Hiking the Ladder Canyon Trail with kids was one of the most memorable adventures from our family trip to Palm Springs, but it was also one of the hikes we debated the most before doing. Our kids were only 4 & 6 years old at the time and we were unsure if a hike that involves ladders and slot canyons was a good choice for our family.
This isn’t the hike I’d recommend as your first easy family walk in the area. There are plenty of more straightforward kid-friendly hikes in Palm Springs if you want something fun, but a lot easier. But for active families with confident hikers, the Ladder Canyon and Painted Canyon loop can be a really fun and unique desert hike.
In this post, I’ll share what the Ladder Canyon Trail was like with our kids, what to expect from the ladders, how difficult the hike felt, and the practical things we wish every family knew before heading out. It’s well worth doing if it’s a good fit for your family, but it’s also the kind of hike where preparation makes a big difference.
Keep reading to see a video which highlights our experience hiking the Ladder Canyon Trail with kids.
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Is the Ladder Canyon Hike Safe for Kids?
We did a lot of hiking during our family trip to Palm Springs, but we almost didn’t do the Ladder Canyon hike with our kids due to safety concerns. Our young kids were already very good hikers, but what happens if they climb up a ladder and can’t get down? How will they deal with broken ladder rungs?
We debated the suitability of the Ladder Canyon hike for our kids for days before we actually tried it, and these are kids who had just hiked to the Lost City in Colombia a few months prior!
Our hesitation about hiking Ladder Canyon with our kids came from several AllTrails reviews mentioning broken ladder rungs. We also couldn’t find any information on how many ladders or how high they would be.
We decided to drive down and see it for ourselves. We were lucky to run into a Palm Springs local in the parking lot who had lots of experience with the Ladder Canyon & Painted Canyon Trail. She gave us a rundown of what to expect and her opinion was that the Ladder Canyon Trail with kids would be safe and a ton of fun, so we gave it a try!
You’ll need to make your own decisions for your family, but if your kids are in decent shape (i.e.: can walk 4.9 miles), have decent co-ordination and are not afraid of heights, then you’re probably going to have a ton of fun on this unique hike near Palm Springs.
Ladder Canyon and Painted Canyon Trail Route Overview
Starting Through the Wide Canyon
The Ladder Canyon Trail and Painted Canyon Trail can be combined into a loop, and we recommend starting with Ladder Canyon.
The Ladder Canyon hike begins as you walk into the gaping mouth of a wide canyon with towering cliff walls on both sides. The hiking trail is flat and wide, making it super easy to just look around and be amazed by the beauty of this place. Plus, the canyon walls pin your kids in so you can let them explore; where are they going to go?
After 0.4 miles (0.7 km), you’ll see a huge arrow made from rocks lying on the canyon floor. This arrow points you towards the left canyon wall and signals the start of the Ladder Canyon Trail.
You’ll need hiking shoes with good grips to scramble up the rocks as you ascend the bottom of the cliff wall to a small alcove. This is where the slot canyon begins, and you encounter the first of the four ladders within the Ladder Canyon.
Climbing the Ladders in Ladder Canyon
Our kids loved climbing (and descending) the ladders in Ladder Canyon; they both thought it was the coolest thing to do on a hike.
The ladders are all metal painters’ ladders and are typically fastened to the canyon wall with some kind of strap. The ladders are not very tall, most are around 10 rungs high, with the tallest being around 15-17 rungs high.
Even without the ladders, hiking the Ladder Canyon trail with kids is a ton of fun. Like a slot canyon, it’s very narrow with really high walls. The path has many twists and turns, making it super fun to walk through; our kids ran through it, laughing all the way.
Hiking the Ridge Above Painted Canyon
Around the 1.2 mile (2 km) mark, you emerge from Ladder Canyon to a ridge where you’ll be treated to some incredible views of the Mecca Hills Wilderness and beyond. From the ridge, you can see the Painted Canyon below, the Salton Sea, several other canyons and majestic mountains looming in the distance.
