A MYSTERIOUS CIRCLE ON THE DESERT FLOOR & WE FIND HORSE TANK

MY SHADOW POINTS DIRECTLY TO THE MIDDLE OF A LARGE MYSTERIOUS CIRCLE ON THE DESERT FLOOR

Received an email from reader Mark Watson Wednesday saying, ‘Hello Al and Kelly, have you seen the desert circle in google earth just south of Palm Canyon road?
It's about halfway from hwy 95 and the palm canyon trail head parking lot’………  Well, that had me fueling up my Google Earth machine first thing this morning for a fly over of our area here along Palm Canyon Road.  Mark had sent a Google Earth photo so had an idea what I was looking for.  Spotted a large perfectly symmetrical round object.  And surprisingly it was only about a quarter mile from where we were parked.  So you know where we headed for on our walk this morning.

THIS IS WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE FROM GOOGLE EARTH

Fanning out a bit we walked parallel south of Palm Canyon road heading west.   There are large expanses of rock hardened desert in this area making it popular for boondockers.  It was in one of these large areas I spotted something ahead.  Had I not specifically been looking for something low on the ground I could have easily missed it.  But sure enough there it was not far off Palm Canyon Road.  We have come across things like this before in the desert but never anything this large & never so perfectly laid out.

 

  

NOTICE HOW PERFECTLY THIS HAS BEEN DONE

We think this is an Indian Medicine Wheel or what is commonly called a Labyrinth.  Someone has obviously made this but we are kind of baffled as to how it was done.  The symmetry just seems too perfect.  Was some kind of machine used?  If it was made by hand it must have taken a very long time to do it.  Couldn’t find anything on the internet about this particular circle either.  Bit of a mystery.

 

KELLY FINDS SOME THINGS IN THE MIDDLE OF THE CIRCLE

  

  

  

 

ON THE LEFT IS THE BEGINNING OF THE CIRCLE & ON THE RIGHT IS THE CIRCLES EXIT

 

Ann & Bill had told us of some tanks (water holes) located over in the Castle Dome mountains south of us so our mission this morning was to find those tanks.  Despite good directions we did temporarily misplace ourselves for a bit. But no problem & we soon had ourselves back on track again & it wasn’t long before we were on the road heading for ‘Horse Tank.’ 

WE TEMPORARILY MISPLACED OURSELVES FOLLOWING THIS ROAD

Again, if one does not have a high clearance 4 wheel drive vehicle one is probably not going to get to see a large part of what the great South-West has to offer.  For you folks out there putting your future RV dreams together with outdoor interests in the western States I highly recommend you get yourselves a sturdy high clearance 4x4 vehicle for a toad.  Pick-up truck, Tracker, Jeep, whatever. We are even seeing larger SUV’s out & about in the desert now.

 

REGAINED OUR BEARINGS & WE WERE BACK ON TRACK AGAIN

We followed the rough & tumble road in behind the Castle Dome mountains to a box canyon.  Could see there was no way out of the Canyon so knew we had to be close to our destination.  But what a surprise when we got to the end of the road.  We had not expected anyone to be there & were looking forward to one of our quiet exploratory hikes.  Not to be.

Imagine our surprise to see a large group of people at the Horse Tank trailhead way back in the middle of nowhere so to speak.  Probably close to a dozen vehicles.  Kelly got out to talk to the group while I parked the Jeep.  One of them said to Kelly, “bet you thought you drove into a Wal-Mart parking lot.  Matter of fact we did.  Pheebs made immediate friends with a dog by the name of Dally & it took us a little coaxing to get her to come with us on up the trail.  Again, how nice to be surrounded by nature’s bountiful beauty.

Made our way a short distance to the first of 4 tanks we would see today.  Always impresses me to see a body of water in the desert mountains.  A deep dark green in color with grass growing along the water’s edge.  Even saw a Critter Cam fastened to a tree stump so I guess the Kofa folks are monitoring the many animals who come to these natural watering holes to drink.  Big Horn Sheep, Mule Deer, Coyotes, Mountain Lions, Rabbits, Quail, etc.  When it rains water is naturally funneled down the surrounding mountain sides.  Over centuries that water has cut paths through the rocks creating waterfalls which in turn creates large holes in the rock.  It is those holes where water remains in pools.  And they are called tanks.

