Mecca Hill Benchmark in Mecca Hills BLM, CA

Hike Mecca Hill Benchmark Mecca Hills BLM, CA

Class 3 6.2 miles 1100 gain 2-4 hrs Out + Back Feb 26, 2024
Effort
Beauty
Personality
Solitude

Mecca Hill Benchmark GPX Track

I need to offset my substantial website costs somehow! You can download a hike/drive GPX to assist you here. Before sharing my GPX tracks with others, please remember my site is otherwise a free resource.

For our final day of peakbagging together, Chris and I set out for the difficult-to-reach high point of the Mecca Hills BLM, Mecca Hill Benchmark. The area is mostly known for the Ladder and Painted Canyons Loop, but the surrounding badlands are gorgeous and have plenty of nooks and crannies to explore. The Mecca Hills Wilderness, shaped by the San Andreas Fault, is a labyrinth of narrow canyons that resemble little more than eroded and dried mud. Sandy washes divide the landscape and can be used to access various slot canyons. The problem with reaching Mecca Hill Benchmark is that it is guarded by these narrows, each drainage and ridge offering a variety difficulties or danger. It's also hard to determine a ridgeline that might work best since the terrain is too complex to decipher until you're actually looking up at it, but we had a couple of ridgeline options in mind before starting, an fortunately one did the trick.

The non-Wilderness corridor of Box Canyon Road leads to the trailhead and the wilderness boundary, and despite seeing many tire marks leading northwest, we left our cars and headed on foot. Wildflowers were blooming along the wash banks, and colorful layers were etched into the canyon walls, also dotted with blooming greenery. Our progress was quick on the packed sand for a couple of miles until we reached a turn-off from the main wash.

Mecca Hill Benchmark was clearly visible above, so we chose a canyon that seemed viable. We weaved through a series of sharp curves and eventually reached a dryfall. In order to get around it, we scrambled up a Class 2 slope over a crinkle in the badlands and dropped into an adjacent canyon above a dryfall in its drainage. Another Class 2 slope led up to another little ridge, where a steep Class 2+ move brought us higher out of the badlands as this ridge started to gain any sort of girth. Fortunately it continued to expand into what seemed like a viable route out of the maze.

Following the ridge wasn't a problem, but coming back later was, since there are various crinkles in the ridgeline that appear to be the correct one, and taking the wrong route down could result in getting cliffed-out. While there are likely other ways to reach the summit, this worked for us quite well and it seemed likely we would get into trouble if we'd tried to descend another direction on the way back. There were some minor undulations formed by the eroding faces of the steep ridge, but overall it was just a pleasant walk with neat drops on either side, plus we could see the complex erosion patterns on adjacent slopes and it was a cool persepective from here.

At some point we passed a silver spray-painted rock, so it was clear others had been this way, but certainly not in a long time. As we neared the summit, a slightly sketchier narrow portion of the ridge required some focus, but otherwise we made it up without too much hassle after the initial labyrinth in the complex ground-level terrain. The summit of Mecca Hill Benchmark awarded us really interesting views toward the Salton Sea, Mount San Jacinto, and Rabbit Peak across the populated Coachella Valley.

PEAKS ON HIKE
Elevation (ft) / Prominence (ft)
Peaks on hike
Elevation
Prominence
1
Mecca Hill Benchmark
1642 ft
562 rise

Hire me or show me some love!

Hire/refer me as a web developer or send me a few bucks if you find my site useful. I'm not sponsored, so all fees are out-of-pocket and my time preparing trip reports is unpaid. I really appreciate it!

Hiking up a wash into the wilderness.
Hiking up a wash into the wilderness.
It's an easy walk on packed sand.
It's an easy walk on packed sand.
Blooming flowers and pretty colorful walls.
Blooming flowers and pretty colorful walls.
Ascending through the wash for a while.
Ascending through the wash for a while.
View back shortly before we left the main wash.
View back shortly before we left the main wash.
After leaving the main wash as we attempt a route. A near-convergence of two washes in the badlands.
After leaving the main wash as we attempt a route. A near-convergence of two washes in the badlands.
Cool features we as weave around in our chosen wash.
Cool features we as weave around in our chosen wash.
The wash narrows.
The wash narrows.
Hairpin turn in the canyon.
Hairpin turn in the canyon.
We reached a dryfall (seen left) and took a gully on the right.
We reached a dryfall (seen left) and took a gully on the right.
View back into the complex terrain.
View back into the complex terrain.
Up a second gully, still hopefully we'd get out of the washes and onto the steep ridge.
Up a second gully, still hopefully we'd get out of the washes and onto the steep ridge.
Class 2/3.
Class 2/3.
Ascending our chosen ridge. Mecca Hill Benchmark seen ahead.
Ascending our chosen ridge. Mecca Hill Benchmark seen ahead.
Chris on the undulating ridge. You might think you could gain the ridgeline farther ahead, but the canyons on both left and right had dryfalls preventing access to their upper reaches.
Chris on the undulating ridge. You might think you could gain the ridgeline farther ahead, but the canyons on both left and right had dryfalls preventing access to their upper reaches.
View back along our ridge.
View back along our ridge.
Pretty ridgeline.
Pretty ridgeline.
Close-up into the steep canyons.
Close-up into the steep canyons.
Spray-painted rock along our ridge. I guess someone else was here first!
Spray-painted rock along our ridge. I guess someone else was here first!
A wider shot into an adjacent ridge, one that looked less viable.
A wider shot into an adjacent ridge, one that looked less viable.
View back at our ridgeline, center.
View back at our ridgeline, center.
Close-up at the ridgeline.
Close-up at the ridgeline.
Another shot back, higher up the ridge.
Another shot back, higher up the ridge.
Final bit to the summit.
Final bit to the summit.
View back along the ridge asecnt.
View back along the ridge asecnt.
Chris on a narrow portion higher up.
Chris on a narrow portion higher up.
View back just below the summit.
View back just below the summit.
Approaching the summit of Mecca Hill.
Approaching the summit of Mecca Hill.
Mecca Hill Benchmark summit, Salton sea on the left.
Mecca Hill Benchmark summit, Salton sea on the left.
Coachella Valley and Mount San Jacinto seen from the summit.
Coachella Valley and Mount San Jacinto seen from the summit.

Hire me or show me some love!

Hire/refer me as a web developer or send me a few bucks if you find my site useful. I’m not sponsored, so all fees are out-of-pocket and my time preparing trip reports is unpaid. I really appreciate it!