Anza Borrego State Park

Anza Borrego is a gem. So beautiful! The park is located less than two hours east of San Diego. We stayed at the Palm Canyon State Park Campground, which is conveniently located close to town. If you want a full service campground, this is a great choice. They do offer tent camping too. The town of Borrego Springs has basic services only- lots of Mexican food, a small grocery store, a hardware store and a general store. The best place to grab some food is Calico's, a wonderful cafe with a little of everything. There are several golf courses is the area too. I guess they were built when Borrego Springs thought it could compete with Palm Desert.




The park is especially popular for jeep travel on the many miles of sandy roads. Unfortunately that means that hikers and bikers are competing for the same turf as motorized vehicles. There are a few trails exclusively for hiking and horseback riding, but there is no single track for bikes. However, the park tends to be very quiet except for holidays. Biking is best after some rain or with specialized equipment. Here's Philip navigating some deep sand.




We stayed five nights and only needed to drive our van once to get to a trailhead. We biked to the trails, to town and even to dinner at night. The road biking is good with several options including a 10 mile climb for weekend warriors.

This was our second trip to Borrego and I know we will return. Here are a few of the sites:













What?!! Giant sloths??




Nearby in Ocotillo Wells, there is a vehicular recreation park. The dust cloud generated by all the bikes and buggies can be seen for a few miles. Lots of boys at play, and a few girls too.




Just to give you an idea of how undeveloped this area is, I've included a picture of the airport.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad