# Where is this rock pillar? What is it called?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-this-rock-pillar-what-is-it-called/942583>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [May 20, 2021, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-this-rock-pillar-what-is-it-called/942583 "2021-05-20T23:29:17Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\
**Post date:** [May 20, 2021, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-this-rock-pillar-what-is-it-called/942583/1 "2021-05-20T23:29:18Z")

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Where is this rock pillar? What is it called? It’s in California, I believe.

[[Album] What is this? Where is it? Somewhere in California? ![](https://i.imgur.com/cnGXArq.jpeg?fb "What is this? Where is it? Somewhere in California?") ](https://imgur.com/gallery/7hUBF91)

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**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\
**Post date:** [May 20, 2021, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-this-rock-pillar-what-is-it-called/942583/2 "2021-05-20T23:31:43Z")

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This may be an easier picture to recognize.

[[Album] imgur.com ![](https://i.imgur.com/waOkcoF.jpeg?fb "imgur.com") ](https://imgur.com/a/BXspdip)

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**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\
**Post date:** [May 21, 2021, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-this-rock-pillar-what-is-it-called/942583/3 "2021-05-21T14:15:42Z")

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I’m pretty sure the commenter who posted after this is right that it is Squaw Tank in Joshua Tree. I myself was drawn to that area as being one of the only places in California with that combination of geology and aridity but couldn’t find the exact location. The twin-peaked mountain at the left here [Google Maps](https://www.google.com/maps/@33.9563396,-116.1026326,102a,35y,145.35h,77.93t/data=!3m1!1e3) is almost an exact replica of the one in the picture, down to the white gullies in the center, and the mountains further in the background are close enough to match when you take angle into account.

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**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\
**Post date:** [May 22, 2021, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-this-rock-pillar-what-is-it-called/942583/4 "2021-05-22T13:40:44Z")

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> [@Ludovic](#):
>
> I’m pretty sure the commenter who posted after this is right that it is Squaw Tank in Joshua Tree. I myself was drawn to that area as being one of the only places in California with that combination of geology and aridity but couldn’t find the exact location. The twin-peaked mountain at the left here [Google Maps](https://www.google.com/maps/@33.9563396,-116.1026326,102a,35y,145.35h,77.93t/data=!3m1!1e3) is almost an exact replica of the one in the picture, down to the white gullies in the center, and the mountains further in the background are close enough to match when you take angle into account.

I’ve done several image searches. From these, I don’t think it is Squaw Tank in JTNP.

I shortened the URLs and they are safe to use.

[https://is.gd/1PpMVg](https://is.gd/1PpMVg) \< images, Squaw Tank  
[https://is.gd/qNu2DR](https://is.gd/qNu2DR) \< images, Squaw Tank Joshua Tree  
[https://is.gd/VxTE32](https://is.gd/VxTE32) \< images, Squaw Tank Joshua Tree National Park  
[https://is.gd/JM0VsL](https://is.gd/JM0VsL) \< images, Squaw Tank rock pillar  
[https://is.gd/b5AOCp](https://is.gd/b5AOCp) \< images, Joshua Tree National Park  
[https://is.gd/b8240K](https://is.gd/b8240K) \< images, rock pillar Joshua Tree National Park

I went through JTNP a couple of months ago and I must say, the boulders there are similar to those in the OP.