Palm Springs - Ladders and Slot Canyons

After we left Slab City, we headed north along side the Salton Sea, a haven for birds in the winter. We’re always looking for neat places to camp and here, on the Salton Sea, facing the Sea itself, looking out over the beach towards the setting sun would be heavenly. We’ll keep this in mind. At one beach we got out of the car to walk along it to see the birds. 

We also stopped at the Visitor Center for the Salton Sea State Park where we learned of a neat docent led kayak trip Sunday at noon. We signed up since that sounded like fun and we don’t kayak very much. Well, to tell the truth, the last time we kayaked was 8 years ago near Las Vegas where we put into the Colorado River right below the Hoover Dam and got out about 8 miles later at Willow Beach. We thought that since the water was flowing from the dam down the Colorado to the Sea that the current would be with us and make for an easy paddle. Nope. Wrong. Big Mistake. The wind blows north UP the canyon and it was a slog of a paddle. But we stopped at hot springs and caves and ate lunch on the beach and it was a cool adventure.

But, our main goal was the Ladders hike. Now, we’ve done this before but we’ve enjoyed it so much, that we’ve actually done this every time we’re in Palm Springs. Slot canyons, ladders to get from one level to another, boulders to clamber over - what’s not to like? However, the slots wind around for several miles, there are many different ones branching off and, when you finally get out on top of the hills, there are many paths back. Sounds like a full day of hiking, right? And, if you thought that, you’d be right. However we’ve already had a full day, it’s 3:30 in the afternoon, the sun vanishes behind the mountains about 5:00 and - everyone else who hiked here today was streaming out as we were entering. They must have wondered what those two old geezers were doing beginning a never-ending hike at 3:30. And, truth to tell, we might have also. But, it’s all about the adventure.

As we were heading in we met two families with kids heading out. Well, first we heard the echoes of their shouts and laughter as they scrambled down the ladders and around the bounders. They had hiked this trail yesterday and, since the kids had enjoyed it so much, they were hiking it again.

And here’s a picture of Gary climbing one of the ladders. ‘Nancy, you took this same picture last year, how many pictures of my tush on a ladder do you need?’ ‘But, Sweetums, that’s the only way to show what we’re doing.’

Anyway, it’s a neat slot canyon that requires some boulder clambering before you enter the slot. Then, once in the slot, you need ladders to climb from one level to another. Who ever thought that Gary was such an intrepid hiker? Here he is clambering over a large boulder wedged between the two walls of the canyon. Me, I shinnied under the boulder, both coming and going.

We love this hike and it was difficult to turn back. Finally, after Gary climbed a rock fall to the top of the ridge, he reported that he wasn’t sure which way we had taken out last year and that we’d better head back the way we had come in. OK. And, sure enough, as we were driving off in our car, dusk descended. Whew, just in time.

We met a lot of interesting people and saw lots of interesting things on this road trip. We met Bren who was hitchhiking to the Internet Cafe in the slabs, we saw Salvation Mountain and we hiked the Ladders hike one more time. A three-fer. I’ll leave you with two pictures of the slot, one looking down it and one looking up.