Trip Report:
Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, California

Originally published in the rec.backcountry newsgroup by Mark C. Sheehan

First let me publically thank the 10 or 12 people who responded to my request for info on long day hikes at Anza-Borrego. You ALL were very helpful and as a result of your advice my trip was GREAT!

Saturday, April 8, 1995


I arrived at the San Diego airport around noon. I picked up my rental car and drove toward A-B via the "most direct route" plotted on the map in the park newsletter. (Get a copy mailed to you free from the park's Natural History Association, PO Box 229, Borrego Springs, CA 92004 (619/767-4684). For $2 they'll also send you a somewhat more detailed park map than what you'll find in the newsletter.)

I picked up food and water at the Albertson's in Poway (great deal on bottled water: 1.5l bottle of Callistoga Springs water for $0.65 -- I bought eight) and an hour later was in the park.

I stopped at the Visitor Center and bought Jerry Schad's "Afoot and Afield in San Diego County," which several of you recommended, plus the Earthwalk Press "Anza-Borrego Desert Region Recreation Map," a waterproofed, single-sheet topo map of the park and surrounding recreational land.

By the time I finished wandering around the (very nice) visitor's center it was 4pm, so I hiked out across the flat to the campground and took the Borrego Palm Canyon nature trail up into the canyon. What an amazing thing to see a good-sized stream of cold, clear, running water in the desert! The hike up to the palms was OK. There were lots of other tourists on the trail, so I was slowed by the congestion and walked the whole way smelling other people's sweat -- not my idea of a good time. I took the alternate (westerly) route back to the campground. It was much less travelled, so was more pleasant.

I saw a jack rabbit, a bunch of quail, and two roadrunners (obviously a couple -- they kept each other in sight.)

I left the visitors center at 6 and drove to my motel in Indio. There are VERY few motels in the A-B region. Mine was over 60 miles away from Borrego Springs, which made for an awkward commute. Didn't look that far on the map when I planned the trip.

Sunday, April 9


The Weather Channel predicted (Santa Ana) winds from the north at 20-35 mph, so I began questioning my decision to climb up Villager Peak in the Santa Rosa mountains in the NE quadrant of the park. I got a late start, so I didn't get to the park 'til 9am. There was a LOT of haze and no wind to speak of (just a breeze from the south) so I decided to go with the Villager climb. I parked at the Thimble Jeep Trail turnoff and headed north across the desert to the ridge that comes down south and west off the summit of Villager. The base of that ridge is very steep in most places, and it was hard to find any sign of a trail. I found a couple cairns, but never located more than two in any kind of a line. I messed around on the east side of the ridge a little, then looked at my topo map and decided the trail probably began on a little spur on the west side. (That particular map (referenced above) has an error on it -- it shows an intermittent stream going down the crest of the ridge. Some cartographer obviously was looking at the contours backwards and screwed up.) I never did find the trail up the ridge, so I scrambled up the slope to the ridgeline, where I did find a vague track and the occasional cairn.

I only made it to the 4400' level. (Desert floor there is at about 1050'.) At about 3,500' I developed blisters on my heels and big toes, so I changed socks, applied band-aids, etc. I really WASN'T prepared for that. It was 1:30pm when I got to the level spot at 4400', so I had lunch, looked up at the remaining 3-4 false summits and decided to give it up.

The trail was a lot easier to follow on the way back down, and I found the place where it begins at the base of the ridge. (Look for a palo verde tree -- the trail is marked by a cairn on a big boulder just west of the tree.)

If my feet had been in better shape and if I'd started at 8 rather than 9, I think I could easily have made it to the summit by 1pm.

It was a good hike -- the vegetation was awesome. I have a Ph.D. in botany and had a pretty sophisticated collection of cacti and succulents back in the late '70s, but I was TOTALLY unprepared for ocotillos. They were flowering, BRIGHT red at the tipends of their long stems. The barrel cacti, chollas, and beavertails were all flowering as well.... Pretty sight! Brittlebrush and creosote bush rounded out the color scheme with some yellows. Things were pretty dry, and there weren't many non-succulent wildflowers.

I got buzzed by some swallow- or swift-like birds on the trek back down. They made a sound like arrows do in the movies as they swooped by. Nothing menacing about it -- they were just checking me out. And a small raven sailed down the ridgeline, landing gear down, full flaps and spoilers, looking like he was having ultimate fun. Maybe because it was Sunday I saw only one flight of two F/A-18s headed to the ranges out east.

Monday, April 10


I'd read that some of the high valleys might have some non-succulent wildflowers left so I decided to drive to Culp Valley Monday and hike out the Wilson Trail. I parked at the highway turnoff at about 10:15am and hiked up past Cottonwood Spring to the Wilson trailhead. Along the way I saw Phainopeplas, like black blue-jays with big, solid white patches on the wings -- and Scott's Orioles, a biggish bird in an intense lemon yellow with a black hood, wings, and tail. Both were singing and cutting up in the morning sun.

There were predictions of wind this day, too, but again there was only a breeze. However, there was NO haze, the sky was impossibly blue (almost black!) and the temp was in the 70s. I've never been outside during nicer weather ANYwhere. All along the road the chollas were backlit against the green of the shrubbery and the white of the huge, rounded rocks. Brittlebrush was blossoming, as were a number of pink, red, and blue flowers (chupa rosa, verbena, something with "trumpet" in its name, desert lavender, etc.).

I reached the trailhead, struck out to the southeast, amid hundreds of little whiptail lizards and the occasional quail. There was coyote scat all over the place, but not many tracks. I'd read that mountain lions had harrassed hikers recently at Cuyamaca Rancho State Park, and that solo hiking was discouraged there, so I was on the lookout for lion sign. I had seen one fist-sized track in the sand of the road, but it was unclear -- could have been several smaller tracks clustered together.

Just after I turned onto the Wilson trail a Navy C-130 cargo plane came thrumming slowly overhead at about 1,000' AGL. I half expected it to waggle its wings at me. In the desert air it seemed close enough to touch.

I'd put some stuff called "Compeed" on my blisters the night before. It's a hydrocolloid patch that soaks up the blister fluid and forms sort of a false skin over the blister. My feet really didn't bother me much on this hike -- it was mostly flat anyway, or at least the climb was gradual enough in most places not to affect my heels. I had a "Tracks" walking staff with me, and used the strap under the knob as recommended in the instructions to give me good support without my needing to grip the staff tightly. I made good use of it to take weight off my feet, and can't imagine hiking now without it. It gave me a sense of protection against serpents, as well, though I never saw any.

I had lunch at 2pm on a big rock next to the local champion Pinyon Pine (Biggest one I saw, anyway. ...Lord, do they smell good!) out near the end of the trail. I headed back, stopped to talk to a horned toad for a while, took a detour to a place called "the slab" on the map (big rocks), saw two cottontails just above cottonwood spring, said goodbye to the Phainopeplas and Orioles, and made it back to the car around 5pm. From there I headed back to San Diego and my Internet Society meeting.

So! All in all, a great 2.5 days. I drank lots of water, got good and tired a couple times, saw strange new plants and animals, and really "bonded" with the S. California desert. I'd go back any time!

Thanks again to all who helped, and STRONG recommendations to anyone who wants to hike, camp, and/or backpack at Anza-Borrego. It's really an AMAZING place, and I only saw a percent of it!