Painted Canyon

Entrance to Painted Canyon

On the east side of the Coachella Valley runs the San Andreas fault and the Mecca Hills. The hills are dissected by a maze of medium size to tiny canyons. Painted canyon was today's
destination.

Before venturing into the Mecca hills, we made a brief detour to the east shore of the Salton Sea. My goal was to see some new species of tiger beetles. I was concerned, because the guide lists most of the local species as finishing their flight times in October. So it's not surprising that I saw none. Fortunately, the bird life was worth the visit.

East Shore of the Salton Sea

Black-necked Stilts


White Pelicans were abundant in the shallows

The first partof the Painted Canyon loop takes you through Ladder Canyon. Ladder Canyon is a narrow but deep slot canyon. The name comes from a series of ladders that have been placed in the canyon to allow hikers to negotiate several dry waterfalls in the canyon. This is not an exercise for the claustrophobic.

Leon on one of the ladders


In a narrow section of Ladder Canyon
This photo only works with somebody in it to show the scale


Looking up from Ladder Canyon, the sky is a narrow ribbon of blue far above you.

The canyon first closes in on you. At it's narrowest, I was unable to hold my butterfly net horizontally because the caynon walls were too close together. Gradually the walls become lower and further apart. Eventually, the trail emerges onto the stark, parched canyon rim.

Shadow self-portrait on the canyon rim


Beavertail Cactus

The trail winds along the rim of painted canyon for a way, then drops into the canyon itself. Painted Canyon is said to be named for the brigthly colored rock formations in the canyon walls. I found the colors to be brighter and more varied on our hike in Parallel Red Canyon two years ago. But it's still beautiful. In several places, white quartz fills myriad cracks in nearly black rocks, making them look as though they had been spattered with paint. Perhaps this is the real source of the canyon's name.

In Painted Canyon

Rocks and vegetation on the canyon floor

White quartz in a black rock gives it a painted appearance

We saw few insects on this hike. The grasshopper Trimerotropis pallidipennis posed nicely- but as a very abundant western species it was not terribly exciting. The sunset over the Santa Rosa Mountains and the Salton Sea was.

Trimerotropis pallidipennis

Salton Sunset