Two weekends ago, a couple friends and I decided to go check out Chimney Peak by way of the Mojave Desert. We headed out on Saturday morning, my friends in their FJ Cruiser and Tacoma, and myself in my Forester. Yes, a crossover.
We turned onto Bird Spring Pass Trail and was greeted with the desolate, but pretty, Mojave landscape.
The initial trail was sandy with quite a few Joshua trees by its side.
The feeling of being alone in the middle of nowhere was exactly what we were after. It felt like setting off on an adventure into the middle of nowhere.
We then started to pick up elevation and climbed up to Bird Spring Pass. The million dollar view going over Bird Spring Pass was breathtaking.
We continued on our journey through Kelso Valley Rd.. By the time we got to Chimney Peak Byway, it was quite late in the day, which presented a little bit of a challenge as we wanted to get to the campsite before daylight was gone.
Luckily, Chimney Peak Byway is quite smooth, and in fact would be suitable for a rally special stage, so we were able to, ahem, make good time over it.
There was some minor snow on the surface, which wasn't a surprise as weather radar had indicated some snow over the mountains a couple days prior.
We did manage to get to our campsite before all daylight was gone. Just barely. Snow of course meant that the campsite was freezing cold. Like, 20 degrees cold.
That picture was at taken at 8 pm. We did manage to set up camp and had a nice hot dinner.
We got a fire going as a source of warmth, but honestly the pictures make it look warmer than it was. It was freezing!
We were, as much as we were aware, the only people at the campsite. Probably because other people were sane enough to know not to camp when temperatures would go down to the teens. The stars were beautiful though.
At 10 pm and turning into popiscles, we turned in for bed. Tomorrow, Chimney Peak awaited us.
We turned onto Bird Spring Pass Trail and was greeted with the desolate, but pretty, Mojave landscape.
The initial trail was sandy with quite a few Joshua trees by its side.
The feeling of being alone in the middle of nowhere was exactly what we were after. It felt like setting off on an adventure into the middle of nowhere.
We then started to pick up elevation and climbed up to Bird Spring Pass. The million dollar view going over Bird Spring Pass was breathtaking.
We continued on our journey through Kelso Valley Rd.. By the time we got to Chimney Peak Byway, it was quite late in the day, which presented a little bit of a challenge as we wanted to get to the campsite before daylight was gone.
Luckily, Chimney Peak Byway is quite smooth, and in fact would be suitable for a rally special stage, so we were able to, ahem, make good time over it.
There was some minor snow on the surface, which wasn't a surprise as weather radar had indicated some snow over the mountains a couple days prior.
We did manage to get to our campsite before all daylight was gone. Just barely. Snow of course meant that the campsite was freezing cold. Like, 20 degrees cold.
That picture was at taken at 8 pm. We did manage to set up camp and had a nice hot dinner.
We got a fire going as a source of warmth, but honestly the pictures make it look warmer than it was. It was freezing!
We were, as much as we were aware, the only people at the campsite. Probably because other people were sane enough to know not to camp when temperatures would go down to the teens. The stars were beautiful though.
At 10 pm and turning into popiscles, we turned in for bed. Tomorrow, Chimney Peak awaited us.
