State Park folks have a sense of humor, enlarge the photo to read the sign

Anza-Borrego Desert State Park has a special place in Steve’s heart.  This is where his parents used to boondock in their RV every winter for years, and he visited them several times during their stays.  Our last visit here was a decade ago when we flew down to spread his parent’s ashes in the desert that had been their beloved winter home.  Now we were excited to return with an RV of our own.

This state park is the largest in California. Located about 80 miles northeast of San Diego, it encompasses more than 600,000 acres of mostly desert wilderness and is framed by many rugged and beautiful mountain ranges.  It takes its name from 18th century Spanish explorer Juan Bautista de Anza and borrego, the Spanish word for bighorn sheep.

The great bowl of the Anza-Borrego desert, viewed looking south with the badlands in the center

Mountain ranges enclosing Anza-Borrego Desert State Park

Looking north toward the Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains

This wondrous and wild place with its sweeping vistas offers lots of surprises that beg to be explored, and because it’s so huge our two week stay wasn’t enough to cover it all.

In search of Maidenhair Waterfall, which we never found while hiking the Hell Hole Canyon Trail

Along the Hell Hole Canyon trail we passed huge ocotillos, creosote bush, and other desert brush

Recent rain caused active stream flows on the Borrego Palm Canyon Trail

A grand oasis of California fan palms at the end of the trail

California Fan Palms are native only to this desert

Returning on the Palm Canyon trail, we followed an alternate route up and over an alluvial fan to get a different view on the way back to the trailhead

The borregos did not disappoint, as they were there watching and waiting for us to pass so they could cross for their drink of the clear water:

A couple of bighorn sheep

We never get tired of seeing these guys

Loggerhead Shrike

Hummingbird keeping a lookout

We followed this narrow canyon, which seemed like a slot canyon at times

Blazing our own trail getting out of the slot

Still smiling after our long climb up from the bottom

A deeply-cut dry waterfall at Hawk Canyon

Colorful cliffs of salmon and green sandstone at Hawk Canyon

The recent rains brought the usually brown Ocotillos to lush, green beautiful life

One particular Ocotillo already had bright crimson flowers – in January!

To get  off the beaten path and experienced the desert in its most primal state requires a high clearance vehicle.  So weren’t we lucky that our friends (and Jeep owners) Dave and Sue of Belugas Excellent Adventures were also in the area and offered to share with us what they had already seen and experienced.  Our first drive was to the Wind Caves through Split Mountain.  The drive itself was a journey through a geological wonder, and we made several stops to gaze and ponder how time, weather and geology have created so many interesting formations here.

I have a feeling Steve is convinced “we gotta get one of these”

Viewing the unusual semi-circular, twisted formation called an “anticline.”

At the Wind Caves, the wildly eroded pockets were such a lure to be explored that Steve and I instantly became kids and started scrambling in and out wherever we could.  After lunch we all spent a few more minutes listening to the stillness of the desert and just enjoying the peaceful scenery.

Elephant Knees formation seen on the trail to the south

One of the best places to get a look at the Badlands’ surreal scenery was from Font’s Point, at the end of a 4-mile sandy primitive wash.  The point has a commanding view of the Borrego Valley and Borrego Badlands below.

“Rocky” our ride looked a little lonely in the parking lot – the whole place to ourselves!

The best time to come here is at sunrise or sunset, but the cloud cover made our visit no less spectacular, and we all spread out to enjoy the views

This amazing area, with its arid rocky geography, sunken mesas and corrugated hills of dry mud is called the Badlands of Anza-Borrego

Steve shows fellow pilot Dave the canyon he used to fly through to land here

Wandering around Coachwhip Canyon

We should mention that Jeep owners Dave and Sue, John and Pam, Joe and Gay and Bob and Dee Dee are very kind to us CRV folks.  Not only have we enjoyed seeing places we otherwise wouldn’t, but we’ve loved hanging out with all of them as well.  A Jeep might be in our future, but what’s the hurry when we have such great folks to take us to these spectacular places?

Two weeks was just too short to thoroughly explore this amazing place.  We’ve seen quite a bit, but plenty remains for a return visit.  Who knows, we may have a Jeep of our own when we return 🙂

We appreciate our Jeep ride sponsors, Dave and Sue!

Finally,  while driving around we caught glimpses of prehistoric creatures casting a shadow on the desert.  Some, like the one pictured below, will be featured in my next post:

Not something you see every day!