I notice a Wilderness marker and a closed road

Maybe that's an abandoned mine or some other point of interest up at the end of the closed road, so I stash my bike in a gulley and go for a short walk to find out.

Off in the distance further down the power-line road, I see wafting trails of dust

This must be the dirt-bike tour group heading back to Nipton after their trek over part of the Mojave Road.

Up the closed road, I come across small piles of mine tailings

It doesn't look like too much activity took place here.

Now the dust trails from the dirt bikes are soaring across the Ivanpah Valley below

They're probably on Nipton-Brant Road: the road that follows the train tracks to Nipton.

A fire ring up above the mine tailings doesn't look like it has been used in quite a while

The wide open view of the Ivanpah Valley makes this a decent campsite, but the view is marred somewhat by the power lines.

The remnants of an old road climb a little further up the hill

I figure I might as well walk up to see if there's anything to be discovered.

The road ends at the top of the hill where the soil is a rich red colour

However, the little canyon in the background looks interesting, so I'll go check it out.

This little canyon feels very remote even though it's not far from the busy road

There are so many little canyons out here like this one that probably rarely see people. I hike maybe a quarter of a mile up the canyon and then turn around and head back to the power-line road and my bike.

More rough road along the power lines above Nipton

Drainage from the adjacent hills crosses the road in many places, but this is the deepest wash-out in the road so far.

This antique sign has seen better days

From what I can discern, this is a "Danger: use this road at your own risk" sign.

A little further down the power-line road, a distant black hill gets my attention

It looks like a lava outcrop, but this isn't an area of lava flows. It's probably only a mile or so away, but I decide not to do the hike over to it (which I'll likely regret later).

At the bottom of the hill, the power-line road passes through an old ranch fence

The train tracks that head northeast (right) to Nipton are just beyond.

The power-line road goes right under the train tracks

The concrete berm on the right makes it clear that this road also serves as a drainage channel during water events.

I ride the Nipton-Brant Road two miles along the train tracks to get back to Nipton

Signs warn that this road is unmaintained, and it is washboarded, but it's no worse (right now at least) than some of the maintained dirt roads in Mojave National Preserve.

Resting at my tent at Nipton: the pinkish glow of the desert sunset is always a welcome end of the day

A car is parked at the tent cabin across from my tent; I won't be alone tonight.

Some of that pink light spills across the hills in the background that I visited this afternoon

The other tent cabins at Nipton are occupied tonight by members of the dirt-bike tour.

The sun is going down and it's time for another juicy hamburger at the Nipton café

The café turns out to be quite busy as the entire dirt-bike group is having supper there right now. I end up chatting with a couple of women who are in the area on research projects relating to bats and kangaroo rats.

Tonight is laundry night, since I didn't get to it last night because of the festivities

Nipton often ends up on my bike-camping trips because of the general store, of course, but also because it's one of the few places in the area with laundry facilities.