would also hopefully blow out the smoke) we headed to an area with sheltered spots to camp in the Ivanpah Mountains. We spent the afternoon doing a little exploring around the area and just relaxing and catching up.

I've switched around my camera gear a bit and had a full spectrum converted Panasonic ZS100 along for the trip as my combined lightweight hiking camera and infrared camera. By swapping filters it can be a normal visible light imager or a near-infrared imager which is great since actually on my midday hikes is when I want to use infrared the most. Previously I carried a dedicated infrared converted camera and lenses which provides somewhat better images but is a whole separate system to carry around and thus never went on my hikes. I chose to bring along a 720nm filter which allows for some false color infrared work (my dedicated 830nm camera really only does monochrome) and still does a nice job cutting out haze:

Ivanpah Mountains
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After dinner before it hardly got dark I was already passed out and slept like a log for nearly nine hours. It was delightful.

In the morning there was still a bit of smoke right around us and to the north but it was clear to the south. I ditched plans to do a peak hike in the Ivanpah's and instead we headed south into the Mid Hills region where there appeared to be clear skies and pleasant temperatures.

On the drive we passed through more of the Dome Fire scar which is fairly large and depressing. I was a bit surprised to see a handful of entirely charred Joshua trees with new growth at the tips of their branches. Typically with that much burned the tree dies and I suppose the jury is still out whether these particular trees will last more than a few seasons.

My brother hadn't been to much of MNP before and so we went and did the well known Hole-in-the-Wall loop hike which includes the entertaining rings sections in Banshee Canyon. Temps were just getting pleasantly warm and doing the loop clockwise as I prefer means you end the hike in cool Banshee Canyon. After that we did some road exploring and then had a long lunch at the stone cabin near Rock Spring. Late afternoon my brother headed out and after looking at the weather I returned to our same camp spot of the previous night.

Dawn brought cloud cover but there was enough clear air to the east to bring in some color (now using my nicer Nikon Z7 setup):

Ivanpah Sunrise
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Today it was time to head down to the Kelso area and hopefully meet @ETAV8R on the trail. It was a cloudy morning which would hopefully keep temps down for the hike. The drive down was uneventful and pleasant though there are still some great mysteries in this desert:

The world's top scientists say we may never be sure...
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I stopped by Kelso Depot briefly. The Visitor Center is actually closed indefinitely at the moment due to a failed HVAC system. The road to the trailhead for Cornfield Spring leaves on just the other side of the tracks. I hadn't managed to check in with Eric for a bit more than a day so I wasn't sure if he'd done the hike the previous day or if I'd likely see him there this morning. As I drove up the road there appeared to be no fresh tracks so I hoped we'd meet on the trail. I decided to stop at a corral as Digonnet recommends and examining the rest of the road as it climbs out of a wash ahead with binoculars it did look most likely doable but quite rough with some nasty off-camber sections.

Cornfield Spring is advertised in Digonnet's book as a spring with year round surface water flow sufficient to be heard from a decent distance away. With the trailhead at about 3000 feet and it being an unseasonably cool day it seemed like it should be a delightful jaunt. Cloud cover made the approach even easier and it was a beautiful open walk following the remainder of the road to near the spring. The hike is overshadowed by the imposing escarpment of the Providence Mountains ahead with expansive views across Kelso behind.

Upon reaching the end of the road I was met with silence. I could see some green trees up the canyon where the spring is but there was no sign of flowing water. Digonnet suggests following an old pipeline from road's end to the spring. This involves some somewhat annoying route finding through cactus gardens. I could see below in the wash where water clearly flowed continuously a lot in the past but it was all now bone dry. Apparently multiple years of extreme drought have finally caught up with Cornfield Spring.

Eventually reaching a point above the spring it was clear there was no water and I had no interest in bushwhacking down to stare at what was likely just mud at best. So I plunked down and had my mid-morning snack there on a level spot on the slope. Despite the sweaty and scratchy approach getting to no place in particular and the lack of any flowing water it was actually a delightful little spot with a view out over Kelso with various cacti and agave surrounding me. I was also happy to finally have an infrared capable camera with me on a hike so of course I gratuitously had to use it even if perhaps a visible light shot would have been good enough:

View near Cornfield Spring
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As I returned I hoped to run into Eric and as I crested a small rise there in fact was his truck! I expected to see him and his companion hiking up onto the ridge in front of me at any moment. In the end, however, I reached the trucks with no sign of them. My best guess was they had decided to follow the wash instead of the road to get to the springs. I had actually half thought of returning that way but figured I'd miss them if I did. I also recalled that Digonnet never misses an opportunity to make a loop hike and he decidedly did not make any mention of tackling the wash which made me think perhaps it was rougher going than it would seem.

