Home / Mojave Preserve and Desert bikepacking trips / 2007, Christmas: Mojave National Preserve Mountain-Bike Camping / Day 3: Indian Springs to Devil's Playground via Jackass Canyon, Mojave National Preserve 32
Upon leaving Indian Springs, I climb Kelbaker Road for a few miles, then descend into Jackass Canyon to reach the Devil's Playground. There will be no water at today's destination, so I need to carry all that I need. 21.9 bicycle miles.
There will be no water at today's destination, so I need to carry in all that I need.
- Ice in my water bottles this morning at Indian Springs!
- Looking back down to my campsite from my outhouse with a view
- Bladderpod (Isomeris arborea) flowering and fruiting on the hillside behind my tent near Indian Springs
- Unidentified alyssum-like plant
- Before packing up, I head back up to Indian Springs 1/2 mile up the road to refill my drinking-water supply
- Pumping water at Indian Springs
- Dismantling the tent; time to move on and continue my bikepacking trip
- Around 13h, I ride down Indian Springs wash, away from my quiet campsite of the past two nights
- A mile or so down Indian Springs Road, I stop to look at some stone ruins in a hillside on the north side of the road
- At the stone ruins off Indian Springs Road
- Whatever this was, there's practically no mortar left at all between the stones
- Near those crumbling rock walls is a hole in the hillside
- I take a look into the hole that goes into the hillside
- The 10-ton bike waits for me back on Indian Springs Road
- Back on the pavement of Kelbaker Road, I begin the slow, easy climb up toward Jackass Canyon Road
- 2.5 miles up Kelbaker Road, I make a brief stop at Black Tank Wash to remove my scarf and winter jacket
- About 30 minutes later, and another 2.5 miles up the road, I stop at Rainy Day Mine Road to put on a windbreaker
- I complete my seven-mile climb up Kelbaker Road and reach the junction of Aiken Mine Road and Jackass Canyon Road
- The start of Jackass Canyon Road
- Small ruts on the uppermost part of Jackass Canyon Road
- Fire ring at a roadside campsite on Jackass Canyon Road about 1.75 miles in from Kelbaker Road
- Heading down Jackass Canyon Road, it's not as nearly as steep as I was expecting, at least not yet
- Bigger sandy drainages cross Jackass Canyon Road on the way down
- The impending sunset illuminates the distant power lines
- This four-wheel drive sign is the first sign I've seen on Jackass Canyon Road
- Uh oh, a fork in the power-line road; I have to make a choice that I didn't realize I'd have to make
- Hmmm... it's extremely sandy on this part of Jackass Canyon Road
- Bla, I can't ride through this deep kitty litter, it's getting dark, and I'm not down at Devil's Playground yet
- I climb up the high road, but it dead-ends at a transmission tower
- Back down in the Jackass Canyon Road wash, I resign myself to walking the bike through the kitty litter for a while
- After a mile or so, the road rises out of the wash and I have just enough traction to resume riding
- Returning to the main road, I decide to call it a day and set up camp by the power lines around 18h30