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Showing posts with label Salton Sea. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Salton Sea. Show all posts

Monday, May 10, 2021

Take a hike - up and down ladders

Paul watching where he steps

My friend, Larry, asked if I had ever heard of the ladders. I thought that was a strange question, since I’ve been climbing up and down ladders all my life. I should have known better when Larry speaks, the question might require deeper thought.

“You mean, like when Laureen wants a different pair of shoes from the top of our closet? Sure, usually I need an extension ladder. It’s a very tall walk-in.”

“No, I mean the hike through the Painted Canyon Trail near Mecca.”

I shook my head. “Nope, that doesn’t ring a bell, and I’ve been on hikes that you can actually ring a bell at the top of the trail.” Admittedly, a cheap plug for an earlier article I wrote for the Daily Press, concerning Bell Mountain in Apple Valley.

“You need to go,” Larry responded.

No need to ask me twice, unless I wasn’t listening – like I do with our children. If Larry said to go hike this place outside of Mecca, then I would do it.”

“He didn’t mean Saudi Arabia,” Laureen stated. “He’s talking about the town of Mecca by Salton Sea. We’ve been there.”

 “I knew that,” I said, while secretly sticking my passport into my back pocket. 

Turns out, that the Ladder Canyon and Painted Canyon Trail is one of the most popular destinations for outdoorsy people in Southern California. 

According to Alltrails.com – ‘Ladder Canyon and Painted Canyon Trail is a 4.9 mile heavily trafficked loop trail located near Mecca, California that features a waterfall and is rated as moderate. The trail offers a number of activity options and is best used from October until April.’

The reason the trail should only be hiked until the end of April, is that after that – the sun happens to be about thirty yards off the ground in the low desert.

Yes, in April and possibly May, the hike near Salton Sea – which is minus two hundred and twenty-six feet below sea level – is doable. But, like most desert communities, come June – hiker beware.

Looking west from the rim toward Salton Sea

‘Hiker beware’ means that if you venture out into a furnace, and the only floor you have is radiating sand, then the sunscreen you lathered on only means it will take a bit longer for you to bake.

A serious note - always be aware of your surroundings when outdoors. Bring plenty of water, wear a hat, have sunscreen on exposed skin, and check the current weather in the area you are planning on hiking. Mother Nature can play dangerous games on those less observant of her rules. 

“It’s not that hot.”

“I can’t hear you, my ears just melted off my head.”

Be careful out there – sounded like a PSA, didn’t it.

Okay, do I ever take these precautions to heart? Of course not, my job is to go out and find places to visit and tell others about them.

I’m a professional – that usually means, I do stupid things to get published.

“So, when are you going to hike this trail?” Laureen asked.

“I was thinking mid-August, when the temperature would be equal to that on Venus.”

Then our friend, Paul and I decided the end of March would be a better time to hike the Ladders trail. 

The directions to reach the trailhead are easy. Drive south out of the city of Indio on Highway 111 (also known as Grapefruit Boulevard) for about sixteen miles, enter the small town of Mecca (not to be confused with the one is Saudi Arabia), take a left at 4th Street, turn right onto 66th Avenue and then just continue in an easterly direction until reaching Painted Canyon Road. Painted Canyon Road is a four mile dirt road that heads to the trailhead – well paved, and even though some sites state a four-wheel drive vehicle is best (and when aren’t they?) any mode of transportation, except a skateboard, should be able to make the passage. Though, about a quarter of a mile from the trailhead, there is a bit of deep sand, but the cautious driver should not have any issues – unless there are flashfloods, haboobs, earthquakes, or an asteroid strikes.

“It was easy getting here,” Paul stated, as I parked the truck.

I nodded. “I may just put in the blog how easy it was to get here.”

Donning our gear, mainly a water pack, we were ready to start hiking. Even though it was early on a Monday, the trailhead already had a dozen other vehicles parked. Another serious note, when hiking in the desert, no matter the time of year, always try to get an early start – just because the weather says the high will be seventy degrees doesn’t mean it will be a pleasant stroll through the landscape. If there’s no shade, seventy in full sun can be intense – thus, the reason for plenty of water and a hat.

At the trailhead, there was a map of the hike, I took a photo of it, but Alltrails.com had one that I also had downloaded.

“Let’s do this,” I stated, while starting down the sandy trail toward the narrowing canyon walls.

“We’re hiking, not robbing a bank,” Paul stated. “Let’s do this! OMG, we’re following a well-worn path.”

It’s best to ignore Paul early in the morning. He can be a little grumpy.

The first quarter of a mile is through a river bed with deep soft sand, before reaching a large arrow on the ground made out of river rocks pointing to the left. There, a large rock fall marks the first ladder to be used to clamber up through a narrow slot canyon.

Yes, real metal ladders are used to go from one section of the canyon to the next, along the trail as you gain about five hundred and sixty feet in elevation to the top of the rim.

