I haven't seen people or pavement for a couple of days. That will change today as I move my campsite to somewhere west of Kelso Dunes, with a nice social stop at the Kelso Depot visitor centre along the way. A laid-back easy day with just only 16 bicycle miles and 900 feet elevation gain.
I drank two litres of water and ate no energy bars (but I did have homemade iced tea and crappy instant burritos at The Beanery in Kelso Depot during my break).
Temperatures recorded in Baker, CA: high of 72F, low of 35F.
OK, everything out of the tent, it's time to pack up and leave!
I've been awake since 8h, taking the morning slowly and lazily. After three enjoyable nights here on Cornfield Spring Road, I don't feel much like leaving. There are certainly more hikes I could do from here.
Everything is nicely crammed into my saddlebags and I'm ready to reassemble the 10-ton bike and move on.
It's an easy, slightly downhill ride, not quite two miles long, but rocks and stretches of loose gravel require that it not be taken too quickly with a loaded-up bike.
Cornfield Spring Road almost joins Kelbaker Road just ahead, but it instead turns right and parallels it for the final quarter-mile to Kelso Depot.
I see some footprints here, and they might be mine from when I walked the 10-ton bike up this stretch three days ago.
Perhaps this was one of the original roads in the town of Kelso, no longer needed.
It's always good to speak to Preserve staff to see what they can share about areas you plan to visit. I refill my water supply from the basement utility closet, browse the art exhibit in the downstairs gallery, and buy a local history book.
I'm feeling fresh because I haven't been on the bike in a couple of days. The uphill grade is mostly 2-4% and I ride most of it at about 7 miles per hour with a slight tailwind to help me along. I've ridden this stretch of road several times.
If I have my bearings correctly... Cornfield Spring Canyon is at the left where the ridgeline dips a little; Rex Mine is the tiny hill in the middleground; and West Edgar Canyon #3 enters the mountains at a slightly dark area to the right.
I'll camp somewhere beyond the dunes tonight. On this busy holiday weekend (by Mojave National Preserve standards), I expect the three official campsites near Kelso Dunes will have been taken by the time I get there.
I wonder where the rest of it ended up... This road gets a fair amount of traffic, and it does move quickly.
A few miles straight ahead are the rocky and scenic Granite Mountains. I'll be visiting a new-to-me canyon in the lower Granites tomorrow (Bull Canyon), but I haven't explored much in the upper part of those mountains yet.
I camped over there almost a week ago. In a few minutes, a view of the Kelso Dunes will replace this one. My cell phone works here, so I send a text and change my outgoing message so people know I've made it this far.
I've never seen Kelso Dunes Road so smooth; it's usually quite washboarded with a bit of surface sand. It is slightly downhill, but due to the bad surface, I never come close to reaching 20 miles per hour like today.