Anza Borrego – A Sky Full of Stars, A Breath of Fresh Air – Anza Borrego State Park, California

Anza Borrego – A Sky Full of Stars, A Breath of Fresh Air
Anza Borrego State Park, California

Get out to the desert! You don’t want to miss what some are saying is the best bloom in nearly a century. Heavy and consistent rainfall mixed with just the right amount of sunshine has awakened the desert floor. And with the cactuses about a week or so behind their bloom season, it’s sure to be one of the largest and most beautiful in recent memory. If you’re in southern California, Anza Borrego is the perfect place to unwind and get back to nature. Only a 3-hour drive from LA, it’s the perfect prescription for city strained nerves.

Jaiden was very excited to be at Canyon Sin Nombre

With no job and a few weeks of unemployment coming my way, I took the opportunity to get out of town. I needed a change of pace, somewhere I could loose track of time and not spend a lot of money. I asked around and found out about Anza Borrego. With a little Internet research, a trip to Target for some camping gear and an open mind, my partner Bradley and I hopped into the car at 6 a.m. Saturday morning and headed for the unknown just 3 short hours away from our Studio City home. We had no expectations, just hopes of having a fun and adventurous weekend.

It looked like a meteorite exploded and all the little pieces landed on the mountains that surrounded us as we descended to the Borrego Valley on highway S-22. Looking left to right, boulders and rocks were lined with plenty of Brittle Brush, Arizona Lupine, Beavertail cactuses and Ocotillo. The road winds along the crumbled rock mountainsides bringing the valley closer and closer until its surface level and there they are, the thousands of tourists that flock there every weekend all doing the Hellhole Canyon trail at the same time.

A trip to the Visitor’s Center was a good starting point, but take heed to people who hate crowds. Pulling into the line of cars to get a parking spot immediately unnerved me. I didn’t pack my car and drive 3 hours away from city traffic to sit in more traffic. When an older man tried to take our parking spot, I got red hot and had to remind myself that I would get out to peace and quiet as soon as I got my flower book and map. I reminded myself calmly “it’s about the journey, not the destination”.

We’d be spending the majority of our time away from the Borrego Valley chaos, especially since it was the weekend and many visitors stay within the bubble of safety around the center. It offers the timid traveler a lovely yet crowded hike to Borrego Palm Canyon and Hellhole Canyon to see the palm tree groves and waterfall. My goal was to get a sampler of a few different areas of the 600,000 acre park so we could find as many different flowers and landscapes as possible.

I bought my 2 maps and flower book. The flower book would be our Bible as we walked around everywhere pointing out new species. In fact, it turned into a game, and Bradley and I had fun claiming new wildflower sightings. The Colorado Desert Flowers book had big pictures, small descriptions, and only about 100 different species. It was a perfect beginner’s identification guide.

That first day in the valley was hot, almost unbearably. We drove along Henderson Canyon Rd. to see the bloom that a volunteer at the guest center was telling everyone about. A short distance northeast from town, fields of bright yellow brittle brush contrast with the light brown shades of the Santa Rosa Mountains and the blue of the sky. It’s a good place to get out and snap a photo of yourself and friends. Up the road about 10 miles was Truckshaven Trail, we did the short easy hike up from the parking area to the dirt road. This was a lovely hillside of purple sand verbena, dune primrose, and brittle brush. Both of these places are nice to get acquainted with some common flowers of the valley and do some short walks.

A city of Chia Flowers

By the time we got over to the south end of Highway S-2, we were too late for a campsite at the developed Bow Willow Campground. The primitive campsite, Mountain Springs would have to do. We pulled into the full campground right before sundown and staked out a spot in the sand near the trailhead. It seemed a little crowded but the scenery around us was worth it. There was no running water or picnic table, just a couple of toilets, which meant we’d have to make do without showers for a couple nights.

That night we were serenaded with some folksy blue grass music from the campers nearby. It was our theme music for our long attempt at starting a fire with our wet firewood. Between all the blowing and finding kindling, I exhausted myself and gave up while Bradley continued huffing and puffing. I wanted to enjoy the immense night’s sky before going to sleep. I pulled out my handy Audubon’s Field Guide and re-oriented myself with the familiar 4, Orion, Gemini, Taurus, and Auriga. The more I stared into the sky, the more I was able to picture the shapes that the ancients saw when they were naming these constellations. For the first time I saw Leo, a regal and dignified lion lying with legs to the side as if posing for a painting. He watched over us as we slept.

