Mojave National Preserve Bicycle Camping and Hiking 2008
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Mojave National Preserve Mountain-bike Camping (Bikepacking) and Hike 2008 Day 2: Eight-mile day hike from campsite on middle fork Globe Mine Road to Tough Nut Mine via Good Hope Mine and back
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Mojave National Preserve Mountain-bike Camping (Bikepacking) and Hike 2008

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The views from up here are great, and I hate to turn back, but I'm turning back anyway

The views from up here are great, and I hate to turn back, but I'm turning back anyway

Date: May 03, 2008, 14h58

Day 2: Eight-mile day hike from campsite on middle fork Globe Mine Road to Tough Nut Mine via Good Hope Mine and back

I won't see any people today. Perched on a hill at 4100 feet in the shadow of the Providence Mountains, about 4 miles from my campsite at 3000 feet, the old Tough Nut Mine sits in a Wilderness area and can thus be reached only by foot or horse.

I fumble cross-country over hills and into washes and eventually find the old grown-in road leading to Tough Nut Mine. However, I only have enough time to visit the lower mine ruins when I get there.

The round-trip hike will take a little more than six hours. Distance is estimated at eight miles, but is probably longer than that because of constant zigzagging to avoid often-spiky plants while hiking cross-country.

Unfortunately, some of today's photos are overexposed due to a camera-setting error.

Date: April 24, 2008, 10h00
Size: 58 items
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Another view of the Tough Nut Mine site

Another view of the Tough Nut Mine site

The road enters this area through a slot that was blasted through the hill just behind the debris pile here. You'll see a photo of the slot on the way out.

Date: April 24, 2008, 17h10
Perched up on this hill, the Tough Nut Mine site offers many great views, including this one to the northeast

Perched up on this hill, the Tough Nut Mine site offers many great views, including this one to the northeast

The flat green area at the upper right between the two hills is the main wash that I hiked up and which leads back to the south fork of Globe Mine Road.

Date: April 24, 2008, 17h13
The outhouse here at Tough Nut Mine is a concrete structure

The outhouse here at Tough Nut Mine is a concrete structure

This is more substantial than usual for an old outhouse building.

Date: April 24, 2008, 17h15
Apparently, Tough Nut Mine was truly luxurious, with two toilets in the outhouse rather than just one

Apparently, Tough Nut Mine was truly luxurious, with two toilets in the outhouse rather than just one

Culturally speaking, we're not used to two toilets in the same room unless significant partitions have been built between them, so this is an interesting arrangement here.

Date: April 24, 2008, 17h18
Not far from the outhouse at Tough Nut Mine rest some rocks and a tiny wooden cross to mark a grave site

Not far from the outhouse at Tough Nut Mine rest some rocks and a tiny wooden cross to mark a grave site

I don't see anything indicating the name of the person buried here. I wonder if history has been lost and perhaps nobody knows.

Date: April 24, 2008, 17h17
It's 17h20, so I leave Tough Nut Mine and begin the hike back to camp, passing through the slot excavated into the hillside

It's 17h20, so I leave Tough Nut Mine and begin the hike back to camp, passing through the slot excavated into the hillside

I really wish I had enough time to continue just 1/2 mile further up the road to Tough Nut Spring to see possible water and anything else that might be there. But alas, time has run out.

Date: April 24, 2008, 17h20
These blue flowers are abundant wherever rock support walls exist along the old roadbed

These blue flowers are abundant wherever rock support walls exist along the old roadbed

These are probably the same kind of phacelia flowers that I saw earlier.

Date: April 24, 2008, 17h31
I continue my descent down the old road from Tough Nut Mine

I continue my descent down the old road from Tough Nut Mine

The old road heads in a downhill direction and is just visible enough that it can be easily followed, so I'm able to hike at a good speed along here.

Date: April 24, 2008, 17h34
Reddish-pinkish-orange Indian paintbrush decorates the old roadbed here and there

Reddish-pinkish-orange Indian paintbrush decorates the old roadbed here and there

The colour of this plant always seems so intense in this largely green, brown and grey high-desert landscape.

Date: April 24, 2008, 17h37
The old road that has been serving as an excellent trail so far drops into a narrow wash and disappears

The old road that has been serving as an excellent trail so far drops into a narrow wash and disappears

My map shows the old road as being in this wash from this point downward. It will be easy to just follow the wash downstream, but there's no sign of any road existing here today. I'm always wary of snakes when hiking in tall grass like this.

