Hiking Hackberry Peak / Mojave National Preserve

Kingman, AZ to Mojave National Preserve | Hiking Hackberry Peak | Camping in Mojave National Preserve | December 2024

Jess: This morning, we left our campsite off of AZ-68 and headed West, crossing the Colorado River into Nevada at Laughlin. As it was nearing the last day of the year, our reason for taking this route to California was simply to add one more state to our end of year total. We drove across the Southern tip of Nevada on NV-163, then went South on US-95, finally entering California! Fun fact: even though all 3 of us have been to all 50 states, until this day we weren’t able to say that we had all been to all 50 states together, because Charlotte and Curtis had never been to California together. Curtis and I have been multiple times, but the only time Charlie had been there was when I brought her here in September 2017, during our solo trip to wait out her quarantine period before moving to Hawaii. Now we can officially say that we have been to all 50 states together as a family.

Curtis: We drove West on Goffs road, then North on Lanfair road from the ghost town of Goffs and into the Mojave National Preserve. There are very few user amenities in this part of the preserve and the road shows it. It was graded and gravel, and never a threat to the car, but the washboard was terrible and forced us to drive <15 mph for most of the route lest we shake apart the whole van.

After 15ish miles we approached a low pass between two sets of hills and found a place to pull off. Based on my research, I knew this spot had most if not all of our boondocking requirements – cell signal, accessibility, flatness, and sun. And most importantly to me, I figured I could access the mountains to the West and find a way to the top of Hackberry Peak.

After setting up the van and getting everything settled, I pulled up an old trip report for Hackberry that started and ended near our campsite. The hiker was clearly a local and wrote a lot about the mining history of the area and went out of their way to visit some of the old claims. That seemed interesting, but I also didn’t want to wander the desert for too long. I started West from our campsite on old mining roads, but soon veered North around a hill behind our campsite. I generally followed my predecessors return track for the first mile or two, but then missed a turn and ended up heading up a canyon for a long ways.

After evaluating the topo maps, I figured I could make my own way without losing the elevation that the GPS track showed. The canyon eventually lead up to a ridge where I finally got a good look at the summit of Hackberry Peak. It’s a long plateau/ridge with steep cliffs leading down to a bench land that then had more cliffs leading down to the valley floor. Definitely not what I was expecting.

From my vantage, the peak was about a mile and a half away as the crow flies, but there was one of the deep canyons and cliffs directly between us. Furthermore, the ridge that I was on lead to a rocky top with steep sides. I realized that I was going to have to downclimb onto the bench lands then work my way around the top of the canyon in order to get to peak area.

The downclimb wasn’t terrible, but wasn’t fun with lots of loose rock. I did my best to follow some game trails whenever possible, but was ultimately glad when the slope leveled out. From here the walking was pretty easy along the canyon rim: gentle slope, open country, low brush and I made good time. As I was getting around the upper end of the canyon, I noticed movement up the slope and saw a pair of wild burros. We gave each other plenty of space and I made it down and around to the base of the cliffs leading up to the peak.

From here, it became a matter of finding a spot that I could climb up onto the final ridge. Previous GPS tracks showed that the primary choice was down on the far side of the ridge, but I didn’t particularly want to walk all the way down the ridge, just to walk all the way back, so I ultimately just picked a rock fall that didn’t look too exposed. And it wasn’t too difficult, not nearly as bad as it looked from across the way.

Once on the ridge I had great views of the surrounding mountains and hills and it was easy walking to the obvious rocky rise that is the summit of Hackberry. I ate some snacks, signed the summit log and then took stock of my situation. I didn’t particularly want to traverse back the way I had came, particularly because of the downclimbing section that I knew would be physically challenging. Nor did I want to blaze a new trail – I had done enough wayfinding for the day. So, just as with the Crosby Mountains a few days before, I opted to follow the primary access road all the way back to camp. Sure it would be longer, but it was established, and downhill almost the entire way.

I came down off the ridge the same way I went up and then followed a canyon down to the valley floor where I found the end of the road as well as Hackberry Spring. Or rather, I found a pipe filling a 5 gallon bucket with water and spilling over. Curious, I followed the pipe back and it lead me to an old mine shaft from which I could hear the tinkling of water. Even more curious I did what you’re not supposed to and crawled in the mine – only a few feet though. In the mine shaft was a wooden dam forming a reservoir and the pipe tapped off the dam to provide a steady flow. But the mine continued further back and I didn’t get a good view of the spring itself deeper in the mountain.

Satisfied I returned from the mine and started my long road walk back to Lanfair road. Along the way I scared up another herd of burros, then took a more direct path back towards camp following some long abandoned roads and a wash. Along this section I found a ‘desert water collection pool’ – where water collects in a basin and then is piped to a cistern that allows access for wildlife, the start of a Joshua Tree forest, and what may have been a kit fox – though I didn’t get a good enough view to know for sure.

After a long walk in the sandy gravel of the wash, I finally hit Lanfair Road and was soon back with Jess. Overall, the hike was just over 11 miles and while I can’t recommend my route, the views from the peak were pretty great. AllTrails recording here. We took it easy for the rest of the afternoon, and enjoyed an incredible sunset that evening.