Distance: 8.4 miles round trip on trail and cross country
Summit Elevation: 1600'
Elevation Gain: 1250'
Elevation Gain (in Empire State Buildings): 1.0
Round trip time: 4 hours
Recommended water: 48 oz.
Parking/Fees: Free on Airport Blvd
Difficulty: Moderate (dangerous)
Mecca Hills are famous for their amazing geology and slot canyons, including the popular Ladder Canyon. Mecca Hill Benchmark is not the high point of the hills, but is difficult to reach from any direction. It is protected by badlands and broken terrain where topo maps and satellite views don't offer much insight. My friend Adam Walker found a route to the top of Mecca Hill on his second attempt, but it required climbing a loose, class 4 mud wall. It looked beyond my acceptable level of risk, so I tried to reach the same ridge line he used, but back at it's origin. I carefully studied the topo, and created my own route that deviated from his at the end.
I parked off Airport Blvd at a locked gate near the West Coast Sand and Gravel operation. Here is a Google Map from Palm Springs. I hiked past the gate toward Mecca Hill for about 2 miles before getting onto a snaking dirt road. Another mile or so got me to the base of the target ridge. I could tell as I approached it there was no easy way up. The start of the ridge was sandstone pillars uplifted vertically, wrapped in dried mud, and all of it severely eroded. I followed one of the canyons past the ridge and discovered one of the walls had collapsed, spilling giant monoliths into the path. I imagined this kind of collapse could happen at any time and anywhere on this mountain. I searched up a gully that I hoped would wind upward, but it ended abruptly at a 15' dirt wall. I returned to the ridge and spotted what I thought was an intentional cairn placed at one of the slot openings. I started up this slot, hitting class 3 early, and stopped at a large chockstone. It was an easy class 3 move to get over the chockstone, but I saw a crevasse on the other side of it, though there was a 3' ledge on the left. Everything felt too unstable and crumbled when I touched it. The ledge probably would have held my weight, but I was not feeling it. Had all of this been granite, I certainly would have continued. Instead, I flew the drone to get a better look at what was ahead. This slot might have gotten me to the ridge, but there were no guarantees. Maybe it was an easier way up, but I'm not sure. I doubt I'll make another attempt on this mountain, but I greatly appreciated the unusual geology.
Nice job knowing when to call it quits. This is a very difficult and dangerous peak. I was very surprised on my first attempt, at just how tricky it is for such a small "hill".
ReplyDeleteGimpilator,
DeleteYour report was very helpful. The only other area I've explored with similar crumbly mud walls was Arroyo Tapiado mud caves. Just wild geology.