Mecca Hills South Feb 20

Our last hike to the Mecca Hills was such a success that Heather and I decided to check out some other somewhat promising slot-like features seen on aerial photos in a more obscure, out of the way portion of the Mecca Hills. We parked at the exit for our last loop hike, crossing the mud badland saddle and dropping into the familiar long drainage eventually ending at a very nice slot canyon. We continued out to the main wash and walk through the sand towards the Salton Sea. Just before the mouth of the wash we turned west to go up the next drainage. It became clear (and was confirmed throughout the hike) that this canyon was in the softer sediments at the top of the sequence, less conducive to good slots. Nevertheless we continued exploring all the side canyons on our way up. 

The first side canyon had a nice chamber of sorts with soft sculpted narrows above.

A second side canyon had a formidable 12ft chute to upclimb and some other sculpted narrows above.

What might have been the most promising slot was unreachable due to a formidable crumbling overhanging dryfall I could not figure out how to get up. Eventually we found one decent slot, but nothing like the better known slots in the Mecca Hills.

With all the slot possibilities exhausted I was tempted to try to see if we could at least turn our hike into a loop by continuing up the main canyon and trying to cross over its head. This actually might have been the more interesting part of the hike as the canyon twisted around unexpected curves and cut its way through the alternating hard and soft sediment. 

We made good time up the canyon but were slowed considerably by the crumbly headwall slopes. We took these slow, very slow, but eventually worked our way up to the ridge. To both of our delights it was easy low gradient travel on the other side and we made it back to the car with minimal effort.

It was a nice enough hike but not one I would choose to do with the better options close by. It was great to get out and find our way through some seldom seen badlands.