How Red Hill Vista and Skeleton Canyon Reveal the Geology of the Mecca Hills

Red Hill Vista and Skeleton Canyon offer two complementary ways to understand the same remarkable landscape.

From Red Hill Vista, you can step back and see the bigger picture: colorful layers of sediment tilted nearly vertical by movement along the San Andreas Fault. The overlook reveals why the Mecca Hills are striped and how millions of years of geologic history were folded and uplifted.

Skeleton Canyon takes you inside those same layers. As you scramble through narrow slot canyons and over dry waterfalls, you move through the twisted sediments that Red Hill Vista displays from above.

Together, the two hikes provide a complete perspective on the Mecca Hills. Red Hill Vista explains the geologic story, while Skeleton Canyon lets you experience it from within.

The Mecca Hills From Two Perspectives

Red Hill Vista Gallery: Why the Mecca Hills Look This Way

Skeleton Canyon Gallery: What It's Like to Explore Inside the Mecca Hills

Explore both Red Hill Vista and Skeleton Canyon to first see the striped geology of the Mecca Hills from above, then hike through the same folded layers deep within one of its most dramatic slot canyons.

180526