Hiking - Part 26

Mecca Hills

The Mecca Hills are in the Sonoran desert in Southern California, east of the Coachella Valley near the Salton Sea.  For years, a gay organization in Palm Springs called PSSST (Palm Springs Social Sun Tanners) has conducted naked hikes in surrounding areas including Mecca Hills.  The photo above shows PSSST hikers on a Mecca Hills hike on Christmas Day, 2007.

And here's the same group obligingly posing for a rear view.

The Mecca Hills Wilderness is managed by the BLM (Bureau of Land Management).  It contains unusual geological formations, thanks to the San Andreas Fault that runs through the area.  It's a badlands labyrinth of small, narrow, steep canyons.  Above, George and Andy in a slot canyon in December, 2007.

From the top of the hills, there's a view of the Salton Sea.  In 1900, it was a dry lake bed below sea level.  Irrigation canals were built to divert water from the Colorado River.  In 1905, the Colorado flooded, overflowing into the new canals.  The whole river changed its course, and for two years, the Colorado River flowed into the lake bed, forming the Salton Sea.

Here are some friends on a hike in 2006.

And here's a couple on a Christmas Day hike in 2006.  I think it's sweet that they're holding hands.  Love has no age limit.

This guy was excited to be photographed on a hike in January, 2008.

Watering the local flora.  I'm sure the plant appreciated it.

This is John posing on a hike in 2010.

And here's a rear view of John.  No tan lines on this guy!

Here are Robby and George appropriately dressed for a Christmas Day hike in 2012.

The landscape in the Mecca Hills may look barren, but there is life.  Above, a bush in the desert surrounding another kind of desert creature.  If you give it a chance, it will grow.

Note: all of these photos are from the Ron's Log account on Flickr https://www.flickr.com/photos/ronslog/, published under Creative Commons license.  Many thanks to Ron for sharing the photos.