Returning Through Painted Canyon
The ridge trail runs for about 1.2 miles (2 km) before taking a sharp right-hand turn towards the start of the Painted Canyon Trail.
There is a short section of the trail descending from the ridge into the Painted Canyon which is quite steep with loose, slippery gravel. Most people got down with very little issue, but there were a few who were having a difficult time. We descended it safely by walking down slowly with our feet sideways.
The Painted Canyon trail was a really fun way to get back to the parking lot. It’s a wide trail with a gentle descent through a canyon with multi-colored, towering walls.
As you’d imagine, the name Painted Canyon comes from the many colors of rock you’ll discover along the way. Some of our favorites were the pink quartz, the purple rocks and the huge areas that look like they were splotched by black and white paint.
The Painted Canyon trail is a really easy descent down with only two short ladders to contend with. There was a broken rung on each ladder, so we took our time and helped the kids through this section. For us, it turned out to be manageable, but it’s worth checking each ladder carefully before using it.
We all had a ton of fun on the Ladder Canyon and Painted Canyon Trail, and it ended up being one of our favourite hikes near Palm Springs. It’s such a unique and beautiful hike, and I’m glad we didn’t avoid it because of our initial safety concerns. Everyone needs to make their own risk assessment based on their family’s own capabilities, but it was well within our kid’s skill levels.
The Ladder Canyon and Painted Canyon Trail Hike Statistics
How Long is the Ladder Canyon / Painted Canyon Loop?
The full round-trip distance of the Ladder Canyon / Painted Canyon loop trail is 4.9 miles (7.9 km). If you are using a phone to track your hike, don’t be surprised if the high canyon walls confuse your device and it shows you’ve gone more distance than you actually have.
How Much Elevation Gain is on the Ladder Canyon Trail?
For the most part, you won’t even notice any elevation gain on this hike as most of it is very gradual. The total elevation gain on this hike is 910 feet (277 m), but aside from climbing ladders, we barely noticed the climb.
How Hard is the Ladder Canyon Hike?
We’d rate the Ladder Canyon Trail / Painted Canyon Trail as a moderately difficult family hike, mostly due to its length and the element of climbing ladders. A family in reasonable shape should have no issues with this hike.
How Long Does the Ladder Canyon Hike Take?
Hiking the Ladder Canyon Trail and Painted Canyon trail with kids took us 4 hours to complete the loop (4.5 hours including breaks). Adults hiking without kids could complete this trail in much less time. Without kids, I estimate we could have completed the loop in about two hours (half the time).
Ladder Canyon Trail with Kids Video
If you’d like to get a visual sense of what it is like hiking the Ladder Canyon Trail with kids, check out our YouTube Video. This video highlights all the fun family hikes we enjoyed during our trip to Palm Springs. If you’d like to jump to the video of the Ladder Canyon Trail, it begins at the 3:06 mark.
After watching, keep reading for more Ladder Canyon Trail tips for families, including directions, trail maps and safety tips.
We’re adding more of our family travel videos to our YouTube channel, so feel free to subscribe if you’d like to follow along.
Painted Canyon & Ladder Canyon Trail Directions
The Ladder Canyon trailhead is in the Mecca Hills Wilderness, about 50 minutes southeast of Palm Springs. It’s a bit of a drive, but it’s worth the effort.
There was a lot of chatter on the AllTrails app about the quality of the road to the Ladder Canyon trailhead and whether it’s suitable for normal cars.
As you leave the highway, you’ll be greeted with a warning sign that says, “4×4 vehicles only”.
We were lucky to have a Jeep 4×4 rental car, so we didn’t have to make this call, but if you are wondering if a normal car can drive on the 4 mile road to the Ladder Canyon trailhead, I can tell you a few things:
The road was a gravel road with a lot of washboard when we drove it, making it very bumpy. There were no huge potholes when we drove it.
There is a risk of getting stuck in deep sand if your car leaves the road.
Approximately 80% of the cars in the parking lot were normal, non-4×4 vehicles, including some low-riding luxury cars like BMWs.
