Arroyo Tapiado April 30

A late flight into Palm Springs was followed by an even later drive. The desert was alive with foxes, coyotes, kangaroo rats, bunnies, and other wildlife using the night. Without incident I made it out to Agua Caliente County Park and Heather and Claire's campsite. The morning started heating up fast and we drove the sandy washes out to nearby Arroyo Tapiado, home of California's best collection of mud caves formed out of the expansive clay badlands. We almost arbitrarily crawled into one of the caves but instead opted to do a loop hike, something I have never had a chance to do out here. We went up the so called Chasm Cave, spacious with easy walking for most of its length and some nice sweeping meanders. In a few places there were skylights temporarily breaking up the subterranean. Fortunately above the cave there were still several deep alcove corners, allowing us to stay mostly out of the sun during the hike.

After many twists and turns we spotted the subtle entrance of the tributary E-Ticket Cave entering on the left, which was to be our route up the the badland plateau above. Now we got dusty as this complex cave forced us to climb, crawl, and squeeze through multiple levels of meanders. Sometimes low was easiest, other times going up and over was best. We mostly intuited the easiest way but this became quite the adventure compared to the spacious cave earlier. Progress was slow but eventually we made it back into the sunlight, thoroughly coated in white dust. It took us about 20 minutes to go about 250 feet, but it felt longer both in time and distance.

We bypassed some deep infeeder sinkholes and picked our way across the bright badlands, following the rock units to the southeast. The saddle area had abundances of gypsum, glinting in the sun like broken glass. Before long we started heading down the next wash as the walls built and intermittent caves started to show.

The first significant cave was Skylight Cave, which threw a couple downclimbing challenges at us but had some nice light and some nice natural bridges overhead (frontispiece). We raced through the sunny section between caves, eager to dive back into the cool darkness.

The last cave, Carey's Cave, was particularly impressive with the largest passageways of any of the mud caves I have seen here. We spotted about fifty bats roosting on the ceiling just inside the cave's top entrance and saw them periodically dart overhead the rest of the way through. This cave had some really impressive sweeping meanders and a tall roof that must have approached 40 feet high in places. Altogether it was a pleasant stroll and a good way to round off our loop (I'm glad we went the direction we did). Carey's Cave ended quite abruptly at a particularly non-descript hole, then we walked Arroyo Tapiado the short 0.3 miles back to the car.

I hung around for some swimming and relaxing, having a chance to take a dip in each of the three pools before driving back home. Thanks to Heather and Claire for letting me crash their girl's weekend. It was nice to have a little kidventure.

Mecca Hills April 16

Serendipitously Keith, Kari, and dog Zora were already planning to camp in the Mecca Hills when I suggested a canyon exploration hike. I was keen to check out the three remaining slots I have not explored in the east fork network of Painted Canyon. I knew the middle fork that Heather and I looped around on our last hike ended at an unclimbable dryfall and so this time we came prepared with helmets, harnesses, and anchor gear to ensure success. We met up with Keith easily enough and set off hiking at 9am with desert heat already creeping in. We hiked up the sandy wash through the colorful basement rocks before entering the conglomerate. In very little time we passed the tributaries we had explored as a loop last time and continued up the more southerly wash branch. Off on the left we spotted a curious slot that cut into a cliff forming an interesting abandoned rincon- we dropped packs to explore this very unique slot for a few minutes before continuing on. The bedrock roof over the slot caught the reflected golden light particularly well.

Continuing on the wash became a shallow slot. Over about 500 ft it built in height and closed in narrow to become a dark slot with several chockstone boulders overhead. We dropped packs again to poke into a less interesting side canyon, then continued up. We had a couple spots with some "over-under" boulder piles to contend with. With help Zora and the rest of us managed just fine. More very high quality chockstone slot continued to impress. In this deep section we came to a confusing maze-like junction we soon recognized as our two slot branches; the plan was to go up one and down the other. We decided to go up the more northerly branch (longer with a larger catchment), which ended up being the right decision given the obstacles thrown at us. Almost immediately we found a 7 ft ladder to climb, a fantastic slot section, then another 6 ft ladder.

The twists and turns continued as the canyon opened up slightly. About halfway up this branch the canyon opened up into a broad amphitheater, fortunately with a 10 ft ladder to help us up its dryfall. After this the slot relented but we still had a steep walled wash. We detoured to check out a 6 ft ladder that would take us the wrong way, and then continued up the main branch, passing a beaten up 8 ft ladder curiously sitting in the wash. Through a short slot cutting into a cliff we came to another amphitheater, obviously the last obstacle until we gained the plateaulands above. After some deliberation Keith and I decided that 8 ft ladder we passed would be just what we needed and so we back tracked to grab it and set it against the wall. This ladder was precariously positioned and damaged at the top, but with care we managed to get everybody up it. 

Now exposed to full sun, we traversed the loose slopes to gain the catchment dividing ridge and then hiked a faint trail for a short 1000 ft before diving into the head of the southern fork. The slot started pretty quick and ended quick too- a 1000 ft of very nice slot canyon brought us to a particularly dark and narrow hallway and a 6 ft downclimb that brought us back to the junction we had been at before.

We continued back down the canyon, now retracing our steps from earlier in the day. Everyone was pretty jazzed and enjoyed our loop so it did not take much deliberation when we reached the rincon slot and everyone was all for hiking the 1.5 miles to the head of the middle fork of the more northerly network. 

We exited the wash on a surprisingly good trail near the rincon slot that after some scrambling brought us to a nice easy to travel ridge. As we ascended the ridge we were rewarded with great views of the Salton Sea, Coachella Valley, and the particularly desolate wash network further east. It was hot and sweaty but a persistent wind did a lot to help cool us down. At one point we spotted a weird red UFO, only to eventually realize it was a plane dragging an advertisement over the hoards at the Coachella Festival. We looped around the head of a couple canyons then down a ridge towards the middle fork. 

Rincon slot in mid-ground

A view towards Coachella Valley

I guessed at a route into the middle fork and guessed correctly; it spit us out right below the natural bridge dryfall I remembered from our previous hike. This canyon had a lot of variety and several downclimbs including two some used handlines on. At the base of the second dryfall was a particular dramatic chockstone overhead where we stopped for a short moment. 

The canyon continued with great variety, play of light, and sweeping curves. There were some more over-under chockstone scrambling but overall this second half of the canyon was straightforward until its end.

Rather abruptly the floor dropped out of the slot down a 25 ft dryfall chute that I immediately recognized as the end of the canyon that I had seen from below on our previous hike. Fortunately a well-placed chockstone made an ideal anchor with minimal awkwardness. Keith went first with Zora daisychained beneath him, really not thrilled with the situation but just fine once she was back on firm ground. The rest of us followed without incident. We strolled through the shadows the rest of the way down the slot, then returned to the cars. Kari ended up riding with us for date shakes while Keith took the slow way back in their Vanagon. Epic sandstorms pounded the highway near Coachella. Dinner at Crazy Coyote Tacos rounded out the day before a San Timateo detour because of a closed Highway 60.

 

All agreed it was a great day out with good adventure, great company, and fantastic scenery. The slot canyon shadows meant an overall comfortable 6.5 mi hike despite the hot day. There is plenty more left for me to explore but this was the last major area that stands out on aerial imagery. Mecca Hills continues to impress. Truly one of southern California's secret treasures once you venture off the couple popular hikes everyone does.