Danger! Hazardous mine

A wire fence cordons off the lower mine shaft at the Butcher Knife Mine, decorated, of course, by more orange desert-mallow flowers.

Just above the lower mine at Butcher Knife Canyon is another big hole in the ground

This hole is not fenced off like the one below.

Many flowering phlox are found in this area

I haven't seen many of these elsewhere on this trip so far.

I walk down to the wash of Butcher Knife Canyon on the remains of the old mine access road

I'm not sure I would have noticed this eroded, grown-in road had it not been marked on my topo maps.

Some assorted old debris and cans are scattered near the wash

This must be where the miners' camp was located and it is marked on my map as "ruins."

Some of the debris here isn't all that old

I remember the design of these Dr. Pepper and Hires root beer cans from years ago.

An old Hunt's can

I guess tomato sauce was once consumed here.

A boulder pile and joshua trees greet me as I arrive at Butcher Knife Canyon wash

Three smaller rocks are carefully stacked in the slot between the big boulders.

Hiking up Butcher Knife Canyon, Mojave National Preserve

Boulder piles are frequent here in the New York Mountains, especially on the other side of the mountains and in the steeper areas, where they are more dramatic.

I spy a stream in Butcher Knife Canyon

This looks promising, so I continue walking up the wash. Will I get to filter more water today?

Yup, it's a stream

And there's even green grass here too. I'm almost surprised to find water here because some otherwise decent maps don't show Butcher Knife Spring here.

The stream in Butcher Knife Canyon looks like it might not go much further

Lots of algae, but not much water so far. Still, finding water in the Mojave Desert, no matter how little, can be exciting.

Just around the bend, I locate Butcher Knife Spring and get to the business of pumping some water into my near-empty Camelbak

The water trickles over this rock into a small pool below, just deep enough for the intake hose of my water filter. The water is clear and clean, much better than the water at Cottonwood Spring, and it's refreshingly cool.

I'd like to hike further up the canyon and over the hill to the other side of the New York Mountains if I had time

Instead, I turn around after filtering water and start the hike back to my campsite a couple of miles down the fan.

A rattlesnake startles me as I approach this big boulder along the Butcher Knife Canyon stream

Instinctively, I take several quick steps backward to get out of the rattlesnake's striking range. A large rock moves loudly beneath my feet, causing the snake to slither away with a hiss before I manage to snap a photo of it.

The excitement of the rattlesnake incident behind me, I return my focus to the hike away from Butcher Knife Canyon

It looks like only a few vehicles have travelled up the wash here since the final spring rains. Their tracks are visible, but smoothed out, with the texture of animal tracks superimposed on them.

Many burned pine cones are scattered on the ground around here

I notice that some of the pine cones still contain seeds, so I decide to taste one of the very well-roasted pine nuts. It tastes like a very dry, burnt nut, so I spit it out.

Colonies of flowering banana yucca populate some of the walls of the wash below Butcher Knife Canyon

These flowers have a wine-brown shading, unlike the whiter yucca flowers I saw along Death Valley Mine Road.