The Mysterious Quartz Boulders

I've hiked Twin Tanks in Joshua Tree National Park many times. Some of you might even recall some of these hikes. I've hiked it alone here and here and here. I've hiked it with my friend Pat Tillett here. I've hiked it with Cousin Scott, although I can't find the post, so it may have fallen through the cracks!

One of the really interesting things about this area are the large quartz rocks sitting on a hilltop, placed there as if by some mysterious force of nature or alien being. I have never visited the mysterious quartz rocks at sunset or after dark, and that had been bouncing around in my mind for a while as a potential future hike. Then I happened to be talking with my photographer friend Mitch M., who said he couldn't recall seeing the quartz rocks or even the two man-made water tanks, which give the area its name. That was the push I needed to schedule a hike out to Twin Tanks!

I planned a route that, in theory, would take Mitch and I a little north and west of the usual route. From there, I was hoping we could head west and south, and drop into a hidden pictograph site I was aware of. Finally, we could return using the usual route (a sandy wash) that would take us right by the quartz rocks. If my plan worked out, it should put us there just as the sun sets. I know what you're thinking... If my plan worked out, right? That's a big if!

Looks like the mysterious Joshua Tree stone mason has been hard at work again, building this wall.

Front view of "the wall"!

Impressive workmanship!

I took almost no photos on the first half of the hike, but as the sun dipped and the shadows got longer, things got more interesting.

Backlit Mojave Yucca

Mitch composing a shot of an interesting rock pedestal.

A closer look at the rock pedestal. I think we're close to the petroglyph site. Let's go see if we can find it!

So far, my hiking plan was working. We found ourselves right over the top of the secret petroglyph site. I had seen a pose similar to the one above on the Dzrt Grls site here, and wanted to see if I could get something similar. I asked Mitch to climb down below to take my photo. It was scarier than I anticipated, and as I waited for Mitch to capture the shot, I kept feeling like I was going to tumble forward. I was glad to get off the ledge! Oh, did you spot the petroglyphs?? If I ever pose in this spot again (unlikely), I'm going to stick my arms out so I look like the little anthropomorphic petroglyph pecked in the stone. 
 

Now all we had to do was head back down the wash, and (in theory) we would pass by the mysterious quartz rocks. We wanted to explore this area a little more, but we only had about 30 minutes or so until sunset, so we needed to hustle.

Ah, found them! Look closely and you can see Mitch (upper right) heading up the hill to the quartz boulders. He helps give scale to the size of the boulders. As you can see, they really stand out! Like they don't belong here. My theory is that with geologic time, as the hill eroded, pieces of quartz broke off from the original deposit and tumbled down the hill.

Pretty shot of Mitch up on the hill, capturing light on the quartz boulders just before sunset.

 

Here's what the quartz boulders look like when you are standing right next to them, on top of the hill. So bizarre. I can't imagine what kind of geological processes must have taken place to produce these. Smoky haze is visible in the background sky. This is the view to the east.

I was lucky to catch this shot just as the sun was setting on the horizon. This is the view on the opposite side of the quartz boulders, looking west.

Mojave Yucca

I used two LED lights on the quartz rocks for this shot. I like the way it really helps them to stand out. From this view, they remind me a little of headstones in some long forgotten desert cemetery!

Do you see it? I didn't even realize this was a full moon night, and almost as soon as the sun set, this beautiful moon started to rise on the eastern horizon.

 

Thanks for dropping by to check out the alien quartz rocks! As we put on our headlamps for the hike back to the car, we kept our eye out for aliens and UFO's. Lucky for us, no encounters on this particular evening!

Stay safe and stay healthy.

Linking with Skywatch Friday.