Day 4: Mountain-bike ride across Devil's Playground to Sands, California and back, Mojave National Preserve
I have enough water to last into tomorrow, so I'll stay here today and ride over to the abandoned settlement of Sands. I had hoped to camp at Sands last night, and then ride beyond there today, but I didn't make it that far.
It's a rather dismal cloudy day. My campsite sits at about 1800 feet, while Sands is slightly downhill from there at about 1200 feet. 13.5 bicycle miles today.
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Date: December 28, 2007, 10h00
Size: 36 items
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The first thing I do upon waking up is peer outside to see where I am, without leaving the comfort of my hooded sleeping bag
OK, this looks like what I expect the Devil's Playground to look like. I couldn't see much when I arrived here last night after dark. With the cloudy weather, I guess it will be a day of beige and grey.
Date: December 28, 2007, 09h23
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An hour later, I step outside for a short walk around my new surroundings at Devil's Playground
Low sand dunes blanket this area and some of the fine sand blew into the tent overnight through its ventilation mesh. Soda Lake is visible in the distance here as it was from the hills above Indian Springs.
Date: December 28, 2007, 10h23
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This wavy-leaved plant reminds me of the "soap root" plant that grows in the Bay Area
As one would expect, the plant life here in the sand is quite different from what surrounded me the past two days up around Indian Springs.
Date: December 28, 2007, 10h25
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These plants look like a cross between a daisy and a milkweed
They are flowering now, but their blossoms are all closed. I wonder if they only open on days of full sun.
Date: December 28, 2007, 10h25
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My scenic morning cat hole with Soda Lake in the background
The dark colour indicates a fair amount of moisture just beneath the surface of the sand, which might not be present during the hotter, drier months.
Date: December 28, 2007, 12h22
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Leaving my campsite at the bottom of Jackass Canyon to ride across Devil's Playground over to Sands
The big rocky mass behind me is Old Dad Mountain, which some mountain climbers like. Sands is five or six miles away. It was my destination yesterday, but I didn't make it that far.
Date: December 28, 2007, 13h39
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And away we go toward Sands down the power-line road...
The road looks like gravel, but it's actually more of that decomposing residual pavement from decades ago. In fact, one of my maps indicates this road as paved.
Date: December 28, 2007, 13h37
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I reach heavy sand a quarter mile down the road and a pile of paint cans that were recently dumped here
I rode into this sand last night, but turned back and set up camp, unable to see the extent of it. Today, with more time, I just walk the bike through it.
Date: December 28, 2007, 13h51
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Some of the old pavement on the power-line road still functions as originally intended
... except, of course, wherever sand has blown across the road.
Date: December 28, 2007, 14h03
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A couple of miles down from my tent, a branch in the road to the left will take me to Sands
I remember thinking last night that one of the branch roads to a transmission-tower near my campsite was this road; I was still a couple of miles away!
Date: December 28, 2007, 14h07
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A few low hills jut up from the relatively flat landscape along the road to Sands
The hills are rocky, but their lower portions are covered with a thin layer of Devil's Playground sand.
Date: December 28, 2007, 14h13
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On the way to Sands is the remains of an old plank road, built ages ago to provide "permanent" traction in the sand
One of Bill Mann's Mojave Desert guides lists this point of interest, but it's all covered with sand except for the small segment visible here.
Date: December 28, 2007, 14h17
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