Tajanio Pinto Canyons - Organ Mountains Desert Peaks National Monument

  I've visited this area once before more than 15 years ago. On that trip I was in search of any remaining piñon trees in the Sierra de las Uvas. I did find one at the head of Pine Canyon,but along the way came across two small,but nice petroglyph sites. I later found out those sites were on private property, but for a couple of years now I've been interested in seeing if there is any more rock art to be found on nearby  OMDP National Monument (BLM) lands.
 The problem back then, and the problem now for exploring this southwest quadrant of the Uvas is a locked gate on County Road D-01 where there is narrow stretch of private property across the road.This added  considerable distance( 2.75 miles one way) of pleasant,but less than exciting road walking before reaching Tajanio Pinto Tank, where my real exploring could begin.
On Monday morning I parked and climbed over the gate. It was in the mid thirties and a bit breezy,but beautifully clear and sunny. I set off at a blistering( literally as it turns out) pace, determined to put this first section of walking to the tank behind me in short order. Early on two white horses broke from their indifferent grazing on the meager bunch grass,  to watch me at close range. There were there, in more less than same spot, when I returned seven hours later. It was then that I noticed, that while one seemed thin but mostly alright, its companion was severely emaciated with backbone, ribs and hip bones clearly visible protruding from underneath its skin.
 
 I assumed they were both old, put out here in this distant corner of the range to live out their last days as best they could. Who knows?
 I reached the tank in less than an hour. It still had a  decent amount of water( it may be replenished by a nearby well), in this dry winter. I then headed up the canyon immediately to the southeast.

I moved along, examining all likely looking boulders and cliffs for petroglyphs but found none. The canyon itself was typical of so many in the Uvas;  with stretches of gravel scoured bedrock and lined with junipers and scrub oaks.The day had warmed up and wind had stopped. I removed my windbreaker, ate a bar and drank my first water.
 
I could tell I was approaching that same latitude where the petroglyph sites lay just to the west, when I spied series of fence posts( with no intervening fencing) on the bank above the creek. Soon after, tucked in a low hill,I saw an old chimney with the peak of tin roofed shack laying in front of it. I climbed out of the shallow canyon to investigate. There were some stone walls, a metal vehicle frame with a long hand brake attached,  a steel drum,  and tin cans laying about. I couldn't fined any obvious trace of a road that led to this place, and roads hang around for a long time in the desert which led to believe that the last occupation of this place was many, many years ago. It surely was a remote and lonely place, that I surmised was abandoned not that long after it was established.


A short distance to the east I found two large natural cisterns in the bedrock. One had a rusty iron pipe in the bottom which may have been used to transport water to the homestead,Up above small check dams had been built to retain even more water.

 It was all an exciting find, partially compensating for the complete lack of rock art, grinding holes or any other evidence of ancient Americans. Afterwards, I really wore out my feet searching up a couple more branches of the  canyon and then over some hills to look over to the east from the top of the not  too shabby escarpment that extends like an arm southwards from the main body of the mountains. I did find one spot where the road to the old homestead may have gone through but little else.
 I trudged back toward the tank, investigated more cliffs and alcoves, after a lunch and rest under a juniper. I nearly found myself stepping into the  crevasse that is the main channel where water flows downstream of the tank. It was concealed in the dried bunch grass that grows well over my head.



I made my way mostly cross country back toward my 4Runner waiting by the gate,but got on the road again for the last little bit. It had been a  good, long walk, somewhere between 10 and 12 miles I estimate, the longest one I had done in awhile.
NOTE: this hike crosses private lands.
SECOND NOTE: if anyone out there knows what "tajanio" means let know. I can't find anything, even when factoring in all the possibilities for misspelling.