Please make your own decision about the suitability of this road for your vehicle.
Ladder Canyon Trail Map
There are many other informal & unmarked hiking trails around the Ladder Canyon trail, so having a trail map is always a good idea. Cell service is limited to nonexistent, so download your map before arriving.
I personally use and recommend the AllTrails app for downloading hiking trail maps onto my phone. If you’d like a copy on your phone, here is the Ladder Canyon trail map .
The Painted Canyon / Ladder Canyon Hike Highlights
It’s hard to pick highlights from the Ladder Canyon hike as the whole thing was a highlight, seriously! But, I’ll try… Here are the highlights of the Ladder Canyon and Painted Canyon hike:
Climbing and descending the ladders was a ton of fun. They were small, sturdy metal ladders, but climbing them made the hike feel more technical and made us feel more like ‘real mountaineers.’
Chasing the kids through the slot canyon section of the Ladder Canyon trail was a great experience.
The views from the ridge atop the Ladder Canyon are as good as any I’ve seen anywhere around Palm Springs.
The multi-colored rocks found along the towering walls of the Painted Canyon are beautiful. It adds enough variety that you don’t simply feel you are repeating your Ladder Canyon experience on the way down; the Painted Canyon hike is a brand-new experience.
Tips for Hiking Ladder Canyon with Kids
Here are a few other tips for hiking the Painted Canyon & Ladder Canyon with kids:
You’ll pass a primitive toilet building on the access road to the trailhead. If anyone needs to go, stop here as there are no facilities at the Ladder Canyon trailhead. There are no facilities on the trail and being either in a canyon or in the desert, there are very few places to hide along the trail.
There are no water stations at the trailhead. Fill your water bladders at home and bring more water than you think you’ll need.
You’ll be in and out of the shade a lot during this hike, but you’ll still get a decent amount of sun exposure. Be sure your kids wear good hiking sun hats, have full sunscreen on and stop for frequent water breaks. If your kids aren’t stopping for bathroom breaks, they probably haven’t had enough water.
This trail is not stroller accessible, but it is very common when hiking around Palm Springs to see parents carrying their little ones on their backs in a carrier. Osprey seemed to be the most popular brand.
Unless your dog can climb a ladder, they should be left at home for this one.
Most kids love climbing on rocks and there are plenty of opportunities for them to show off their climbing skills on this hike.
Where to Stop for Lunch or a Break
There are no benches or picnic tables to be found on this loop. We stopped for lunch at a beautiful vantage point along the ridge atop Ladder Canyon. We didn’t bring a hiking picnic blanket, so we just pulled up some rocks to sit on.
Many people took advantage of large boulders along the bottom of the canyon walls to stop and sit in the shade while having a snack or lunch.
Ladder Canyon Trail Cautions
This hike is best treated as a cool-season desert hike. October through April is the most popular season, and summer heat can be dangerous. Avoid the hiking in the canyon during rain or flash-flood risk. Do not enter the canyon if rain or thunderstorms are forecast. Slot canyons can flood quickly, and Painted Canyon Road and Box Canyon Road can also flood during rain events.
There are a few sections of trail where there are steep drop-offs, especially along the ridge.
There are some dangerous animals who live in this area including bobcats, coyotes and rattlesnakes. We didn’t see any of these animals and chances are very good you won’t either but be aware, especially if your kids like to run ahead or dawdle behind.
Follow Along on our Family Trip to Palm Springs
We enjoyed hiking the Ladder Canyon Trail as part of our trip to Palm Springs with kids. After Palm Springs, we continued our Southern California journey with a trip to Joshua Tree National Park with kids. If your family loves to hike together, don’t miss these kid-friendly hikes in Joshua Tree!
Our Travel Journal for Kids
Based on our family travels, our kids helped us design this Travel Journal for Active Kids! This engaging travel journal encourages kids to document their adventures, spark creativity, and stay entertained on the go – grab yours now on Amazon!
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