Ladder Canyon in the Mecca Hills, California
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This is our first update of 2011, yeah! Last year Patti and I hiked over 1,000 miles all over Southern California. We’re hoping to double that number this year. When I look back over my notes for the last several months, it’s hard for me to believe how many places we went and the amount of miles we hiked. We squeezed in five years worth of hiking into 12 short months. We’re excited about 2011! It’s going to be a great year! We’ll be compiling a list of our favorite hikes and publishing our own hiking book within the next year. We’re excited about sharing our favorite hikes with the general public. We want to publish something different then what’s available now. In the last year, I’ve purchased a few hiking books and they’re filled with hikes that are only two or three miles long. Why drive somewhere for a two mile hike? In the book that we’ll be publishing, our hikes will range in distance from 5 to 15 miles long, and they’ll be all day hikes, we’ll also give fun facts and insider information regarding each hiking location.
We have been hiking, but not as much as we would like to. In the beginning of January, it rained a lot. At El Moro, they said it actually rained 16 inches in just two weeks. Most of the parks around here have been closed. Patti and I did manage to hike a few of the closed trails anyways. It was kind of nice having the whole park to ourselves. We saw lots of wildlife, about five coyotes and another bobcat. The mud did eventually became a pain, our boots got very muddy and it seemed like they weighed ten pounds each. I think Patti and I have seen enough rain to last us for another year.
Recently I’ve been reading about this one hike just outside of Palm Springs, that seemed really cool, and it was close, just about 150 miles from our home. It’s in the Mecca Hills and it’s called the Painted Canyon / Ladder Canyon Hike. As you’re leaving Palm Springs heading east on the 10 Freeway, you want to take exit 168, which is also the exit for Joshua Tree, instead of turning left to go to Joshua Tree, you’ll make a right, and travel down the road for 15 miles until you get to the Painted Canyon Road. Now the Painted Canyon Road is 4 miles long and it’s a dirt/sandy road, a few miles in, it does start to be a bit more sandy and you can get stuck in the sand, easily. We saw three different cars stuck in the sand. A few ways to avoid this is to let some of the air out of your tires, make sure you drive in someone else’s tire tracks, don’t stop when you feel the deep sand, if you do stop, you will sink. You might want to bring a shovel with you, just incase. When you reach the end of the road you’ll see the Painted Canyon trailhead to your right, the entrance to Ladder Canyon is about a 1⁄2 mile into your hike. It’ll be on your left, but it’s really hard to see. You’ll see a brownish metal pole on your right, this is the Ladder Canyon trail marker, but the writing on this trail marker has been scratched off. You have to climb over a few rocks to get into the canyon, as soon as you do, you come across your first ladder, climb down and now you’re in the canyon. Continue up the canyon and you’ll come across a few more ladders. It is a really fun hike. Inside this slotted canyon it has a sandy, but firm floor, it is a lot cooler then it is outside. Being inside Ladder Canyon really reminded Patti and I of the movie, 127 Hours, which is based on the Aron Ralston's story… Aron had to cut his arm off after it became trapped by a huge bolder in an isolated canyon in Utah while he was canyoneering. This canyon we were in, looked just like the canyon he was in.
Our hike was about 5 miles long, with an elevation gain of about 500 feet. Once we worked our way out of the canyon and reached the top of the trail we were high above the canyon, overlooking the Salton Sea, and in the distance we could see San Jacinto, which we hiked up to that peak, back in July, and if we looked directly behind us we could see Joshua Tree.
We stayed on the lookout point for about fifteen minutes, before deciding to head back through, Ladder Canyon, instead of continuing on the trail to the right, which would have lead us through Painted Canyon back to our car, Patti wanted to hit up the ladders one more time. We did do this hike in January, and it was only about 75 to 80 degrees out. During the summer, I know it gets to be over 100 degrees. Make sure you bring lots of water, also be aware of the sandy road. It is easy to get stuck in the sand out there, and there was no cell service there, also no restrooms.
Patti and I are already planning our next hike to Ladder Canyon. If you live in Southern California, make your way out there and do this hike! And if you haven’t seen the movie, 127 Hours, see it! It’s a great movie!