  

 WATER CUTS CHANNELS THROUGH THE ROCK

PHEEBS GRABS A DRINK AT HORSE TANK

A GRASSY PATH AROUND THE TANK TAKES US CLOSER TO THE CRITTER CAM

 

CRITTER CAM ON THE RIGHT

KELLY EASES BY THE WATER’S EDGE

STANDING ATOP HORSE TANK LOOKING BACK TOWARDS THE TRAILHEAD 

Whenever surrounded by hills, ridges, & high rocks one is often impelled to climb higher if for no other reason than to see what is on the other side.  And so it was today as we made our way up the rocky slopes in search of 3 more tanks called, Gray, Arch, & Bandy.  We knew Robin, Black, & the Hollow Rock tanks were too high for us to reach.  Of course we didn’t know where the tanks were but this is where the group of people we had met at the trail head came in handy.  They were all young folks & they spilled up threw those rocks like nobody’s business.  We could see them on up ahead of us & could see they had found a couple more tanks.  We eventually got up with them although we had started out ahead of them.  Might have something to do with the age factor here.

I THINK PHEEBS IS PART BIGHORN SHEEP THE WAY SHE SCRAMBLES AROUND THE ROCKS

 

Kelly had stopped for a rest & went ahead scrambling up over the rocks looking for an easier way upwards.  Stopped to talk with a couple of the folks & one guy noticed I had a big Teddy Bear Cholla sprig stuck on my shoe.  Got what I thought was all it off with my tweezers but one fella noticed I still had some barbs in my shoe so he pulled them out for me.  Eyesight just isn’t quite the same anymore.  Like I said….might have something to do with the age factor ya know:((

 

ANOTHER TANK ON THE RIGHT

I ended up taking a few photos of these folks because they added a lot of perspective to the surrounding rocks.  Mentioned to a couple fellas I would have the photos up tonight in case they wanted to have a look so have included them all.

PHEEBS SAYS DON’T GET TO CLOSE TO THAT CHOLLA MA’AM OR YOU’LL BE SORRY

 

Click photos to enlarge them

 

  

 

 

 

All & all another great day.  Got to travel some roads we’ve never been on before & see some sights we have never seen.  For both of us that constitutes both a mentally & physically good day.  Course any day out here in the wilds of the West is a good day:)) 

PHEEBS IS ALWAYS THERE TO HELP KELLY OVER THE ROUGH SPOTS

YEP, THAT’S PHEEBS & I WAY UP THERE

  

WHAT GOES UP MUST COME DOWN BUT NOT TOO GRACIOUSLY I MAY ADD

 

 

PHEEBS EASES BY A PRETTY BUT NASTY TEDDY BEAR CHOLLA

PHEEBS PAL DALLY WATCHES AS WE PULL AWAY

We moved our rig this afternoon.  Not far, just a few hundred yards north & further away from the road.  We are a little closer to RV SUE & HER CANINE CREW now.  Slipped out just about the time old Sol was slipping over the horizon for another day & snapped a few photos of Sue’s rig & our other neighbors Ann & Bill about half a mile to the East.  Sitting at my driver’s seat computer station I can look out & see Ann & Bill through my passenger window & Sue off to the left through our windshield.  And backgrounding them both are the mighty & magnificent Kofa Mountains………….Ahhhhhh, what life:))

THAT’S RV SUE OUT THERE IN SUNSET’S FIERY GLOW

PALM CANYON IS DEAD CENTER & THAT’S ANN & BILL’S RIG ON THE RIGHT

AND THIS IS OUR NEW LOCATION AT THE END OF THE DAY

By the way I really like my new sleeping bag.  Keeps me roasty toasty.  I remember getting a sleeping bag for Christmas when I was a kid & I practically lived in the thing.  Couldn’t wait to go to bed at night & climb into it.  It was like I had my own little world going on in there.  It’s a kid thing you know………………..:))

GROANER’S CORNER:((    The children had all been photographed, and the teacher was trying to persuade them each to buy a copy of the group picture. "Just think how nice it will be to look at it when you are all grown up and say, 'There's Jennifer; she's a lawyer,' or 'That's Michael, he's a doctor.'"
A small voice from the back of the room rang out, "And there's the teacher; she's still old, nasty, and wrinkled."

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- Tourists see the world, travelers experience it.
- Home is where your pet is:))
- "If having a soul means being able to feel
love and loyalty and gratitude, then animals
are better off than a lot of humans."
(James Herriot)
- The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails -William Arthur Ward
- The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right now...AL.
- It is not so much having nothing to do as it is not having the interest to do something....AL.