Twin Tanks - Joshua Tree National Park
Explor: December 1st and 9th of 2013
I've driven by that sign on Pinto Basin Road many times over the years, and each time it's tempted me to stop and wander off into the desert in search of the elusive watering holes so-named. But up until recently, I'd never heeded the temptation; I just continued on my way, oblivious to the great hike that I was missing.
While looking at some maps, searching out places to visit on my next trip to J Tree, I saw the name Twin Tanks and remembered all the times I'd driven past their sign without stopping. So I decided to do some research and see what I could discover about the site. As it turns out, there isn't much information available about Twin Tanks. The sign on Pinto Basin Road is almost all there is. A post on another explorer’s website offered some pictures of the Tanks and surrounding area (but no clues as was typical with them). However, one of the many hiking books I’ve collected over the years listed the hike, with about two paragraphs of information. Paraphrasing: take a compass bearing of 245° from the backcountry board, look for white quartz boulders, hike in about a mile and you’ll find it.
Totally old-school “take a bearing!” There’s no trail whatsoever, just park at the lot and follow Patty’s directions. I always enjoy a hiking/discovery challenge, so I headed out to see if I could find the twin tanks.
So, standing at the backcountry board, I gazed out towards the piles of rocks that held the Twin Tanks. There are actually more than two tanks, the the area got its name because of the two man-made tanks, I saw at least 5 other natural tanks during my wanderings out there.
It was a great day to head out into the (for me at least) great unknown (note: this post contains photos from two separate trips, taken on December 1st and December 13th). It was cold, but not too cold and there was a bit of a breeze, but layering and motion kept me comfy.
I took my bearing and squinted really hard, and was able to make out the chunks for white quartz about a mile away. Without further ado, I commenced cross-desert hiking, climbing a few rocks, skirting a few small washes and avoiding cactus.
Gazing out across the desert, remember, the desert is a trickster. Sure, it may look like an easy walk across that open space but once you get out there, all bets are off. The desert guards its secrets with gullies, washes, rocks (always rocks), dead ends, sharp and pointy things, canyons, bees and footsteps in the sand that lead absolutely nowhere! So prepare ahead of time is always my motto.
Besides the 101+ ways to die in the desert, there are many beautiful and awe inspiring things out there as well. Like wildflowers blooming in the middle of winter.
Hoodoo.
A field of quartz chips. Jagged and sharp. How did they get here?
Green rocks in JT? Yup.
My landmark would disappear every now and then, hidden by some small hill or turn in a wash, but I continued on in what felt like the right direction.
About twenty minutes into the hike (I wander quite a bit), this pretty view opened up before me.
Same view, zoomed in a bit.
And the view back towards whence I came. Way off in the distance, the rocks of Belle and White Tank campgrounds.
The pile of quartz rocks just ahead, one last hill to climb.
A December 1st portrait of the quartz rocks atop Quartz Hill.
Same quartz rocks, different day. Taken December 13th.
And there I was, standing next to a huge outcropping of white quartz boulders, with a great view of the valley behind me and rocks before me.
I probably could have followed the main wash to arrive at the same spot, but I didn’t know at the time that it would lead me where I wanted to go. Plus, washes are tricky. They’ll narrow down, dead-end, twist the wrong way, branch off. I recommend the cross-desert method for hiking to Twin Tanks. It’s a better adventure.
Ok, so the pile of beautiful quartz boulders had been found. Supposedly, Twin Tank #1 was just nearby. And actually, you can see it in the photo above.
There it is. Just follow the huge chunks of quartz dropping down the back side of Quartz Hill and it will lead your right to Twin Tank #1 (note: I call it #1 because it’s the first of the two that I found).
Twin Tanks is a bit of a misnomer; there are a lot of tanks out here, natural catch basins that will hold rainwater and runoff, sometimes for a long period of time. The wind, the rain and time can carve out some large holes and basins in the White Tank Monzogranite. Judging by the piles of sand underneath a few of the dry waterfalls I found, this area can get some serious watering.
But the area got its name from two man-made catch basins, or tanks. Cattle ranchers way back when built two dams in this area to help store water for their stock.
Tank #1 sits high above two large, natural tanks. The dam itself is constructed of stone and cement, and is about ten feet tall. On this trip, there was water in the lower tank
Some interesting stone work below the two natural tanks at the base of Tank #1. Someone went to quite a bit of work to create this line of rocks in cement.
A closer look at this side of the dam shows the workmanship that went into its creation. Well built and has stood the test of time. When was it built? I haven’t been able to determine, but my guess would be sometime in the 1940s.
The “inside” of the dam.
The old waterline shows that this tank held a lot of water over the years.
Exploring the wash behind Tank #1. It would have been easy to spend the entire day in this area. There are undoubtedly traces of Native American habitation sites just waiting to be discovered. And there are several pictograph sites in this general area as well.
On to Tank #2. It’s located nearby, but I’ll not disclose exactly how to get there. A bit of exploring and scrambling should prove worthwhile and give you that “Eureka” moment that is hard to explain but worth every bit of effort to achieve.
The dam that creates Tank #2 is smaller, shorter and made mostly of cement. It’s got a neat “jog” that helps keep the water from escaping too soon.
Bill Keys inscribed his name in the cement here, so my guess is that he built this one. I’m not sure if he had a hand in building the other, but would wager that he did.
As with Tank #1, there are a couple natural Tinajas below tank #2, or as it has also been called, “Keys Tank.” I lightened the above picture quite a bit to show this tank, as it was in a deep shadow. The water in the tank had a thick coat of ice.
As I probably said earlier, it would be so easy to spend an entire day in this area up above Twin Tanks, and I’m sure it would be well worth the exploration. It’s definitely on my list of places to revisit. The round-trip hike to the tanks is approximately two miles and can be done in less than an hour, leaving plenty of time to discover what else is hidden in those rocks. An added bonus, on both of these two trips to the tanks, I didn’t see another soul. What with how crowded the park is getting, these off-the-beaten-track excursions are the way to see the real JT.
One last view of Quartz Hill.
Time to head back to Old Blue. It’s always nice when you can see your truck in the distance. Hope you enjoyed this recap, please feel free to leave a comment below.
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