Thursday, May 17, 2018

Stirrup Tank (First Visit)

I received some great comments on last weeks post that made me laugh... "Some vegetation for a change!" and "Not accustomed to seeing so much green!" and "Some water in your post!" First, this might be a good time to say "thank you". I really appreciate your comments, and it's what makes blogging fun! As many of you know, I spend a lot of my weekends out in the desert near Joshua Tree (although it's not my primary residence). I love hiking and photography in the desert, but I do flip-flop back and forth on occasion between Orange County and Joshua Tree. Hence, the occasional "green" posts from Orange County! Anyway, for this week, let me take you back out to JTree. Specifically, to the Stirrup Tank area. There is a lonely, unmarked dirt road that branches south off Pinto Basin road for 1.5 miles to a small parking area.
I'm calling this a "visit" rather than a hike because it really was just a visit with a little exploring. I had no destination in mind and had no idea what I was going to find. I didn't venture more than about 1/2 mile from the parking area, and I was very focused on getting sky shots. The sky on this particular day (actually, late afternoon) was putting on quite a show!

Ring around the rock!

Window rock

Glove Rock??

 The rock formations in the Stirrup Tank area did not disappoint! Just a short hike from the car, I was able to find all kinds of interesting shapes and textures.

Kind of cool the way these three large boulders are sitting atop this rock formation, like someones set them there! Just around the corner I found this:
Two morteros! Native Americans used these to grind seeds and nuts, and whatever else needed grinding. Cool to find two right next to each other! I wonder if there's a grinding stone around here somewhere??

In the same general area, lots of spots that could have been used as shelter. I'm pretty sure there are other Native American artifacts that I probably walked right by!!

Yet another spot in the same general area that could be used for shelter. It was surrounded on three sides by rocks and was hard to get to (required climbing over some thorny bushes). This spot felt kind of creepy to me. Hard to explain, but it just felt dark and scary and I was anxious to leave and move on to the next area.






A great day to be out hiking in the desert under beautiful skies. I'll share more photos from Stirrup Tank next week. As it got later in the day, the sky went from beautiful to jaw-dropping!!

Linking with Skywatch Friday.
Thanks for stopping by!!

45 comments:

  1. Wow! What a place and such beautiful rock formations and majestic skies ~ the light as I remember New Mexico was always dazzling !

    Happy Day to you,
    C & Z

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  2. Sigh...another [more typical] set of grand images of sky, rocks and desert. I like the grouping of the three large rocks [Three's a Crowd?]. Feeling sorry for the leftmost one...

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  3. Great pictures. That last shot is amazing!

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  4. Those sky shots are amazing. The hard surfaces of the rocks contrast so nicely with the fluffy clouds.

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  5. Thank you SO much for sharing! Your photos live in my minds eye

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  6. Unbelievable! Such amazing rocks against a wild sky!

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  7. Beautiful skies. I like photography especially when azure sky and clouds meet.

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  8. I enjoyed your greenery last week and loved the reflections in the water. Not sure that my comment was accepted. This weeks - I love those rock formations, had to laugh at the face created with the canon nose and the skies are beautiful. Will look forward to seeing them being even more spectacular.

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  9. Spectacular photos. All those mud fossils and rocks sitting in the middle of the desert. Very interesting.

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  10. I do love this amazing, rocky scenery! The baseball rock is kind of fun.

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  11. Nice to read your post. Stunning pics.

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  12. amazing as usual.utilitarian me likes morteros (and your addition of a nose to get what I see as a bear face)

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  13. Amazing! Fantastic!
    Have a wonderful weekend!

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  14. Hello, beautiful shots from JT. I love the rock formations, colors and the pretty blue skies. Happy Friday, enjoy your weekend!

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  15. The desert, the rocks and the sky ... all shots are beautiful again, but the last one is my favourite with those wonderful sun rays.

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  16. The beauty of these photos are inspiring and spiritual!

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  17. Your beautiful photos leave me in awe of nature.

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  18. You are right: readers' comments add fun to the fun of blogging itself!
    The ring around a rock is winner today!...

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  19. It appears to me that it was not necessary to go one step further to get some amazing images. These are wonderful!

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  20. Sometimes when I look at these photos, I can envision some cave person coming out from behind those rocks. :) It is an awesome place, your photos are always a pleasure to see. Have a wonderful weekend!

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  21. Pretty cool to find those morteros.

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  22. Your sense of adventure and exploration amazes me, especially in the snake heaven of Joshua Tree. I'm sure you passed up lots of artifacts. I work for a pipeline company and here in Oklahoma in sensitive areas, the archeologists that we hire to make sure our routes avoid sensitive sites spot artifacts everywhere that look obvious when they point them out but seem invisible until then.

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  23. Beautiful, beautiful and I won't point out that a few of those rock shots look a tad obscene (; I'm going to have to see this whole vegetation and water thing for myself, I see a bit of green sticking out from your last post, must explore.

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  24. Fabulous photos. I always love your photos of stones and expansive sky.

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  25. Interesting rocks and wonder how they got place where there at.
    Coffee is on

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  26. Great looking rocks and really stunning sky photo's .Don't tell me you did it with your phone.

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  27. Great series of beautiful rock formation! I like everyone of them. If only I can visit this place!

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  28. All I can say is that you have a direct line to the Man Upstairs! How else could you get such great cloud formations AND rock formations? No jealousy here, just pure, unadulterated joy in the beauty that He gives you to capture and in turn share with us. Keep on keeping on, my friend!

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  29. Love it when the sky puts on a show for us! Your second capture, looks like a smoking pipe there, and the 3 stooges are cheerful. Am glad you're getting hilarious comments - your blog is certainly worth visiting!

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  30. The rock formations you share continue to amaze me. Cute creation with the lens cap.

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  31. Thanks for that.

    You were right. The sky was posing spectacular last weekend. Great sky shots. (well of course I liked the rocks too...)

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  32. this is really an interesting country. So much to see and figure out. Amazing!

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  33. Your rock formations out there are just fantastic! Pair them with the sky and the landscape is gorgeous!

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  34. So beautiful -- breathtaking really. Had to smile at the lenscap sitting between the morteros.... shows the size of them very well. (hope you remembered to pick it up!)

    The skies are stunning as always in Joshua Tree (or wherever you are really; the green was nice too). I envy your long hikes but am glad to share them vicariously.

    Thank you for sharing. And I agree with you about comments making blogging fun!!

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  35. Just stunning. What else can I say? The rocks, the clouds....

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  36. Excellent pics of these interesting rocks ! Spectacular !

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  37. The rock formations you share continue to amaze me. Cute creation with the lens cap.

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  38. The blog are the best that is extremely useful to keep.
    I can share the ideas of the future as this is really what I was looking for,
    I am very comfortable and pleased to come here. Thank you very much!
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  39. The sky is gorgeous in your pictures.

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  40. You're right. You met a lot interesting shapes of rocks. The sky is fantastic and the last picture is stunning.

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