Twin Tanks - 3.30.2022
We parked at the Twin Tanks trailhead in Joshua Tree National Park... fairly recently this has become a shared trailhead for 'Arch Rock'.
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We are hiking west from the parking lot for Twin Tanks... there isn't really an official trail... just head in the direction of 'Keyno Benchmark' which is the high bump on the left horizon.
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Hiking west in a wash.
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Canterbury Bells.
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Continuing to hike west in a wash.
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Continuing to hike west in a wash.
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Sedum 'Desert Red' (Stonecrop)... but don't bet a lot of money on this definition.
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We love this terrain.
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Bladder Pod... also known as burrofat and California Cleome.
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We hit a dead end in our wash... but it was easy to get out of the wash.
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A couple of petroglyphs.
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Back in a wash and still heading west... nearing some different terrain.
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Denali Girl says that it is a ground cover flower... but there are lots of ground cover flowers.
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Out of the wash and roaming on rock slabs.
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Denali Girl and Star Dancer posing next to a mushroom shaped rock formation.
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Gaining a little elevation now... we will hike along the left side of the huge rock in the center of the photo and find a really nice lookout spot.
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Looking back as Denali Girl and Star Dancer come over to join me at our lookout point.
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Chicory.
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Denali Girl took this shot of me at our high point (4303') for the day... as I take a photo of Crown Prince and Point 4558... a mile away on the distant horizon.
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From our high point... looking west to Crown Prince, Point 4558 and a couple of other bumps in the center foreground... and looking NW beyond the Jumbo Rocks area to Queen Mountain on right horizon.
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A closer look at Crown Prince on the far left... with Point 4558 two bumps to the right of Crown Prince.
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From our high point... looking SE beyond Wilson Canyon to Pinto Basin in the center of the photo.
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After hiking a total of 1.9 miles we are taking a break near our high point... is that a cave in the middle of the photo?
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Denali Girl took this photo of me in the cave.
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And I took this photo of Denali Girl and Star Dancer from inside the cave... with part of the Pinto Mountains on the horizon.
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Starting to hike east as we complete our loop hike.
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Working our way out of the rocks as we head back to our car.
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Hiking east on our way back to the car.
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Looking back as we continue to hike east... I believe that we came out of the rocks in the left center of the photo.
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California Poppies.
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Heading for the car.
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Feels like we are heading into a little canyon.
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Wallace’s woolly daisy.
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Taking another break... as we continue down this little canyon.
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Denali Girl works her way along a little ramp.
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Out of the little canyon and heading for the huge rock formation in the left-center of the photo.
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Nearing the huge rock formation mentioned in the previous photo.
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Whoa... feels like another little canyon.
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Scrambling down our second little canyon.
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Looking back as we continue to hike east back to our car.
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Desert Paintbrush.
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A desert tortoise... and no... we didn't see this coming!... the second one we have seen in hiking the park for 7 years.
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Heading for our car.
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Arizona Lupine... how dare it invade the state of California!
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Back in another wash as we head for the car... love the variety of rock in this wash.
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Still need to do a little scrambling.
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Fishhook Cactus... wow!
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Almost back to the car... with only a few more lefts and rights to negotiate before getting there.
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Back in a large wash... with the parking lot a short distance away.
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Back at the parking lot and looking back across the desert where we just completed our loop hike.... the loop hike was 3.8 miles, gaining 397 feet of elevation.
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