As we packed up camp the forecasted rain was turning from a sprinkle to a deluge. By the time we were on the road the New York mountains were shrouded in fog and the road was starting to feel a bit greasy. That convinced us that we wouldn’t be exploring another canyon in the mountains and we’d instead head toward better roads and Hole in the Wall as our next destination for exploring on the Mojave National Preserve.
Note: This story is part of the series South to Spring. Click the link or head to our timeline for the other chapters of the trip.
After navigating off of New York Mountain road with just a bit of slipping and sliding we continued south. Although the roads on the preserve are pretty sandy, with the rain coming down as hard as it was even the main road was getting muddy. Every low point and swale was starting to run muddy water and I was starting to wonder if the washes were going to turn into rivers. We later found out that this was yet another atmospheric river (or atmospheric firehose from one news account) streaming its way across California. Remember when we used to just have rain storms? We eventually found a camp and settled into the camper for the afternoon, listening to the rain on the roof. Not every day can be sunny and 70 degrees in February I suppose.
The next morning one last deluge hit us at dawn, then the storm cleared and the sun came out. We headed out on the Barber Peak Loop and had the entire 5.5 miles of trail to ourselves, well, except for a couple cows who looked mighty suspicious. We asked them for directions to the nearest ribeye but they just ran off.
The cactus gardens on this trail were simply amazing.
Not to be outdone, the rock features were impressive as well.
There is a narrows in the trail that appears to have been dammed for some sort of water source back in the day. It is completely full of granite sediment now, with a ~10 foot drop off at the concrete dam. It would make for a cool canyon narrows to hike through if it were passable.
We worked our way to the finale of the loop, the Hole in the Wall. Using a couple groups of metal rings imbedded in the rock we scaled our way through the canyon and before we knew it we were back where we started.
It was time to find our camp for the night, and we were moving to a new part of the preserve. Off the the granite mountains we went.
We had a couple waypoints of potential camps on the map, but we had no idea if they would pan out. What we found was our favorite campsite of the entire trip.
Set among monzonite boulders with a view of the impressive Granite mountains this site had it all. We took off wandering through the boulder field.
Before long the sun was setting and we were treated to yet another stunning display of colors. Rainy days? Out here in the desert? Oh I doubt they ever happen. At least I can’t remember any.
