Barnes Canyon Trailhead

Four miles East of Caliente, NV the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) completed a mountain biking/hiking trailhead last year. There’s free dry camping at the base of the trailhead with covered picnic tables, fire pits, and even a toilet. The trails are rated and there are a few easy ones. So, we thought this would be a great place for me to get a little more comfortable on my bike as well as do a little hiking.

Trailhead and Campsite

Getting to the trailhead is an adventure in itself. As we leave the main road, the road following along the railroad tracks quickly turns to gravel and then dirt. But, where the railroad goes through the mountains we begin winding our way through the canyons and along pasture lands. We encounter cows in the road and ford six different water crossings before finally rejoining and then ultimately crossing the railroad tracks at Barnes Canyon. It’s here we begin heading up the hills toward the trailhead. It’s a challenge to get here; but the solitude and beauty of the area is definitely worth it.

Mongoose Trail

After setting up camp we head out to stretch out legs. We choose the Mongoose trail; which is narrow and goes straight uphill. We believe this is one of the more advanced trails that we wouldn’t be biking on anyway. The views from the top and incredible and we even encounter a few deer along the way.

Once back at camp we begin looking at the trail map as we make dinner. We’re trying to figure out which trails we want to attempt, only to realize that the one we just completed has an easy rating. Uh oh! We may be doing more hiking that riding.

Barnes Canyon Road to Teepee Rocks

Today we decide to head up the road on foot to see Teepee Rocks. These incredible formations are made of sandy white volcanic tuff rock and stand in a cone or teepee shape; which is how they got their name.

We keep thinking we’ll have a view down into the valley just around the next bend, but as we round each bend the road just keeps going. After several of these, we finally determine it’s time to turn back and come this way on the bikes tomorrow. Since even the easy bike trails are more than I’m comfortable with, the road will have to do for our biking adventures for now. It’s very rocky and gets more uneven the further up we go. So, I’ll be able to get more experience on my bike after all.

Neighbors Arrive

We spend the rest of the day relaxing around camp and enjoying our solitude while we have it. As we’re finishing dinner we begin hearing a vehicle coming up the road. It gradually gets closer and eventually pulls in to the spot next to us. It’s then we notice they have a flat tire on their trailer. So, being good neighbors we go say “Hello” and ask if they need help. After investigating, we find they ran over an old railroad spike. It entered the tire and went all the way through the side wall. There’s no fixing that, it’s a total replacement.

They proceed to tell us that they knew they didn’t have the clearance to get through the water crossings and opted to come along the side of the railroad tracks instead. Which is where they ran over the spike. They’re really nice and as we continue to converse they let us know that they’re there to hunt and will be leaving camp about 4:30 am each morning. They’ll try to be as quiet as possible when they do. They also let us know that they will have additional groups of family and friends joining them over the next few days.

Add this information to what we discovered about the bike trails, an updated forecast with temperatures 10 degrees higher than originally forecasted, and we begin thinking about departing a little earlier than planned.

Elly Mountain Overlook Trail

Today we take the bikes up the road past teepee rocks and along the way we see a tarantula crossing the road.

As we get closer to the top, we come to a junction in the road and choose to head up the Elly Mountain Overlook trail where we hope to finally get to a point where we can see the views. We eventually reach the mesa only to realize that we still have several miles to go before reaching the overlook point.

We’re now hungry and running low on water, so instead of moving forward to the overlook we do the responsible thing and turn back to camp for lunch.

Union Pacific Railroad Tracks and Tunnels

As we’re finishing lunch a couple of mountain bikers arrive at the trailhead. We chat with them briefly and then we head down into Barnes Canyon to ride along the railroad tracks and through the tunnels.

The path beside the tracks is wide and we understand why the family camping beside us thought this was a viable way of getting to the trailhead; but I sure wouldn’t want to be in one of the tunnels when a train was approaching. They’re very dark, cool, and quite eerie.

As we follow the path through two tunnels we begin to see several of the old rail spikes and stop to remove them from the road. Seeing one tire ruined by them was more than enough. Shortly thereafter, we begin to hear a train coming and stop to watch it come through the tunnel. The conductor is even nice enough to wave at us as he goes by.

Bike Trail Ratings Off

Back at camp we encounter the mountain bikers we chatted with earlier, just coming off Mongoose trail we’d walked a few days ago. Speaking with them we discover they are very experienced mountain bikers traveling the country riding different trails. They go on to tell us that they’ve been in the area for a few weeks and have found that the trails around here are a lot more difficult than rated. The trail they just finished would probably be rated advanced intermediate anywhere else. That info did make me feel a little better about being hesitant to attempt it, and ensured we’d keep trying elsewhere.

Kershaw-Ryan State Park Again

Later that evening our neighbors had another member of their party show up and we decide to head back to Kershaw-Ryan State Park in the morning leaving the whole site to them. That way they can relax and enjoy without having to worry about how they’re impacting us. We’ll have power to run our AC during the high temps of the day as well as having easy access to town for laundry and grocery shopping.

We end up with a site next to people we met while in Cathedral Gorge State Park and have a great time hanging out with them before heading to our next destination… Basin & Range National Monument.