Horse Tanks

We are in the KOFA Wildlife Refuge parked off an unnamed four-wheel drive road which leads from King Road to some “horse tanks.” The road can be transverse by most any vehicle with high clearance. There are just a few of the washes that are a bit dicey.

Our campsite has beautiful views of the KOFA mountains and the desert landscape. From time to time a vehicle passes by on its way to the tanks — probably a dozen in the last day and one half. We walked the 2.2 miles down the road to see them. Horse tanks are deep impressions in the rocks that collect water where horses and wildlife can find water. In addition, some dams of rocks, cement, and mud have been added to raise the level in some of the pools — probably by U.S. Fish and Wildlife who oversee this 1800 sq mile property. The pronghorn antelope and big horn sheep are known to frequent them, but not today.

The walk was an easy one as there was less than 50 feet of elevation gain — 4.4 miles round trip.

-- Janet (text) and David (photos)