Had a few days free so went to Palm Springs again (2nd trip this year!). Stayed with my friend, Bud, who is renting a beautiful home in Palm Springs.
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| The full park. |
We went to Joshua Tree National Park on Thursday. It is less than an hour's drive from Palm Springs. There are lots of Joshua "Trees" but what really is the draw are the incredible rock formations.
We stuck to the northern portion of the park where the "trees" are. We did drive to Keys View to take in the expansiveness. You can see the San Andreas fault where it splits into 2 trenches. You can also see the Salton Sea in the far distance. Apparently, you can see Mexico, too. 😉
Video of the Joshua Tree adventure is here. Best viewed in landscape. This one is short.
On Friday we went to Mecca, California which is east of Palm Springs -- California takes a big angle down this far. I had read about the Ladder Canyon and Painted Canyon Trails. These are 2 trails maintained by a local hiking club that are inside a Bureau of Land Management area.
These were two conjoined hikes in geology that is difficult to describe. The Ladder Canyon Trail requires a series of ladders (we went in the up direction) to navigate through very narrow slit canyons. Once you reach the top, you hike along the ridge until you descend quickly into a very wide Painted Canyon.
Both hikes are a kind of endless series of "what-the" and "oh-my" and "that's crazy" things to see and absorb.
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| Entrance into the trailheads for Ladder Canyon and Painted Canyon. |
The Painted Canyon hike does have a brief section of rope and ladder but if you were to start at the beginning you could just hike to there and return. It is spectacular.
The Ladder and Painted Canyon Trails video is here. Best viewed in landscape. This one 7 1/2 minutes because there was so much to see. It also includes the drive getting to the start of the hikes. There are some really good videos on YouTube on how to get to the trail head.
Other things we did before I left on Sunday:
- saw a very funny production of Avenue Q at Revolution Stage Company
- had a kinda wild time at PS Air Bar after Avenue Q
- had dinner with friends Bob and Dianne who are also spending the winter in Palm Springs
- played pickleball 2x with "the boys"
- lounged in the hot tub
- I went for a run!
