A Day in the beautiful Mojave Desert

We arrived at Hole in the Wall Campground in the middle of the Mojave National Preserve on Monday, February 12^th. We had been boondocking about 119 miles away in the desert about seven or eight miles from Lake Havasu City, Arizona when the cold front passed through. It had hit us near Havasu late Sunday night and its chill was evident as we climbed from just under 1,000 ft elevation to our current 4,140 ft in Mojave on Monday.


Tuesday morning was overcast, but the desert was still radiant in its beauty. Pamela even noted that not having a bright sun might have given me an advantage when taking pictures. While Pamela was having great fun finishing up a baby quilt she is making for a new grandbaby, the mountains weren't just calling, they were screaming at me. Pamela was working at the table and able to look out our big picture window at Baker Peak a few hundred yards west of us. I double-checked my backpack, dawned my wool felt rifleman shirt, pulled my gaiters over my boots and headed south toward the trail-head for the Ring Loop. I was soon quite happy that I had selected the wool felt rifleman shirt – a heavy outer-wear shirt common among mountain men of the 17^th and 18^th century – because it was rather nippy. It never got above 51 degrees.

Rings in the wall to help climb up the canyon.

I had two hikes on my agenda, assuming that I had enough time. The first was the Ring Loop through Banshee Canyon and the Barber Peak Loop. Both trails were no more than a quarter of a mile from where we were camped.

The Ring Loop through Banshee Canyon is a one-mile loop which is relatively flat and easy for the first 0.8 mile. That's when it gets really interest and fun. The last 0.2 mile is through a narrow canyon that provides metal rings that have been secured to the side of the canyon to enable one to climb through some narrow, perpendicular parts of the canyon. It is extremely physically demanding and tight. It could rival my climb up to the palms in Palm Canyon, just quite a bit shorter.

The Banshee Canyon is a geological wonderland. It is a deep, narrow canyon. From the point I entered the canyon on the west side to the point I exited on the east side, I climbed at least 200 feet in elevation and the surrounding mountains were still well above me. The walls are pock-marked with holes, the result of erosion, some of which are quite large enough to be used as dens for wildlife. In fact, park literature tells hikers inclined to explore these holes that they need to make sure that the hole is unoccupied. A surrealist painter could not have created a place of such flow and mind-boggling imagery. I had to stop several times just to try desperately to take it all in. I could sit in one spot and, looking at the sheer canyon wall, see faces and science fiction alien communities built into the side of the mountain. It was nature at its best!

Top of Banshee Canyon, a geological marvel

While there were some beautiful clusters of the magnificent Mojave Yucca just outside the west entrance to Banshee Canyon, the Ring Loop trail through Banshee Canyon was the geological wonder for the day. The canyon's eastern side is no more than a third of a mile from our camp. The Barber Peak Trail headed off to my left and the Ring Loop headed back to the visitor's center to my right. My Bucknell Backtracker GPS device said that Nitsitapiisinni (home) was only 540 yards almost straight ahead. I set out eastward through an amazing live and vibrant desert. There were no less than twenty, and most likely many more, different types of plant life around me. I wanted to stop and admire and identify each one. That's part of the reason that I ended the day with almost two-hundred pictures. Despite my slow pace and frequent stops, home was soon in sight.

Beautiful Fishhook Barrel and Buckhorn Cholla cacti 

Pamela was still enjoying her quilting which included frequent stops to admire Barber Peak which was changing constantly as clouds passed overhead. We had a nice lunch together after which I headed generally north, moving along the eastern flank of Barber Peak. I soon picked up the Barker Peak Loop trail. Barber Peak is a 5,505 foot mountain that dominates this part of the desert. It is like a giant exhibit of a wide variety of geological formations, out-cropping and basic geological history. The trail circumnavigates the mountain, joining the Loop Trail and passing through Banshee Canyon. As I was climbing in elevation I suddenly came upon a group of Junipers. I looked in wonder. For the past several weeks I had been wandering and exploring the Sonoran desert in lower elevations. I hadn't thought about being at a higher elevation. I pushed the altimeter on my watch. Sure enough I was well over 4,000 ft. That begins juniper country.

A magnificent grouping. 

I had read in the hiking brochure that there was a spot about a mile or so from the end of the campground that had a particularly awesome view. This was my goal and it was phenomenal. It was a pile of large volcanic boulders atop a layer of volcanic ash, called tuff, that created a wall that, with the eroded holes looking like windows, appeared like a whitewashed structure. From this vantage point I could see out across a vast valley called Gold Valley. I could easily see three of the thirty identifiable habitats found inside the park. I would assume this because there was an obvious difference in vegetation. To my northeast was an open desert with no large plants and dominated by the ubiquitous Creosote bush. To my northwest I could just make out the edge of the area where the land rose from the 2,100 feet basin to our valley at 4,100 feet through Juniper and Pinyon Pines. Looking back toward home I saw the desert floor heavily covered with Yucca, Cholla, Buckhorn, Creosote, and a host of other plants.

Juniper at 5,000 ft. 

While Banshee Canyon was the geological wonder for the day, the Barber Peak Loop was the biological wonder. The desert is an amazing diversity of life, thick with plants and animals. The animals are generally unseen during the day. The area was awash with varying shades of greens and yellows and even reds. The beautiful Mojave Yucca provided the palatial effect. They seemed to take the role that the Saguaro fills in the Sonoran Desert. Mojave does have plenty of beautiful cacti. The Teddy Bear cactus just makes you want to hug it. I don't think I've seen such large and health specimen. The Buckhorn Cholla are magnificent. In the Mojave they are large and awesome. The Barrel cactus are a magnificent red at this time of year. Besides their impressive size, they add a wonderful contrasting color to the desert view. Then, of course, there are the Prickly Pear. Sorry, I think they are beautiful, hence so many pictures of them, but I can't help but think of dinner. (They are delicious!!) When I was showing Pamela my pictures and I came to one of a beautiful Prickly Pear plant she very calmly said "dinner". Then there were the bushes and grasses. The Creosote bush is a major plant in the area and is, by far, the one that has been here the longest. The Creosote is supposed to be the oldest living bush in the world. Park info says that there are colonies in the park that are 11,500 years old. There was a lot of Brittlebush and the deep purple of the Desert Rue was just beginning.

Looking out over the high Mojave desert there is an expanse of mind-boggling life apart from the phenomenal plant life. We have seen Blacktail Jack Rabbits and Golden Eagles, and the park boasts Bighorn Sheep, Gambel's Quail, Kit Fox, Desert Tortoise and the Coyote. So many people think of the desert as a lifeless wasteland. Even the desert tundra of the North Slope of Alaska is teaming with life.

Wall of volcanic ash. 

I sauntered another half-mile or so beyond the volcanic ash wall and its marvelous panoramic view. Realizing that it was getting late and I was soon going to lose light, I headed home. Even though much of the return trip was backtracking I still had to stop numerous times to take pictures of beautiful plants and geologic formations I had missed on the outward trip. It had been a most marvelous day. It reinforced my love of the desert. It confirmed why I am such a preservationist. It made me want so much for everyone to share my joy and my passion.