John climbing on of the many ladders

The canyon trail meanders right to left and then left to right, and are tall and narrow. At some points, I had to turn sideways to make my way through, especially after climbing up a ladder and squeezing through the opening at the top.

Paul navigating one of the trickier sections with a ladder

According to hiking-in-ps.com, ‘The Mecca Hills (where Painted Canyon Trail is) were formed by the convergence of the North American Plate and the Pacific Plate along the San Andreas Fault. The geologic formations of Mecca Hills are among the most unusual of their kind in the world.

I determined that “some of the most unusual in the world” was a great description as we hiked through the multi-colored canyons with towering rock walls reaching upward to the blue sky. It was eerie to walk through this natural labyrinth. One moment the sun would be streaming down through the narrow slits above us and then it would be gone, leaving us in an almost twilight darkness.

The narrow canyons wind their way through the area

The shapes of the walls constantly twisted here and there. Various shades of earth greeted us at every step, as if an artist had spent time creating these colorful designs on the canvas of the walls.

Again, according to hiking-in-ps.com, ‘Layers of eroded rock, some over 600 million years old, have been pushed up and overturned by the activity of the San Andreas Fault system.’

It is awe inspiring to see how the violence of the early earth created such dramatic backgrounds for us to witness.

The Ladder Canyon and Painted Canyon Trail, is such a place.

Being a loop trail nearly five miles in length, gives the hiker a lot to view. Beautiful canyon walls, brilliant rock surfaces, tall Ironwood and Smoke trees, and one of the best views of the Salton Sea to the southwest from the top of the rim there could be.

The trail is rated as moderate, but with a steady gait, the hike can be completed in three hours. Of course, it may take longer when stopping to snap a photo of this and that – and there’s plenty of this and that to snap photos of along the way.

Hikers have claimed that Bighorn Sheep frequent the area, along with desert wildlife such as spotted bats, desert tortoises, and prairie falcons. 

We saw ravens.

Even though there seemed to be a lot of people hiking the day we made the trek, there were no lines at the nearly half a dozen ladders, but weekends can be crazily busy with long conga lines forming at the bottoms of the ladders.

If a person is not in a hurry, then what’s a little wait now and then? Relax, join the dance line and enjoy the wonders of Mother Nature.

Paul's arm shows it's not only the heat that can hurt you




Monday, May 11, 2015

Out on the Range


In the middle of the desert just a few miles east of Salton Sea and about fifty or so miles south of Indio, California, exists a place which comes to life only on Saturday nights. Rain or shine and though it is after dusk  this place rocks to varied beats of sound for varied sorts of humans.

We’re talking about The Range! 
Lit up for entertainment!

A place so hip and remote that people come from around the world to visit this famous – or infamous venue to sing, play music, recite poetry, be standup comics, or just want to express their feelings about the world through imagination and creativity.


Mystery Man? Who is he? He wouldn't tell us!






The Range is located within the confines of Slab City – an eclectic setting of RVs, tents, and whatever else which could be an excuse to call home. The Slabbers, as they refer to themselves, have taken to residing within what used to be a 640 acre military installation known as Camp Dunlap, a Marine training facility which operated from 1942 to 1946. By the early 1960’s the installation was demolished and in came the residents taking up space on the cement slabs which used to house barracks and the like. Thus the term ‘slabbers.’



More and more folks moved here with temporary or full time residency, and then like magic a full blown community was hatched.

Home sweet home?

With any village, which the Slabs was turning into, the people wanted more and more things – things like entertainment. This is where the innovative ‘Builder Bill’ comes into play.

 ‘Builder Bill’ who taught himself how to play the guitar, decided that he had a vision. And that epiphany was the design of an outdoor stage where locals and not so locals could come and enthrall the early nighttime crowds.

Locals moving to the groove - perhaps 'enthralled'

 What started out small ended up large with entertainers from about the globe traipsing across the sandy outreaches of the Slabs to bring joy and smiles to hundreds of guests on the seventh eve each week.

Actually, very talented bands

As John and Paul (Laureen wasn’t able to make this adventure) wandered through the crowds ‘grooving’  to the various bands, it was a wonder this seemingly forlorn stretch of stage three short miles from the shores of the Salton Sea weren’t hosting top-notch musical acts. But, perhaps it was – the three bands we listened to were actually very good with one female vocalist who also played acoustic belting out tune after tune impeccably. Sadly it was her last show at The Range since she was moving on the following day to more gigs in San Francisco.

Off to Frisco - last gig at the Range

The guests waved to the beat and yes, there was a strange odor in the air but it was the entertainers allowing the body movements with excellent sounds and not the cannabis. Then again, since the J and L crew did not participate who knows?
No issues – no violence – no drama. People having fun dancing, laughing, singing and having a good time beneath the rising moon at The Range.

People with children – people with dogs – dogs with dogs – people all alone - no one was turned away and the music played on.

 
Touching but oddly awkward.


For more information:

https://www.facebook.com/TheRangeSlabCity

www.slabcity.org