This hike was a total hidden gem, easily exceeding my expectations and probably one of my very favorite hikes I have done in southern California. While I have been many times to drive and hike through the classic Mecca Hills geology of Painted Canyon and its many dryfalled slot canyons, now immensely popular, until this hike I hadn't explored the lesser known southeastern Mecca Hills. I knew of a single "Grotto Canyon" that would be of interest, apparently requiring flashlights, but could find little else online. We had plans to go a few times over the last several months but for various reasons this did not happen. In hindsight it was probably for the best because the delay gave me more interest in researching the area ahead of time. Google Earth suggested some other good slot canyons and so I plotted a circuitous 9 mile loop that would take us past the most promising shadowed cracks in the earth.
We parked in a sandy wash a short distance off the paved Box Canyon Road and easily found the old cut trail of mysterious origins that took us over a badland saddle and into the more extensive wash network on the other side. The highest point offered nice views of the Salton Sea and Santa Rosa Mountains beyond. A loose spur trail led us directly to "Sheep Hole Oasis" marked on the topo; with its four palm trees I had to hope it was more impressive once. From Sheep Hole Oasis there were rusty metal poles marking the route to Hidden Spring, again of mysterious origin. Travel was surprisingly good on the alluvial benches, not nearly as soft and sandy as they could have been. This wash network was extensive and I wondered if people sometimes get lost out here.
We passed through a slight narrows of the main wash with a towering wall of conglomerate to the south and beyond a great colorful pile of thoroughly altered bedrock, like Artist's Palette at Death Valley but more impressive. At the mouth of the side canyon to Hidden Spring we took a short detour up, around and under the boulder chokes to immerge at a much more impressive oasis of palms. Beneath the highest palms in the wash I was particularly surprised to find a standing pool of about 5 gallons of water that appeared to have been dug by bighorn sheep seeking the spring! What a sight out here. Clearly a sacred spot to the animals.
We returned to the main wash briefly because the next side canyon was Grotto Canyon. In just a few minutes walk the canyon walls rose and narrowed, and then after a turn in the canyon it appeared to end at a massive rockfall. I soon recognized this as the bottom of the grotto, a short climb leading to a small ladder that was one of the few landmarks I had seen in photos online. A short downclimb brought us into a dark cavernous room; "grotto" was certainly an appropriate description and the flashlights came out.
Thinking this may be the best thing we may see on the hike (and being plenty impressive), we dropped packs and enjoyed some tasty snacks in the cool of the gravel floored grotto. Looking up was a maze of light filtering through carved curves of the slot canyon and multi-story jumbles of boulders. A couple hikers past through (one of two groups that we saw on the hike), and we waited out long enough to not run into them again.
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| Lower grotto (and below) |
It turned out Grotto Canyon had three distinct boulder choke narrow grotto sections, each about 200 feet in length with wider corridors between. Incredible hundred feet high slickenlined fault planes were prevalent everywhere in the canyon and were the failure surfaces along which these enormous canyon walls were collapsing. It is hard to say whether direct movement on these faults was the trigger for these collapses but when surrounded in this canyon it certainly felt like it!
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| Looking to the bottom of the middle grotto |
While the lower grotto was probably my favorite of the three with its chamber of filtered light, the middle grotto was certainly the darkest. Flashlight were certainly needed to navigate it. One section had a coarse conglomerate slot with a shelf to stem across. Great golden light filtered down the textures walls at the top of the middle grotto.
A short distance on was the upper grotto, which had an imposing gateway-like lower entrance. The was probably the shortest and least interesting of the three (despite being where "The Grotto" is labeled on the USGS topo map).
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| The gateway of the upper grotto |
After a few short dryfalls the canyon spilled us out into the open alluvial flats above. From here on I was betting on us finding a route down the next canyon over so we did not have to backtrack. We climbed up the loose slope out of the wash easy enough and crossed over a saddle into the head of the next canyon system. It threw an unclimbable 15 foot dryfall at us; fortunately we could bypass this on the right. From here on the canyon continued to pick up steam, with four notable downclimbs as the canyon walls rose and the dark slot ahead of us kept us wondering what we would encounter next. I checked out the side branches as we gained them; it turned out we picked the best one to go down! The conglomerate in these canyons makes for really pleasant downclimbing; the cement was strong and the cobble smooth, making for reliable handholds. Some slabby boulders even protruded plank-like up to 1m out from the walls.
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| In the next canyon east of Grotto (and two below) |
We turned a corner and the slot relented, spitting us out into the sun and sand. Before reaching the main canyon system we had one more slotted tributary to detour up. This one we dropped packs for. This canyon had a solid 500 feet of high quality sinuous slot with great lighting. I went nuts with my camera and as it happens this seems to be the slot I selected the most photos for this account. I think probably because it had the right amount of light where several of the other canyons were too dark for photos. Near the top was a slightly tricky 7 foot dryfall climb that I did. I went a ways further to an unpleasant canyon-wide spiky bush...I decided that is where the slot must have ended...
Back at the main wash we ran into a few more people. We quickly past them and headed up the longest wash. This one had two really interesting badland amphitheaters that we past. With more time they probably would have been worth exploring.
About a hundred feet back down the slot, just before things got really dark, I noticed the right wall suddenly became boulders and something about it just felt fishy. This retriggered my previous confusion. Despite no obvious footprints or wear marks, I decided to take a chance crawling into the darkness under the first boulder and then peering over the second. I noticed light in a strange direction, behind the wall of the slot. Another branch completely hidden and guarded by the boulder collapses! Instantly the confusing terrain now made sense to me and this secret branch that is the easiest thing to walk past unnoticed was actually the main branch of the slot. Heather wasn't to keen on the crawl so I continued on. After only 50 feet I could tell this was the darkest and most impressive slot yet and so I returned to insist she explore it with me. This branch went on for an extremely dark 500ft. My photos could certainly not do it justice (but see frontispiece anyway). Every step was giddy wonderment and in my opinion it might be the best slot canyon in southern California. I climbed out the top and went far enough to convince myself there was no more. Returning back through this slot we decided to challenge ourselves by turning off our headlights and feeling our way back through along the textured walls. It was a really cool experience. Between the secret entrance and darkness I thought Deception Slot was a fitting name.
We were pretty jazzed by the fortuitous find of Deception Slot as we worked our way back down the wash system to check out one final slot. It was a full 2.5 miles down past the colored badlands and golden conglomerate walls and our approach trail, and then up a sinuous tributary to the mouth of another gateway-like slot entrance.
This slot delivered 700 feet of wonderful twists, turns, and dark corners. Pre-existing footprints only slightly diminished the excitement of walking through one more dramatic hallway. Towards the top of the slot we had one awkward 7 foot climb to make. The day was getting on and a tasty meal in Palm Springs was calling to us so we did not dally while we worked our way through.
Once out of the slot the way then alternated between brief slots, conglomerate walls and open badlands as we worked our way up the wash and through the stratigraphy. It had none of the overwhelming beauty of the conglomerate slots but it added interest to the hike and helped expand the hike into a journey. We climbed all the way up to the saddle without challenge. The last few steps I peered over with a little nervousness, not sure how challenging it would be to get down. Fortunately it was easy (even with a worn path of sorts), and we were soon strolling through someone's camp and then walking the short distance along the pavement back to the car.
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| Final saddle before pavement |
My expectations for the hike were smashed in the best possible ways. I can only imagine it is a matter of time until people trickle over to this area from Painted Canyon. We rounded out a thoroughly enjoyable day with a tasty meal of decadent vegan food and designer frescas in Palm Springs. A great little day trip.
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