The hook
In the crumbling badlands where the San Andreas Fault crosses the desert near the Salton Sea, a hike threads up a slot canyon so narrow you climb it by ladder.
01Why it's worth it
The Mecca Hills are a maze of eroded, folded rock thrown up by the San Andreas Fault, and the Ladder Canyon loop runs right through the strangest of it. You start up the wide gravel wash of Painted Canyon, its walls streaked rust and green and grey, then duck into a side slot that pinches to shoulder-width and climbs through a series of wooden and metal ladders, five to fifteen feet each, bolted in where the canyon steps up. Up top the route follows a ridge with the whole desert and the distant Salton Sea spread below, then drops back down the painted wash. It's about four and a half miles, an adventure out of all proportion to its length, and it stays uncrowded mostly because it's a long dirt drive to get there. Dogs can't manage the ladders, and neither can anyone in a hurry.
02How to experience it
The trailhead is at the end of several miles of unpaved Painted Canyon Road, off Box Canyon Road near Mecca, about eight and a half hours from the Bay. The roads close seasonally after rain, so check first and don't attempt them wet. Go clockwise so you climb the ladders rather than descend them. Hike it October through April only; summer here runs past 110 degrees and the canyon becomes a furnace. Carry water and a headlamp for the dark slots.