In we go. Our first hike in the area was the Ladders hike in Painted Canyon. The 5 mile approach road was a bit bumpy but we made it and found this stone arrow leading us in the right direction. Would not have known to enter here without the arrow. Notice the ladder leaning up against the big boulder in the middle of the photo. The first of many aluminum ladders to traverse today.
The beginning of the hike looks like there is no where for the path to take you. As this is a slot canyon hike we knew to expect the walls to close in around us.
Just this short little ladder? Must be more up ahead if the trail is called the Ladder Trail.
The places a good ladder will take you! This is one of the widest portions. Good thing I did not eat a full lunch or I might not fit.
Where to now? I initially thought that up and to the left might work but….
Hard to believe that this ladder and opening was right around the corner.
Figured I would spare y’all a few bigger pictures of my butt by putting the next few ladders in a gallery and not a stand alone picture. What a cool place!
After a while we “popped out” to this nice barren ridgeline. A few miles of ridge walking is always nice for views of the surrounding valleys and scenery.
After a while we were repelling down a few spots with ropes as the ladders would not safely work in these areas. Kind of cool.
The walk back to the car was in what folks around here call a “wash”. Basically a dry river bed that is there to carry heavy rain runoff during the few major rain events that hit the area. Not as exciting to walk a wash as to walk through slot canyons but the colors and general scenery is out of this world.
Just a few pics of the walk out. Love the line of demarcation on the right photo.
On the left we were not sure what mineral caused the white in the rocks and on the right we were racing to get out of the canyon before the sun set.
Next we took a separate hike up near Joshua Tree National Park. We were not expecting much but we got a good workout and got some surprisingly good views:
So nice to have to protect yourself from the sun in February.
Oh, the life of a desert cactus! What a view it has all day long. In the distance is the Salton Sea. California’s largest lake. It was formed due to an accident on the canal system for the Colorado River Basin. The river breached the levee and poured into the valley here for a few years creating the lake. It has no natural water feeding into it so it is slowly evaporating away. The salinity of the lake is about twice that of the ocean and getting worse every day.
With views like this we could hike the many paths for days. Only ran into one other couple from the DC area during this hike so plenty of solitude for us.
We love hiking, or bike riding as the sun is beginning to set as our shadows appear and seem to follow us. Funny how we can never beat them in a race!