Exploring the San Andreas Fault: Red Jeep Slot-Canyon Tours & Hiking the Ladders of Painted Canyon

Running along the eastern base of the Coachella Valley 30 to 45 minutes southeast of Palm Springs lies the San Andreas Fault Zone, where the Pacific Plate grinds northwest past the North American Plate. Over millions of years, seismic pressure has twisted and uplifted ancient lakebed mudstone, gypsum and granite into multi-coloured slot canyons and badlands that you can explore on a guided Open-Air Red Jeep Tour or a free self-guided Ladder Canyon hike (also see the fault-line ponds at Thousand Palms Oasis and Keys View in Joshua Tree).

1. Option A (Guided): The 3-Hour 'San Andreas Fault Red Jeep Tour'

To have a naturalist geologist drive you into the fault zone without navigating sandy wash roads yourself, book the 3-Hour San Andreas Fault Open-Air Red Jeep Tour with Desert Adventures (departing from Palm Desert / Indio; check rates on the operator's website):

• Private Access to the 800-Acre 'Metate Ranch' Fault Zone: your open-air 4x4 Jeep climbs through vertical-walled mudstone slot canyons carved into the active San Andreas Fault, stops at a spring-fed Cahuilla fan-palm oasis (with a reconstructed Cahuilla Kish house and medicinal desert plants), and lets you walk through narrow rock crevices where twisted sedimentary layers show the power of ancient earthquakes.

2. Option B (Free Self-Guided): Hike 'Painted Canyon & Ladder Canyon' in the Mecca Hills

With your own hire car or SUV, you can hike one of the most dramatic trails in the desert with free admission. Drive 45 minutes southeast down Highway 111 / Hwy 86 to Mecca, turn east onto Box Canyon Road (Route 195), and turn left onto the 4-mile graded gravel Painted Canyon Road (check BLM road status after rainstorms):

• 'Ladder Canyon & Painted Canyon Loop Trail' (7.2 km / 4.5 Miles Round-Trip | 2.5 to 3 Hours): 400 metres from the car park, turn left into a narrow slot canyon crack where volunteers maintain tall metal ladders wedged against dry waterfall ledges. Climb through twisting rock corridors onto a badlands ridge overlooking the Salton Sea, then descend colourful Painted Canyon back to your car (best hiked October to April early in the morning).