Mojave National Preserve

Cima, California (Near Baker, CA)

Activity: Day Hike

May 18, 2019

Distance: 6 Miles, 800′ elevation change, duration 3 hours, rated: Moderate

I love the Barber’s Peak Loop Trail hike in the Mojave National Preserve, it has so much. I loved the varying landscapes and terrain. It has desert plains, some interesting volcanic rock formations, it still had some wild flowers even in late Spring, Several different types of cactus, it moved into a high desert type of landscape, from there into a slot canyon portion that was so interesting it was almost eerie called Banshee Canyon, (fitting name), and finally Hole-In-the-Wall. You almost expected Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid to come galloping through with a posse hot on their trail. Although that story took place in a different part of the country, this Canyon was named by another Western Outlaw that named this one because it reminded him of the original.

The part I was most excited about was the dreaded climbing rings. They were in the Hole in the Wall/Banshee Canyon area. This was an area that you would have had to rock climb otherwise. There were heavy duty pins, for lack of a better term, with heavy duty rings attached. You needed them for the climbing of a couple rock faces. It is not a long distance, nor is it particularly difficult, however it is daunting for some people, and would require a bit of upper body strength.

I had just climbed the rings portion and met a European 30 something couple. They were not to keen on the idea, and I must say climbing down is a little harder than climbing up. I tried both because it was so fun. I am not sure they were going to test it. There were also a couple girls in their early 20’s which I believe were going to scale the face, but they had a lot of questions, such as how far is it if they did the loop, so that they were climbing up rather than down. When they heard the loop was 6 miles, I believe they were going for the climb down option.