"Surprise" Tank

So, I left you hanging last week by mentioning "Surprise Tank" but making you wait until this week to see photos. Inexcusable!! First, a little background. Elliot over at Cali49.com is where I first heard about Surprise Tank. As a matter of fact, I think Elliot came up with the Surprise Tank name. Unlike a lot of other tanks in JTNP (Barker Dam, Twin Tanks, White Tank, etc.), Elliot was unable to find any information on this particular tank and even a couple of the park rangers he spoke with were unfamiliar with it. He had to call it something, right? Only time will tell if the "Surprise Tank" name sticks.

After our recent CA rains of a month ago, I had been anxious to see what Surprise Tank looked like. If you read last week's post, you will recall this was my second hike to the area. During my first hike, I didn't make it to Surprise Tank. But had I made it, there likely would have been a lot of water behind the dam. As it turns out, when I finally got there about a week ago, it wasn't much more than a mud puddle. But I'm getting ahead of myself...

I think most people get to this area by parking where the CA Riding Trail intersects Geology Tour Road, and hike S/SW, which eventually takes you to the front of Surprise Tank. I chose to continue further south on Geology Tour Road before parking, and then head directly west to the rocks. This requires off-trail hiking and a bit of rock scrambling and you eventually end up behind Surprise Tank. It's a fun hike and you pass through some very photogenic rock formations!

"Window Rock" #1

"Window Rock" #2

 

"Weird Rock" (as you can tell, I'm running low on creative rock names!)

No shortage or rock formations in this area!!

Just before reaching Surprise Tank, I found this water hole. I wonder if it's natural, or perhaps some animal dug it as a convenient source of water? Either way, lots of critter footprints all around it, and I even noticed some bighorn sheep droppings in the area.

Surprise Tank!! Bigger than a mud puddle, but not by much! Still, a beautiful area and fun to see a little water in the desert.

A nice side view of the dam. It actually goes straight for some distance, then makes a sharp turn around some rocks. 

The height of the dam is low, perhaps a maximum of 6-8' measured from the back. Below is what it looks like after a good rain or two.

Photo credit Elliot Koeppel at http://cali49.com/jtnp/2014/3/6/the-dam-with-no-name

Pretty cool, don't you think? I'm sure I'll be coming back to this location, perhaps next year after the rains.

I'll leave you with a Joshua Tree picture. I never get tired of these guys... all are unique, no two are the same! I tried to grunge it up a bit to give it that "old west" look!

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Thanks for stopping by!!