Two nights in the El Paso Mountains

 Late Saturday night Jan and I drove to the desert town of Mojave, fueled up and continued north on CA 14. We passed through Red Rock Canyon State Park and turned east on the Red Rock Inyokern Road. After a few miles we turned south and arrived at a campsite. Our friends, Clark and Jo Ann had arrived a few hours earlier.

Dawn. The overnight low was 18 degrees but our truck campers kept us warm and comfortable.

 Black Mountain was visible to the east.

 Hiked to the top of Black Mountain, in 1995, where there is a very old USGS marker (1913).

 Skinner Peak to the west. Hiked to its summit in 2007.

 I strolled over to our neighbor's camper and admired Clark's new weather system. Much more sophisticated than my little station.

 We sat for several hours in the warm morning sun talking about past and future adventures.

 Driving on to our next campsite.

 Our route took us along the northern boundary of El Paso Mountain Wilderness.

 Clark and Jo Ann following us down the Red Rock Inyokern Road.

 We stopped briefly at the Freeman Wash Well.

 Discovered this memorial about 40 feet west of the well. It wasn't there the last time I paid this old structure a visit.

 A closer look at the memorial.

Robber Roost in the distance. Tiburcio Vásquez used it as a lookout/hideout back in the 1870's. I climbed there several times in the 1990's. No hidden loot was found.

 Crossing Little Dixie Wash.

 Approaching our destination. Indian Wells Valley in the distance.

 Dusk at our second camp.

 We sat in our camp chairs as darkness crowded out the the day and watched as far in the distance vehicles drove down into the valley from Walker Pass.

 Morning at our second camp. The overnight low was 33 degrees, much warmer than the previous night.

 After breakfast Jo Ann and I hiked a few miles up the canyon south of our camp on an closed jeep road hoping to find an old mining camp. All we discovered was an old guzzler.

 Leaving the Black Hills.

Crossing Little Dixie Wash as we began our journey home.