Wednesday December 13, 38.3km/23.8mi

Hole-in-the-Wall Campground (609.5/4300ft) to Providence Mine (632.9/3920ft) (CA) +0.4mi to campground

We started off the day at 5:45am and hiked back to the trail. There were three other campers in vans and RVs in the campground, they weren’t even awake yet. The very first thing we hiked today was Banshee Canyon, a slot canyon with a bunch of metal rings installed for footholds.

The Rings Loop Trail took us down into the slot canyon, and since we were using headlamps, everything had an eerie feel.

I came to the first section that descended a short narrow chute, and the park had installed rings, like a ladder.

TopShelf coming down the first set of rings.

Hiking thru the slots of Banshee Canyon was so fun, and reminded me of parts of the Hayduke.

After 15 minutes, we started to emerge from the other side of the canyon, and I could see the morning sky again.

We left the canyon behind, and hiked up another singletrack trail for awhile, and then a short wash. The view behind us made us pause for a few minutes to appreciate it.

And a few minutes later, everything was awash in orange light.

Our next task of the morning was to climb up to an unnamed ridge, which was about 5500ft in elevation. I thought it might take awhile to climb up that high, but then I realized that we were already at 4500ft. We made quick time up the ridge, which surprisingly wasn’t even that cold or windy today.

Once we stood on top, there was a great view to the northwest.

In the distance to the southwest was Kelso Dunes, a huge collection of sand dunes, much like the ones back home in Colorado.

We easily descended from the ridge and back into a wash, unfortunately picking up a bunch of sharp bits of grass in our socks along the way. So then we took a snack break in the wash and cleaned out our socks and shoes.

Next time, I think I would bring gaiters for this section, which has had some of that sharp grass every day. Oh well. Once we get lower in elevation the grass should disappear again. The rest of the morning we followed the wash, which was nice easy navigation. After having lunch at a guzzler, we hiked some short xc sections over a tiny pass. I’ve been seeing these cacti everywhere lately, apparently they are California Barrel cactuses.

For most of the afternoon, we followed a series of dirt roads, and only once did we miss a turn. It tends to happen when we are hiking together, usually talking about town food, and quite distracted, ha!

The sun set, and we still had a couple of miles to cover. I got one last photo of the desert, and said goodbye to the sun.

We finished the day by hiking in a little wash, and then following a dirt road for a few minutes. It was so windy! While looking for camping spots, I got this great photo of a yucca.

We kept hiking, looking for a camp spot that was sheltered from the wind, and eventually found one tucked amongst some creosote bushes in a narrow wash. It was only 5:45pm, we made great time today!