Saturday April 19, 17.1mi/27.5km

Bdy of Mecca Hills Wilderness (116.8/60ft) to Hidden Spring Canyon (133.7/730ft) (CA) +0.2mi to Hidden Spring

I woke up a little later than usual from my cozy little spot, and got moving at 7:30.

I hiked an hour on the dirt road before I started to enter the Painted Canyon.

Getting deeper into it…

I had like a dozen cars pass me and when I got to the end of the road, that’s about how many I saw parked there. Apparently this is a popular dayhiking destination. Now free of the road, I hiked up the deeply incised canyon.

There was so much geology on display In the canyon and I took a ton of photos today. Like this cool black and white striped rock.

Thinking about that rock, I thought ahead to lunch when I would have a black and white cookie. My attention was quickly refocused on the task at hand as the canyon narrowed and I saw a ladder in my path.

Looking back down at the double ladder section.

As I continued to hike up the canyon the walls became shorter and less vertical, and in some cases I could see where they had recently collapsed.

I knew I was about to leave the canyon, so I decided to stop for lunch while I still had the shade of the Palo Verde trees. After lunch, it was a quick jaunt up out of the wash and onto a plateau. Looking South, I could see the Salton Sea again.

This area has been a designated Wilderness since 1994, but the old 4wd tracks still haven’t healed over. Which made them easy to follow all across the plateaus and ridgelines.

I heard a noise and then looked to the north where I saw a very strange sight. Flying over the I-10 corridor was a small plane pulling an advertising banner, much like you would see at the beach.

Except at the beach, it makes sense to advertise to the thousands of people who are there. In that part of the desert there’s basically zero people. Weird. I continued along ridgelines until I got to the high point for the day, a small 1800 ft summit. With great views in all directions, but especially of the Salton Sea.

The hike down to Box Canyon was overall pretty steep and there was a narrow portion of ridgeline, though not nearly as narrow or scary as the guidebook made it sound.

I got down to Box Canyon around 4 pm and followed the paved road for a little while before I dug up my water cache.

Cache #4 was another success! At this point I’m 131 miles into the Desert Trail and I’ve seen exactly one water source on the route…. and that was a water tap at a campground. Yup, it’s a dry trail. I packed up my water and started hiking into the Orocopia Mountains, the next section of this trail. For the first time on the Desert Trail, I was hiking on an actual constructed trail. Amazing!

It followed a few small ridges through a badlands area.

Towards the end of the trail, I could see down into Hidden Spring Canyon, which was my next destination.

After a mile of constructed trail, I joined the wash in Hidden Spring Canyon.

I thought this was a really interestingly shaped old dead tree.

I decided to investigate the side canyon that contained Hidden Springs, which was surrounded by palm trees.

It was less of a spring and more of a stagnant pool, but still it was technically water.

The sign said it was legally protected, and humans aren’t supposed to use it, as it’s reserved for local animals. I continued further up the canyon another half mile before deciding to call it a day and camp in the wash.

Not much distance today, but there sure was a lot of elevation gain! Along with the energy-sucking sandy washes, I burned a lot of calories today.