Not sure if guides are available, hike is well marked and easy to follow.

Yes you can it’s a little bumpy and you think where is the end but it’s doable 😄

You won’t be able to do the ladder part of the hike to complete the circuit with a dog, you’d need to modify what you do but there were folks with dogs.

Yes the ladders are in disrepair. There has been storm damage in October and the trail is rough in places and I think the ladders are shakey and not altogether trust worthy. Also one is so poor are to require a belay by rope. I think I would wait awhile to do this hike until repairs can be made to the ladders. Someone could be hurt. The road is passable but don't push your luck,

Box Canyon Rd is closed from I-10, but you could reach Painted Canyon Rd from Mecca. Heavy storms on 2/14/19 could have caused more damage, going there today to check.

There's a bunch of state camp grounds up in Big Bear about an hour from Joshua, really beautiful but it will be quite a bit cooler. Camping randomly in the Yucca Valley area is probably not the best idea.

We did not use a guide but there were plenty of other people on the trail on a Saturday morning - not crowded, but enough that if you had a questions you did not have to wait long to get an answer. Two tricky parts - when you first enter the canyon from the parking lot - look for the rock arrow that points to the left. It looks like a pile of rocks - climb up and squeeze through and you will be in a small open area with two ladders - take the one on your right, not the one on your left. From there it is obvious and you will climb up to the top of the ridge. At the top of the ridge walk directly towards the cell tower - do not go right or left - just keep walking up the ridge towards the cell tower. It will feel wrong, but it is right. After about a 30 minute walk - you will find an obvious steep path to the right down in to a quite wide canyon on the right. Follow this canyon down hill to find all kinds of "painted rocks". It is a very gradual slope and very sandy. Easy walking for the most part. Plenty of places to sit in the shade if you need to, after the sunny walk on the ridge. Took us 3 hours but we are both about 60 years old. It is a beautiful loop - well worth doing.

This is not a state park, but the surroundings are amazing, and as we just found out this year there are many other hikes close by.( The Grotto, Hidden Springs, all in the Mecca Hills area.....) Enjoy!

I don't know of any ropes on the main climb. All fixed ladders. The hike from the plateau toward the antenna towers and then back down the dry canyon is a bit of a slog so we usually just reverse our path back down the ladders. Our group consists of 12 kids ages 6-16 and we've had zero issues 2 years in a row....