Chuckwalla Trip

Extension
November 18, 2007
By Leonard Friedman
Sometimes you're just not ready for a great weekend to end! We had a great time on Allan & Alan¹s Chuckawalla Mountains trip, but we wanted more. So, after viewing the petroglyphs and live chuckawalla lizard with the group, a few of us intrepid desert explorers decided to add a hike in Ladder Canyon in the Mecca Hills Wilderness on the way home. But first, Debbie Miller, Reda Anderson, Hannah, Rebecca and Leonard Friedman headed back to check out the camp site pointed out earlier by Allan, and what a site it was! Large enough to hold a group of 50, it had an outdoor shower "stall" with a concrete floor and soap tray. It even had a bbq grill, lots of great rocks to climb on, and even ocotillos in full bloom.
On the way back to Interstate 10, we came across a desert tortoise in the middle of the dirt road. (Coincidently, Hannah is now studying about
desert tortoises in her first grade class.) We stopped for a closer but
respectful inspection, and found a very deep burrow just on the side of the road. We took our photographs and gave the tortoise plenty of time to get home, but he wasn't budging. Finally, we drove slowly around him and eventually got on I-10.
After a quick stop at Chiriaco Summit, we drove down the old road towards Box Canyon.
The map said we were near the site of Shaver's well, and we searched for it for a couple of minutes, but only found an entrance into the Mecca Hills Wilder-ness. Back on Box Canyon Rd., we soon passed a concrete monument on the side of the road that may have marked what we had been searching for, but we drove on by in order to leave time for our hike. We continued down the multi-colored canyon, and just as we left the Mecca HIlls behind us, made on right on the dirt Painted Canyon Rd. The beautiful scenery on our right was the many hues of the Mecca Hills, and very reminiscent of some of the famous sites in Death Valley. Eventually, the road turns into a canyon in the Mecca Hills, and we were surrounded with spectacular sights and lots of birds (vultures?) circling above us.
At the end of the road, the hike begins up the wide Painted Canyon.
Less than a mile later, a sign indicates the entrance to Ladder Canyon. At first the way appears impassible, with lots of large fallen rocks. A little exploring, however, indicates a pathway up and between the rocks on the right side leading shortly to the first of our ladders. The ladder was placed there to enable us to descend the other side of the rock fall to the floor of the very narrow slot canyon. In places, the canyon walls were over 100 feet high, but even little Hannah could touch both sides of the canyon simultaneously without effort. The next ladder, up a dry waterfall, was more challenging. It was at about 20 feet high, consisting of a couple of aluminum ladders that had been welded together, and became a bit wobbly as you got to the top. Most of us made it to the top, and continued exploring up the canyon, encountering three more easy ladders en route. After a while, the canyon opened up a bit and I took the opportunity to climb up to the ridge top to see how much further we had to go. Let's just say that the ridge was a lot higher and steeper than it looked, and I felt those sore muscles in my legs for days after this climb.
From the top, I could see that those down below were close to the top of the canyon. I walked out to canyon overlooks a couple times to shout greetings at them, and eventually we rendezvoused at a giant cairn marking the trail entrance at top of the canyon. From there we had a great overview of the Mecca Hills, and could see as far as the Salton Sea. My book said that it was possible to do a loop, returning via Painted Canyon, which I had in fact done 7 years earlier. But this time, without a map and with no signs to tell us which way to go, we decided to return the way we came and to get a different perspective of Ladder Canyon. We returned to our cars just as it was getting dark. After fueling up in the small town of Mecca (very cheap gas), we took 89S north to I-10, made the obligatory stop at Hadleys in Cabazon, and then finally headed for home.