Into Canyons and Along the Inland Sea

Upon leaving Joshua Tree National Park, we crossed I-10 onto Box Canyon Road, a very scenic road at the bottom of an ever-more-beautiful canyon, recently paved, only reopened last month.  However, in order to get to our trail head, John had to drive the BEETLE 4.7 miles on a sandy, gravelly, unpaved road with much washboard action.  The Ladder Canyon/Painted Canyon trail consists going up 5-6 aluminum ladders at the beginning of the Ladder Canyon, essentially a slot canyon, ending up along the rim of the wider Painted Canyon for a stretch, then going down to the bottom of Painted Canyon, continuing back to parking, with 2 more ladders towards the end.  It was super fun.  In my mind, the drive was more challenging than the trail itself. 

Afterwards we continued our epic drive on CA-111 on the east side of Salten Sea, a one-time accidental byproduct of water engineering.  Since a) there is no outlet, and b) the fresh feed < the evaporation, the sea is receding and becoming increasingly salty.  We stopped at Bombay Beach.  Not surprisingly, it has the best post-apocalypse-look of all the places we have been around the world; not to mention it's more than 200 ft below sea level.  We also stopped at a wildlife refuge.  There were surprisingly many flocks of water birds flying around, e.g. hundreds of great blue herons! 

Next, we drove by some Ricardo Breceda sculptures in Borrego Springs, on our way to have a quick walk to the Palm Canyon in Anza Borrego State Park; did not spot a single big horned sheep.  The drive back to San Diego took us to 4000 ft on the Montezuma Valley Road.  Being a Friday afternoon, there were many cars going the other way heading to the high desert, something we understand now that we have been initiated.

The drive up to Ladder Canyon was white-knuckle for me. Here's a shot on the drive back to the main road - I was almost relaxed.


It's called Ladder Canyon for a reason.




We had lots of fun walking up the slot canyons.




Some video.


Link: https://flic.kr/p/2hzvSzR



Link: https://flic.kr/p/2hzt3wN

After a few wrong turns we finally made it out of the slots and up onto a ridge with great views around ...


...and after a few kms we walked down into the canyon on the right to return.








How could we make a wrong turn with trail markers like these. ;-)


After a few kms on the ridge we head back to the trailhead on a much wider canyon, though there are still several ladders.


Cool geology.


The canyon walk is mostly flat through wide washes but there are 2 ladders at the one narrow section. And, there are swarms of bees at the top of each ladder. Yikes! Lucky it was just a short scramble around them, then down the ladders.




And we are almost at the trailhead. Easy walking. Whew!


The subsequent drive down Rt 111 along the eastern shore of the Salton Sea was pretty cool. We stopped in at Bombay Beach, a former resort, now a ruin. You can see the sea in the distance.




We passed a train along Rt 111.


And made a quick stop at Salvation Mountain before spending the night in Brawley.


The land around the southern shore of the Salton sea is irrigated. Much hay is grown, presumably to feed the thousands of cattle we saw in a giant feedlot. Stacks of hay bales like this are ubiquitous.


The southern shore also boasts the Sonny Bono Salton Sea Wildlife Refuge; an area where bird habitat has been reclaimed.











The Salton Sea, at ~225 ft below sea level, is indeed salty, and traces of salt are seen everywhere.


We've never seen so many Great Blue Herons in one place.


We left the refuge and on a whim took a back road down to the sea. Stark. A dry wind was howling and a coyote ran across the near horizon.




Our last stop in the desert is Anza-Borrego Desert State Park where we walk up to the Palm Oasis. Hot.






It's nice under the palms and we eat our lunch.




And finally, the famous serpent sculpture by Ricardo Breceda.