Painted Canyon and Ladder Canyon, California
December 13-15, 2009
One of our first experiences of "dispersed camping" (free camping) was in a secluded area known as The Painted Canyon/Ladder Canyon Trail. The varying colors of the rocks give Painted Canyon its name and the Ladder Canyon trail uses actual ladders when climbing up and through some of the narrow caves throughout the hike.
Our Accommodations - Free BLM Camping Site at Painted Canyon
There is a section of BLM (Bureau of Land Management) near the starting point of the Ladder Canyon trail, which permits free camping up to 14 days. So we filled up the RV with fresh water, made sure our other tanks were empty, bought plenty of food and beverages and headed out to experience our first "dispersed camping". As it turned out, we were the only ones there. As you can imagine, days and especially nights were extremely quiet. Talk about solitude!
Painted Canyon / Ladder Canyon Trail
The Painted Canyon / Ladder Canyon loop took about 2 1/2 hours to complete and was an excellent hike through the narrows of rocks and through the caves. The use of ladders through some of the narrows, made this a unique adventure.