A Monday Morning Meander - Joshua Tree National Park
Explor Date: October 19 of 2020
Click to Embiggen
There’s cool stuff out there and I planned on finding some. This is the Twin Tanks area, just off Pinto Basin Road, near Belle and White Tank Campgrounds. There’s a turnout parking area which serves as a starting point for hikers heading out towards Twin Tanks, or the California Hiking & Riding Trail, and also as a place to park if you’re moseying on over to see Arch Rock.
I was recently reminded of some interesting petroglyphs that are out in this area by PB, a fellow exploratographer. I had first read about them some few years ago, on another hiking website and had searched for them a couple times without success, albeit, they were fun trips regardless. But my hunch said today they would be found. And hunches are almost always right. Right?
The plan was to head out, cross-desert, to find the petroglyphs. Caution: yucca spines are always more pointy and sharp than they appear. This “trail of rocks” above was pretty cool. Why not be more spread out, why so concentrated in this trail? Maybe rain or wind moves them about, as they were mostly in a small depression in the ground. Man questions, why? The Desert laughs.
Throughout the first half of this wander, I was trusting my GPS. My very old GPS. The GPS that seemed to be leading me in the wrong direction, and then stopped working.
The Man in the Iron Mask (name credit shout out to JAR), would not give me directions. That was rude. Continuing on, I was pretty sure I was close to the petroglyph site, I knew it was in a dry wash. And I was following a dry wash. What could go wrong?
Climbing to the top of a rise, a very nice view of The Henhouse formation opened up. Those are some fun rocks to scramble in and the route to the top of the ledge off the the left of this photo is almost like a paved road leading up. I remember being up there and looking out towards where I was currently standing and thinking, hmmm, I need to go check out those rocks one day.
It can get tiring walking in the sandy sand of a dry wash. The canyon up ahead was choked with boulders, but I thought this could be it. Ten minutes of scrambling up and over rocks later, and after a couple small stumbles, it was time to turn around and start heading back. At this point, I thought the petroglyphs would have to wait another day. Maybe a different approach. And what are those two giant quartz boulders doing here? As I backtracked down the wash, was that faint laughter blowing in the wind?
And then, a bit farther down the wash, I recognized a landmark and upon closer inspection, there they were. The petroglyphs I had been searching for.
That was pretty awesome. I have no idea what they represent, but one looks a bit like a human figure. I was definitely excited to have finally found this site. Now the question, how long to get back to my truck?
It’s funny, when you’re standing in the parking lot look out towards Twin Tanks, the desert looks rather flat. Maybe some mild little hills, but nothing to worry about. Should be an easy hike. Don’t be fooled. Once you get out into the ruff, the true nature of the desert takes over. If you’re not following a trail, there is no straight path to anywhere. And my favorite surprises are the many, many dry washes that need to be crossed. Many of them are tiny things, little bitty streams when it rains. But not all of them…
And then the dry wash you’re following back to the parking area ends in an abrupt, precipitous jumble of boulders like this. Oh well, when I reached this point I knew I would either make it back to my truck or people would be hearing about me on the news in the days to come. But this is a great view with at least two well-known landmarks. One is the tower array up on top of the mountain, dead ahead. I think it is Belle Mountain, but am not positive. The other are giant chunks of quartz on top of Quartz Hill, near one of the Twin Tanks.
Here’s a bit of a zoomed-in view. Even after several trips through this area (here), it’s hard to not climb up to those giant chunks of quartz for another visit.
One of the Twin Tanks. Is this Tank One or Tank Two? I think of it as Tank One, as it’s the first one I found of the pair.
In addition to the giant chunks of white quartz in this area, there are other spots with rocks that seem totally out of place as well.
It’s usually while hiking through areas like this that I start to think about mountain lions.
PB calls these the “Mysterious Quartz Boulders,” and that seems a fitting name. How did they get atop this small hill, were they at one time buried under the soil and freed by erosion? Volcanos? Aliens? Are there more underneath that have yet to emerge? Are they related to the other ones way up the canyon? Maybe a geologist could shed some light. In any case, they are definitely one of the great finds in the park and worth the short (when you take the direct route) hike to visit.
Yo-Yo Rock.
It’s always nice to be able to spot the parking area, to know you’re heading back in the right direction. And to be able to see your truck is still there, and that you didn’t leave the tailgate down this time before heading off into the ruff.
Thanks for coming along with me on this exploration!
Return to Joshua Tree National Park home page.
-
GoPro or Go Home - Joshua Tree National Park https://t.co/TJAShuigdc -
The Barbed Wire Trail - Joshua Tree National Park https://t.co/o0FKwmB68R
Looking from Twin Tanks out towards Pinto Basin.