Date: April 24, 2008, 17h50
In this narrow wash, I stumble across some old installations: a waterless cistern and a water tank, probably also dry

In this narrow wash, I stumble across some old installations: a waterless cistern and a water tank, probably also dry

I wasn't expecting all this, so I get out my maps and notice that a well is also indicated at this location, which I hadn't seen while planning this trip due to the faint ink.

Date: April 24, 2008, 17h48
Close-up of the old water tank and the painted-on names of its owners

Close-up of the old water tank and the painted-on names of its owners

"Providence Mill Site, Joe and Al Pauley, P.O. Box 54, Mojave, California"

Date: April 24, 2008, 17h49
I find the well that is marked on my map

I find the well that is marked on my map

Flies floating in the well water cast a brackish appearance on the scene, but the water otherwise looks fairly clear. A few yellow jackets are buzzing around, catching the escaping vapour above.

Date: April 24, 2008, 17h47
I take one last look at the old corral and water tank and continue my hike down the narrow wash back toward camp

I take one last look at the old corral and water tank and continue my hike down the narrow wash back toward camp

The rocky Providence Mountains sit in the background and the road to Tough Nut Mine, which I just hiked down, is visible cutting across the hill in the background.

Date: April 24, 2008, 17h51
At the bottom of the narrow wash, I rejoin the wide wash that will lead back to the south fork of Globe Mine Road

At the bottom of the narrow wash, I rejoin the wide wash that will lead back to the south fork of Globe Mine Road

I look back toward the Providence Mountains and the Tough Nut Mine area up on the hill one last time before heading downstream back toward camp.

Date: April 24, 2008, 17h55
After hiking down the wash for 1/2 hour, I exit the Wilderness boundary and start walking down the south fork of Globe Mine Road

After hiking down the wash for 1/2 hour, I exit the Wilderness boundary and start walking down the south fork of Globe Mine Road

Motor vehicles may drive up to these posts, but not beyond.

Date: April 24, 2008, 18h29
I walk down the fan on the south fork of Globe Mine Road, enjoying the sun behind the Marl Mountains

I walk down the fan on the south fork of Globe Mine Road, enjoying the sun behind the Marl Mountains

The open space here on the fan is a nice contrast to the hills and washes where I've spent the afternoon.

Date: April 24, 2008, 18h50
I walk down the shortcut road that I followed last night and arrive again at the junction of the middle fork of Globe Mine Road

I walk down the shortcut road that I followed last night and arrive again at the junction of the middle fork of Globe Mine Road

This time I'll walk up the old road in the middle of the photo, which I missed last night, instead of in the wash to the left. Judging by the tire tracks heading up the wash, I'm not the only one who mistook the wash for the road.

Date: April 24, 2008, 19h11
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Other bicycle camping trips on drycyclist.com:
  • Mojave National Preserve Lanfair Valley Loop Bicycle Camping, Fall 2012 (8 days)
  • Mojave National Preserve Hiking and Bikepacking, Spring 2012 (15 days)
  • Cady Mountains, Sleeping Beauty and Kelso Dunes Wilderness Bicycle Camping, Fall 2011 (8 days)
  • Mojave National Preserve and Area Hiking and Bikepacking, Spring 2011 (15 days)
  • Route 66 and Kelso Dunes Wilderness Bikepacking, Fall 2010 (eight days)
  • Mojave National Preserve Bikepacking and Hiking, Spring 2010 (14 days)
  • Mojave National Preserve Bicycle Camping and Hiking, Fall 2009 (eight days)
  • Mojave National Preserve Bikepacking and Hiking, Spring 2009 (16 days)
  • Henry Coe State Park Bikepacking 2008 (eight days)
  • Mojave National Preserve Xmas 2007 Mountain-Bike Camping (one week)
  • Henry Coe State Park Mountain-Bike Camping 2007 (eight nights)
  • Death Valley Bicycle Camping 2007 (two weeks)
  • Henry Coe State Park Bicycle Camping 2006 (four nights)
  • Mojave National Preserve Bicycle Camping 2006 (two weeks)
  • Mojave National Preserve Bicycle Camping 2000 (11 days)
  • Mojave National Preserve Bicycle Camping 1999 (one week)
Contact mojave2008 at priss dot org