TR: Ladder Canyon Hike, Mecca, California
Is this the right place for a Trip Report? Hard to tell with all the new forums. Anyway, here it goes.
Every April since my son was born, my family ventured down to Palm Springs in April to hang out with my parents for a week. The first year was a lean snow year, but there was just enough to tour around atop the tram and nearby at Tahquitz. Since then, the snow years have been much leaner, so I ventured out toward Trestles to get some waves for a day or two. With no surf expected for this trip, I started looking around for other adventure options. Then, my wife returned from a conference where a colleague had told here about the Ladder Canyon Hike. So we decided to check it out. Turns out this hike was fairly spectacular, and certainly unique in a California stroll. Here are some pics. More (and bigger, cause tgr won't post these full size) pics and words in the blogosphere.
We took the right hand loop up the Big Painted Canyon, with plans to descend the Ladder Canyon. The Ladder Canyon is a slot canyon, and offers much more shade and is a lot cooler in the mid day heat. About a mile up the Big Painted.
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There are a ton of spur canyons in this area. You can head up them for a while and some even have ladders to help with jumps in the canyon floor elevation. The biggest one we climbed was about 25 feet. Others were shorter, but still very helpful.
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A few miles into the hike, the canyon walls give way to slopes, and you ascend out of the old river bed and up to the high the highlands.
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A short hike up and over the ridge and the Salton Sea comes into view.
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Maybe a mile into the hike through the high country and we came to a series of intersections. First we, unkowingly took the wrong one. It had some views though.
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In fact, it was this particular spur trail that gave us views down into the Big Painted Canyon.
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We could also see across to one of the spur canyons we hiked earlier.
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Eventually, it ended at a point about 400 feet above where the Big Painted and Ladder Canyon meet.
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So, we back tracked. The views kept us interested.
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Once back where all the trails merged, it was easy to see our mistake and were soon descending through the slots.
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Desert blooms came early in 2015, but still plenty around.
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Not the deepest of slots, but Ladder Canyon was a fun stroll.
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There are three big drops in the canyon floor. Hence the ladders.
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And some zones were narrower than others. One of the spots not to be during a flash flood.
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Back in the day, the ladders were wood ones built on the spot. The modern metal one sure looked much more inviting.
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We exited where many others entered. You got to wonder about the guy who first found this place. It is basically just a rock pile.
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Anyway, wanted to share in case any of you find your self stuck down there getting bored by a pool. I don't play golf. So hikes like these are nice finds. Enough info on the net to get you out there. But do bring plenty of water. The trail head is really pretty far out there, and we had been told that more rescues occur in that zone than any where else in Southern California. Good stuff.
