Twin Tanks Hike #3

6.8 miles, 18,711 steps, and 13 floors later, my friend Pat Tillett and I still hadn't found what we were looking for. This was my third hike in the Twin Tanks area, and Pat and I were on the lookout for some petroglyphs.

After hiking in, across, and around the maze of desert washes that criss-cross the area, we came to a dead end. The dry fall (above photo) blocks further progress up the wash. The good news is that we were getting close. Rumor has it that the petroglyphs are somewhere beyond this dryfall. How far beyond we had no clue, but we don't give up easily!

Pat checking out signs of Native American activity

We decided to backtrack, look for an easy way to exit the wash, and circle around the hills. Our goal was to eventually reconnect with the wash about a half mile or so beyond the dryfall "dead end". I had studied the area carefully on Goggle Earth and told Pat it should be easy. Ha, was I ever wrong!! Like I said, 6.8 miles, 18,711 steps, and 13 floors later and nothing to show for it. Well, that's not true. No petroglyphs, but we had a great hike, saw lots of cool stuff, and took lots of photos. The petroglyphs will wait for another day! Here are some of the photos.

Exiting the wash gives us a nice view of the Pinto Basin.

Yours truly holding a pottery sherd that Pat found. 

Pat checking out one of the two tanks that Twin Tanks is named after.

Alien seed pod? Dinosaur egg??

This alien pod appears to have hatched. Uh ohh.....

Pat finds this curious rock design waaaaaay out in the middle of nowhere. After a bit of study, he figures out it's a compass and the headings are accurate!

Lego rock? Binoculars??

 Finally!!! We make it back to (what we think is) the wash about 1/2 mile or so above the dry fall. Unfortunately, we hit an impassable dead end after just a short distance.

Emoji rock??

Mushroom rock?

No shortage of rocks, that's for sure!

I think this is the little alien UFO that NASA's been looking for. Or perhaps 1/2 an avocado??

Photo credit: P. Tillett

Big huge square rock. No other big rock formations in this area, and it really stands out when you see it!

Big, open desert vistas on this hike. One of those hikes where it's hard to look down to see where you are putting your feet!

Shortly after sunset the sky lit up in amazing colors! So we never did find the petroglyphs, but the beautiful skies and great hike made for an outstanding day!

Twin Tanks, we will be back!!

Linking with Skywatch Friday.

Thanks for stopping by!!