Home / Mojave Preserve and Desert bikepacking trips / Spring 2012: Mojave National Preserve Bicycle-Camping and Hiking / Day 12: Twin Buttes and Table Mountain hike, Mojave National Preserve 46
Time for a walk up Twin Buttes and Table Mountain, both of which I've looked at for years. I doubt I'll make it to the top, due to the steepness, but who knows... 99 degrees F at Cima today, yikes. 9.8 hiking miles and about 1800 feet of elevation gain.
- Today's hike up into the rocky Twin Buttes area starts with a walk down Woods Wash Road
It was chilly enough overnight that I slept with my long underwear on, but as soon as the hot sun hit my tent this morning it was an emergency to open the screen and take off the long undies ASAP! - I pass the remains of an old corral fence in front of the Woods Mountains made from unhewn wood
I drank three cups of coffee with breakfast in my tent, instead of the usual two, feeling that I need the boost to stay in shape today, with temperatures forecast in the 90s. I'm carrying 4.5 litres of water. - I leave the road and cross the Wilderness boundary to begin walking toward flat-topped Table Mountain
I'm walking slowly, to warm up, though I'm warm enough from the hot sun already. I'm headed toward that slot between the Twin Buttes and flat-topped Table Mountain. - Shade! A big boulder with a few pinon pines around it in the canyon between Twin Buttes and Table Mountain
I want some, I'm getting hot already! - I take five minutes under the pinon pine and behind the rock, might be the last shade I get for a while!
- As I reach a saddle between Twin Buttes North and Table Mountain, it looks like Table Mountain isn't that far away
I guess I'll keep going and see how far I get. - Nice view back down the canyon I just climbed up between Twin Buttes North and Table Mountain
Now that I'm warming up, this uphill part of the hike feels a bit easier than the flatter part down below where I started. Maybe that's because there's a bit of breeze up here. - Wow, I can now see across Gold Valley to the Hole-in-the-Wall area where I hiked yesterday
I love these perspectives where I can build a visual map in my head of places that I've visited, and those that I haven't yet. - Table Mountain is getting a bit closer now; I didn't expect to come this far up
The easy route, for a while at least, seems to be to head toward my upper right, so I continue. - Boulders frame this view over to Hackberry Mountain from the south flank of Table Mountain
- Another view around boulders on the side of Table Mountain, this time down to Woods Wash
I hiked down there a couple of days ago on the way to Tortoise Shell Mountain... - An interesting collage of rocks and ridgetops from the flank of Table Mountain
Twin Buttes in the middle, with a few trees on it, and the Woods Mountains beyond. - Woods Wash Road is visible in this view from the side of Table Mountain
- The views across Gold Valley are even better now!
I can even see across to the jagged Providence Mountains now. - Hmmm... it's getting a bit steep along here....
Do I feel vertigo setting in? Crap, I hate that. - Now I can see down into Upper Black Diamond Spring Valley, where I hiked a few days back
... down between those two sets of hills ... - Wow, I've never seen all of Gold Valley like this before...
... and I can see Woods Wash Road heading over toward the Hole-in-the-Wall Visitor Centre. - As I wind around the flank of Table Mountain, I start to see across to the New York Mountains; this is as high as I can go
I'm at about 5900 feet elevation here. Vertigo is starting to annoy me up here on this steep slope, and I wish it wouldn't, since I'm quite close to climbing up to the summit of Table Mountain. - Spectacular views across Upper Black Diamond Spring Valley, and all around
It's great to be here. Now looking for a way down! - Hmmm... the Table Mountain summit is just up there, yet I'm going to pass and head downward... I hate vertigo!
The crazy part is that I'm physically capable of climbing the short steep hill up there to top (hell, I've made it this far...), but the vertigo is making me feel not so good. - One of several burned trees on the flank of Table Mountain looks toward Hackberry Mountain
- One last view down toward Woods Wash for a while as I walk around the flank of Table Mountain toward its east side
- Well, I guess I'll keep looking at Table Mountain and wondering what's up there, since I didn't make it to the top
- I come across shit and a lost deflated balloon on the plateau area northeast of Table Mountain; weird combination
Right now, I'm not far from the Barnett Mine area where I hiked several days ago. - Fist rock, with New York Mountains in the background
- I take a look at Table Mountain from the northeast side
I study this view and see a spot that might make for an easier ascent should I decide to try to get up there again. - This scorched pinon pine survived the 2005 brush fires here
- False-teeth rocks on the plateau between Table Mountain and Barnett Mine
False teeth tend to fall out eventually. - More false-teeth rocks between Table Mountain and Barnett Mine
- I walk down into a brushy area that is the headwaters of Upper Black Diamond Spring Valley
There seems to be a spring here that is dry right now, though it isn't marked on my maps or GPS. I smell moisture, but see no water. - OK, it's time to start going back down; my tent is behind rocky Twin Buttes South in the middle of the photo
- One last vista down into Woods Wash before starting the climb back down
- Looks like I should be able to carefully zigzag my way down the steep canyon ahead
- It's steep, but I haven't run into any major obstacles yet: good!
Careful, careful... - Lots of rock, but coming down the hill has been feasible so far
Only a couple of minor dry waterfalls, easy to jump down. - Since it's steep, the downhill behind me from Table Mountain has passed rather quickly
- A few Brittlebrush flowers add a rare bit of colour to this hot-weather hike
Some of my late-spring visits to Mojave National Preserve are quite colorful flower-wise, but not this one. - A snake!
They're always out here, but I rarely see them. - Well, I exit the Wilderness boundary and take a look back at Twin Buttes and Table Mountain before hiking back up Woods Wash Rd
That was fun! - It has been quite windy all day, and still is, as these windblown shrubs show
- Several patches of buckwheat display their white flowers along a stretch of Woods Wash Road
Considering that the temperature is in the 90s F today, this area is quite lush and green. - On the final 1.3 miles hiking up Woods Wash Rd, I think about how no motor vehicles have come down this road in a few days
- It's always nice to see that my tent is intact when I return from a day hike!
I'm "home" before sundown, so my tent is still hot. I open the screens and stay inside, protected from a few late-afternoon flies and one particularly pushy wasp. The sun goes down and I experience temperature drop one degree at a time. - Another memorable day in paradise closes: sunset near Twin Buttes; my first time camping in this area and I love it
Wishing for cold and fizzy, I drink a cup of very hot orange vitamin-C drink, happy to be acclimating, no heat exhaustion. Quiet evening, barely a breeze, the moon is almost full: beautiful. Crickets are singing and I hear an owl. But no human noise. Since I have no cell-phone signal here, I send a couple of satellite InReach messages, eat some almonds, and boil water for a bag of Mountain House Chicken Teriyaki with Rice. The temperature drops down into the 50s F after midnight for better sleeping. A minor 2.4 earthquake shakes the ground that I'm laying on just before midnight while I'm ready to fall asleep. I'll find out later that there had been a few small tremors out here today that I didn't feel. - Elevation profile of Table Mountain hike
9.8 hiking miles and about 1800 feet of elevation gain. - Table Mountain hike route
9.8 hiking miles and about 1800 feet of elevation gain.