Canyon Sin Nombre was truly an adventurers delight. We pulled up to the parking area the next morning and looked down at the long distance between the canyon and us. We drove down the dirt road that has a sign at the top that reads “4×4 recommended”. My little Honda took it like a champ as we bounced down the road, pausing along the way to snap pictures of the ocotillos scattered across the tongue of the canyon. At the mouth we got out and walked, curiously following the wash up along the canyon walls. Many times we stopped to investigate some new species of wildflower we hadn’t seen yet. There was a precarious desert lily hanging onto the wall about 8 ft up. A solitary little Spanish nettle poked its heads at me and I marked it off in my flower book. A few trucks passed us on our walk up the dirt road. After a couple of miles, we ran into a couple having lunch off the back of their truck. They said the turnoff to make the loop through the badlands was up about another 2 miles and from there it was about a 6-mile loop around. That’s when I wished we had a more detailed map. Although the Tom Harrison Backcountry map was good for getting us on the main trails, it didn’t show the detailed junctions once we were on the trail. For us it was a guessing game of trial and error. Most of the time, it turned out that we made good decisions that led us to even more trails.

We didn’t really want to hike 8 more miles, so we turned around. Walking back, we found a lookout point by just going where our feet took us. From the main wash, we made a left into a smaller canyon. We stepped into a narrow crack in the canyon that led us up the dry creek bed. Peeking out of a rock on this remote un-designated path was a fuzzy purple Broom-Rape, a token find and something I definitely marked down in my flower book. We climbed up the increasingly loose graveled slope hoping there’d be a nice view waiting at the top. I slipped and scrapped both knees in my exuberance and determination to make it up. I forgot all about the stinging scratches when I reached the top and looked down on the gray and mighty Carrizo Badlands. It was like excited giant reached down and grabbed the soft land, squishing it like clay through his fingers. It dried and became the folded expanse of land below. The narrow ridge dropped to a steep cliff after about 2 feet. I sat down and soaked in my moment of bliss.

A bit of fatigue washed over me after getting in the car. We were hot and a nice cold frozen something sounded great. Agua Caliente’s General Store up the road offered a small yet ample selection of goods and food. I sat in the sun in front of the store looking at the wildflowers and eating my pina-colada fruit bar without a care in the world.

Our Beautiful Campsite at Mountain Palm Springs

A short hike from our campsite brought us upon a very large grove of fan palms trying to act natural amongst their tiny flower and rock friends. The only things even close to their size are the Ocotillo that flash their orange tips, drooping just a bit. A solo hiker tipped us off to the hidden trail on the west side of the little canyon. We found it and our sunset walk became a little longer than planned. We lollygagged for a while, just enjoying the walk and the pink sky. Almost simultaneously, our stomachs growled and we realized the sun was setting fast. As soon as the trail descended, we let gravity take over and skipped and ran the rest of the way back to our tent. To our delight, all but one lone camper had left for the week. I made a meal of pasta, canned salmon, and garlic bread while Bradley actually got the fire started this time. That night, sipping our cabernet from the wine glasses I brought from home, we looked up at the enormous sky and learned the names of a few more constellations.

The healing, calming energy of the ANZA BORREGO desert will carry me through the weeks to come and keep calling me back year after year. For anyone planning to go there, the trick is not to be afraid to go a little farther if you can. Whether by car or foot, around every corner there’s always more waiting to be discovered.

How to Get There

Where to Stay off Highway S-2
Bow Willow – Free, camping in designated sites only, has running water and toilets, no showers, fire pits, and shaded picnic tables at each site, access to Moutain Palm Springs trails

Mountain Palm Springs – Free, camping allowed anywhere, has toilets, no running water, no showers, access to Mountain Palm Springs trails

Agua Caliente – Under $15 a night, family campground with 2 spring water pools to swim in, no dogs allowed, showers, shaded picnic table at every site.

What to Bring
Tent, sleeping bags or blanket, camping food and snacks, lots of water, headlamp and/or lantern, camping stove, warm clothes for evenings, day pack, comfortable boots or tennis shoes, bug spray, handi-wipes, sunscreen, beach chairs, a trashcan lid or aluminum pan, dry firewood.

Recommended Books and Maps
Anza-Borego Desert State Park Map – $1
Tom Harrison Maps – San Diego Backcountry – $8.95
Colorado Desert Wildflowers by Jon Mark Stewart – $12.95

Useful websites
Ron Kerzner’s personal site