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!!