I had no idea when they had started and the wash turns fairly quickly above where we were all parked making it impossible to see where along the route they might be. I decided it was a good time for lunch and I had some other truck chores I could get done while I waited. After less than two hours they appeared on the ridge coming down the road. They had in fact gone up the wash having skimmed Digonnet's description and mistaking his recommendation to follow the pipeline at the end of the road for following it right from the trailhead at the corral. They said the wash was indeed rough going!

We had a great long chat and took the requisite photos before it was time for me to get on the road and time for them to make a yummy lunch. It was awesome to finally catch up with Eric after all these years. Back when I first researched Flip-Pac's his build which featured one for a bit of time was one of my references. We almost ended up on a Mojave Road group trip together back in 2016 as well but work intervened on my end and I hadn't been able to attend. Hopefully we will bump into each other again out there!

Gini and Diet Taco
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My trip planning had so far been very ad hoc what with having to dodge smoke and occasional winds. I was also overdue for an oil change thanks to COVID as well as some other minor housekeeping chores. My flight out wasn't until Friday late-afternoon and I wanted to do a hike Friday morning so if I was going to do some truck maintenance then it would have to be mid-trip. A shower wouldn't be objectionable either. Sorting through my options it looked advantageous to be over on the Barstow end of things the next morning anyway and so I decided to treat myself to a hotel for the evening. Oh, and I could have more In & Out as well...

 

Ken it was great to finally meet in person. Very nice report and photos. Thank you for the recommendation of the Mid Hills area. It was great. We did the Rings/Banshee Canyon trip counter clockwise and I would agree with you that clockwise is the way to go.
MNP has a lot to offer and is a tiny bit closer to home (for me).

 

Mojave National Preserve - Part 2
September 2021

Thursday morning in Barstow broke with crystal clear skies. Winds were unusually out of the northeast for a few days meaning that all that fire smoke was being blown over the poor suckers in LA. Turns out the last bit of the trip could have been up in NW DV where I had originally wanted to go! But that was very far away at this point and I already had other plans made. After a healthy donut breakfast (Frosty's Donut House is the place to go in Barstow) I changed the oil in the truck during a wonderful desert sunrise - though with not a wisp of cloud to be seen it wasn't super colorful.

I checked out of the hotel and headed over to the BLM Field Office in Barstow hoping to check out their wares only to discover it was locked down for COVID still. Oh well, some other day then. After that I headed out of town to the east for the day's exploration.

A few years back I camped a little way down a road that didn't exist on any of my maps. It clearly kept going and I even ran across a BLM route marker (though I stupidly didn't note the route at the time). Later I tried to track the route in satellite photos but as it followed a wash that didn't work too well though I thought I saw the only sensible other end of it where portions were on the 7.5' topos. Eventually with not too much effort I did find a map that indicated the entire route and filed it in my "to do" list of interesting roads to tackle one day.

I should say by "interesting" I really mean only in the die hard desert rat kind of "interesting". The route is from no place to no place and passes absolutely nothing of any interest at all. But it does cover a good number of miles of desert terrain with not a paved road, rail or power line in sight the entire way which is a bit of a rarity. If you like driving in the open nothingness for no good reason it might be for you and if you are that type you'll likely find it on your own without specifics from me...

I expected this would take a good chunk of the day as I was also starting late morning just so I wouldn't be staring into the sun as I followed it east. I took a leisurely route off the main highways to get to the start of the route. Solid blue skies and not a hint of smoke to be seen.

The beginning
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Road was actually in fine shape as it wound amongst low hills. It was neat to see the patchiness of summer rains reflected in the creosote. Note in the above photo the creosote at the start is in its typical summer dormant state (i.e. mostly brown) while on the distant hillsides there are verdant green stands of creosote that were blessed by some summer storm. Continuing along there was delightfully nothing to really be seen across wide vistas.

Empty Hills
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The drive continued in this way for a good way and eventually opened up into a bit of a valley that I decided would be my lunch spot upon a very slight rise. With the truck pointed south I had a shaded view out the back as I munched on my sandwich.

Lunch view
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Continuing on there were a few minor turns to keep track of as roads intersect from a few different directions until getting on a single path that continues without branches for a good long way the rest of the route. It feels like you aren't really getting anywhere until you crest a rise and a whole new valley opens up before you with views stretching deep into the Mojave.

Views to the east
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The mountains surrounding the valley are colorful, especially to the south. At one point (mid-1990s based on the date on the concrete pad) someone though a water well belonged here:

Water, not oil is what they sought...
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Eventually the road enters a wash that drains the little valley. I spooked a jack rabbit getting out of my truck for a photo along the way. So far the weather had been delightful with not too warm temperatures and pleasant breezes. I enjoyed doing this long drive with the windows down for a change.

Exiting the valley
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The wash narrows more and more between resistant hills beginning to feel like the mouth to a typical desert canyon. This however is more of an hourglass as it eventually opens to a huge gently sloping bajada that the wash has braided itself across over time.

Almost done
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And here was the first and only check along the route. Following an infrequently driven road down a braided wash is of course a challenge but fortunately each time I was getting doubtful there was a BLM route marker to be seen a bit ahead. That is until I hit a red "route closed" marker which perplexed me. The route didn't seriously just dead end in the middle of nowhere after miles and miles and not too far from a more traveled route?

Without too much effort I puzzled it out, aided by some previous satellite imagery searches I remembered in my head. The one map I had that indicated the route showed it continued down the wash right to the area I had camped at in the past. On the satellite, however, I could never find the route connecting that area to the part of the wash I was now in but I did see faint traces of a route that cut out of the wash over to another road. I reckoned I was pretty close to about where that track was and so I suspected for whatever reason the BLM had changed the route to leave the wash at some point. With a little walking I was able to pick out the next marker, I just need to really hug the right side of the wash now, and indeed a little later another closed marker and an open marker pointed me out of the wash. The route now cut due east until finally reaching a road I had traveled a handful of times before.

And so in the end I never did actually end up at my old campsite! But I did successfully traverse from "no place" to "no place" with delightful empty desert scenery all along the way. Now back on familiar terrain I could follow my originally intended route to get back on the highway and camp for a third night in nearly the same place so I could finally do the peak hike I had planned for the first morning.

No grade crossing here...
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I needed to cross some train tracks to get where I was going and that meant a handful of miles detour to get to a grade crossing. That was OK though as near said grade crossing I wanted to scout a photo for another day. When I stopped to air up I did suffer one setback when the Schrader valve chuck on my compressor blew off the first wheel! Fortunately all that was wrong is that it could no longer sufficiently grab the threads and lock in place. I filled all the tires just fine by holding it in place just like you would at a service station.

After a bit of a drive up the I-15 I tucked myself for the evening in a slightly different location from the first two nights to shelter from winds now coming from a different direction.

Last night camp
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This little spot was nearly shielded from view on all sides but as the sun dropped below the horizon I popped my head out for one last Mojave sunset.

Last sunset
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Friday morning I was up early and I was going to get one last hike in before heading into Vegas for my flight out in the late afternoon. I wanted to hike Stripped Mountain which is in Digonnet's most recent book Mojave Desert Peaks. It was a short drive from where I was camped and unlike Tuesday morning the skies were now crystal clear and smoke free with only gentle breezes forecast. Looked to be a perfect morning to climb a desert peak.

This is a delightful peak hike though steep in many places with a little bit of care taken for route finding. Largely though it just follows an obvious ridge up the shoulder of the double peak. I dug out my trekking poles that I rarely use for this climb and they made the going much easier (especially down). Views are not too different from Kessler Peak to the south and aren't anything like a Basin and Range kind of peak view as to the west is the rather uninteresting heap of Cima Dome and to the east the Ivanpah valley. Still it has a beautiful open character to it and the little Joshua Trees and junipers coexisting just around the summits make for a nice foreground. I went IR again for the photos as it does a great job cutting through desert haze.

View from Stripped Mountain
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And that was the end of the fun part of the trip. The descent was easy and I got to Vegas with plenty of time to wash the truck, have even more In & Out and do a little bit of shopping for things still missing from the truck.

Fingers crossed for a few more trips in the fall!

 

Great trip report Ken. It’s good to see you’re getting back out there. Happy you were able to meet up with Eric @ETAV8R, I’m surprised a couple of desert rats like you guys hadn’t met before.