Stats
👣 Miles: 15.68
📈 Elevation Gain: 2,697 ft
📉 Elevation Loss: 3,041 ft
Overall Weather: Windy
Brrrr Camp is Cold
California seems to have more uplifted plateaus of sorts in this area. We ended up camping at a higher elevation than most of this route.
We prepared for the wind, but either we picked a really good spot, or it died down.
The cold, however, remained. It was tough to get out of our sleeping quilts, but we had motivation!
Electricity ⚡️
Today, we had a visitor center with potable water, pit toilets, a trash can, wifi, AND electricity! 🥳
We walked the whole morning straight to it. On the way, we enjoyed some of our first single-track trail in a while. It even had signs with arrows on them.
Each of us used the pit toilet on the way in, and then we figured out which outdoor plug worked (one didn’t). We immediately plugged in phones, battery packs, and headlamps.
A spigot read “potable water” nearby, so we used that. Then, we got on wifi to check a few things like Wordle and the weather.
A friendly volunteer came up and chatted with us for a few minutes. She said the ranger would be late. We honestly didn’t need him for anything, so we just had a nice conversation with her.
When the ranger did come, he sped up the dirt road and completely ignored us the entire time. Ok, bro…now I understand why you’re a front country ranger.
The Forecast
We received a heads-up text from Snapper stating that some major wind was coming our way.
And yes, wind is a weather forecast in the desert…much like rain is a weather forecast in Seattle.
I had checked yesterday, but I checked again, and the forecast looked HORRENDOUS.
It looked utterly miserable for this afternoon, all day tomorrow, and a bit on the following day.
It was bad enough that I screenshot it so I could remember the wind direction shifts and help find a campsite.
More Single-Track Trail
It’s kind of funny on a route when you actually get a bit of trail. Suddenly, you’re moving fast, and you can look around.
The views were spectacular! The only thing I could have done without were the rogue cows. 🐮
We enjoyed looking at the mesa walls and all the wind pockets, which made different features.
The 2nd Highest Point on the DWTH
We already went up the highest point on Harquahala Mountain back up in Arizona. However, the second highest point was today…on a ridge…in the wind.
We had talked about charging at the visitor center longer and doing the ridge tomorrow, but the wind was supposed to be worse then. 🤷🏼♀️
Unlike Harquahala Mountain, this higher point (while offering fantastic views) wasn’t a destination. Rather, it is just a higher point on an otherwise not-hiked ridge near a mesa.
The wind blasted us enough that we had to climb with our rain shells on, and we didn’t sweat. Also, unlike Harquahala Mountain, this climb had an incredibly slow approach, so the steep part was only about 500 ft in total.
From the top of the ridge, we looked toward i40 and saw a massive dust storm. Yikes! Those winds might have been bad enough to force the truckers off the highway. We’ve learned that if the truckers all start to get off a highway, we should follow suit in the van.
We tried to contour the last 0.2 of the descending ridge to get a little out of the wind and discovered why the route remained on top. After a few slightly annoying drainages, we got back on route.
Down into a Wash
We popped out into a sandy wash. Surprisingly, many areas had wet sand and looked like it had seen recent moisture.
It was a beautiful wash and also the perfect direction to mostly stay out of the prevailing wind directions.
Camp
The forecast said at its worst, the wind would be 32 mph sustained with 59 mph gusts. At midnight. 🙄
So, we were willing to camp early if we could find an area that met our wind criteria.
Basically: a spot with plant life (or boulders) as wind blocks and plenty of heavy rocks for all tent stakes. Ideally, not in the wide-open valley at the end of the wash.
We found a spot that met most of those criteria around 5 pm. It was a little earlier than we’d liked, but we sat and waited to hear a big gust. After about 10 minutes, we heard one coming…and it didn’t fully hit us. Wind happened, but normal wind. Doable.
We took our time and loaded the tent stakes with rocks, so we’ll see how it holds. 🤞