Pumpkins & Shells

Between playing golf on Wednesday and today, we went driving in the desert on Thursday.  The route took us through some pretty amazing desert scenery.  Before we started we looked out over the terrain we were going to travel over and it appeared flat and boring but as we traveled along the sandy road that flat land became more varied and fascinating.  We crossed several washes, some named like San Felipe and Rat Pack and others were unnamed. Sand dunes, hills and gullies and moonscapes appeared and were obvious fun runs for ATV’s and motorcycles.  

We turned on East Bank Wash (that’s an original name, huh?) that led to Pumpkin Patch Trail and followed its many tight turns, hills and washes to the Pumpkin Patch.  We were introduced to Whoop-ti-dos all along here and for the remainder of the trip! Think of a washboard road on steroids - up and down, up and down, whoop-ti-dooooo!

The Pumpkin Patch is an area of the desert where round concretions have been exposed and lay on top of the sand.  The round balls are formed somewhat like pearls when a small piece of matter like a seed or leaf is surround by sand and dirt that gets wet and hardens like concrete, then another layer and another, etc.  Eventually the loose sand is eroded away from the concretion leaving these large ‘pumpkins’ exposed.

Back down Pumpkin Patch trail, we drive back to the main road, called Shell Reef Trail.  John tried some of the steep hills that ATV’s have climbed before us.  Lots of fun and a bit nerve wracking when you can’t see over the top!  Shell Reef Trail is named for an area that billions of years ago was under the sea and left behind fossils of shells layered in the sand and are now exposed.

In places we could not see a defined road, only tracks of other vehicles. The ride was about 25 miles long but it took us over 4 hours with a stop for lunch.  Since it was still mid-afternoon, we drove out to Font’s Point to see the desert Badlands.  Most people like to come out here to watch the sunset over the mountains, but the day was really overcast so there was no sunset to be seen.  Just lots of canyons, washes, arroyos, cuts and gulches making for pretty spectacular scenery.