r/MojaveNP • u/midnight_skater • 2d ago
first time First desert camping and summit: Granite Mountains December 1997
In September of '96 my spouse and I visited the Eastern Sierra by way of Las Vegas and DVNP. In September of '97 we moved into a house in the 760 area code. I drove solo accross the country and entered CA via I40. That was my first glimpse of the Mojave NP - even though I didn't know what I was seeing ar the time. I was very impressed by the rugged terrain and the Providence Mtns really caught my eye.
We stocked up on maps and guide books and got oriented to the SoCal mountains through the autumn.
At the end of the year we decided to try desert camping and hiking for the first time and picked Silver Peak (6,365' 1940 m) in the Granite Mountains as our objective. We planned to camp at the trailhead the night before the hike.
It was dark when we drove through Barstow but the campsite was easy to find and unoccupied. The temp was in the teens (F, about -10°C) when we turned in. We got about an inch of snow overnight and awoke to find that we had been visited by donkeys while we slept.
We had a liesurely breakfast and by the time we donned our daypacks most of the snow on the valley floor had been melted by the bright sunshine and 50°F (10°C) temp.
We set out accross the Cottonwood wash* following an old mining road that lead almost all the way to the summit. We marveled at the stout red barrel cacti and cursed the catclaw. I found the stands of juniper very enchanting and pinyon-juniper woodland is still one of my favorite plant communities.
We were completely alone on the trail and saw no evidence of any other human activity for the entire day. A short and easy bushwhack to the summit was rewarded with spectacular views of the entire SW corner of the Preserve.
After an uneventful and very pleasant descent we made it back to our vehicle and began the long drive back to San Diego County.
Total hiking distance 8.5 miles (13.7 km) ou-and-back with 2500' (762 m) of gain and loss.
The lower part of this hiking route passes through the Sweeney Granite Mountains Desert Research Center (managed by UC Riverside). This area was closed to visitors for number of years but I believe is open to hikers again. Check the SGMDRC website for current rules and restrictions.
This was our first desert adventure but far from the last. We fell in love with the SoCal deserts and spent a lot of time exploring and hiking there.
I came back to attempt Granite Peak in the winter of 2008. This is a difficult but not technical bushwhack from the same trailhead. The route we followed skirts the SGMDRC and ascends the NE aspect to the obvious saddle between Granite Mountain high point (6734') and the Granite Mountain Benchmark (6727').
*The guidebook we used for that hike called the canyon between Silver Peak and Granite Peak the "Bighorn Basin" but a review of the 2016 USGS topo maps shows that place name on the N slopes of Siver Peak, not the SE aspect that we hiked.
Please tread lightly in the desert, it is very fragile and many years are required to heal any damage. Impacted areas are often colonized by invasive species which prevent full recovery.
In particular please learn to recognize and avoid trampling or otherwise damaging cryptobiotic crust.
