Daily Archives: January 7, 2014

January 7, 2014 Borrego Springs, California

We fell in love with beautiful Anza-Borrego Desert State Park in Borrego Springs the minute we arrived. 4-P1030582 We had a wonderful view of the mountains right outside our front window, and our campsite was arranged so we could leave our front shades up and not worry about our privacy.  The first hour we were there we saw a big jack rabbit. We enjoyed the view from the time we woke up each morning until darkness settled in each night.  1-IMG_20140108_104103 2-IMG_20140108_104137Sadly, we were only there 3 nights.  Anza-Borrego Desert State Park is the largest state park in California with 500 miles of dirt roads, 12 wilderness areas, and many miles of hiking trails.  The park is named after the Spanish explorer Juan Bautista de Anza and the Spanish word “borrego” which means bighorn sheep.  As we drove from El Centro to Borrego Springs, we noticed many campers who had set up camp in the desert.  Some set up solitary sites while others seemed to form little wagon trains in the desert. 1-P1030572 We also noticed that we continued to be below sea level for part of the drive west.  5-IMG_20140111_202425

The first day we made the 45 minute drive that took us over a ridge of 4,200 feet to Warner Springs to see Bill’s cousin Sandra and her husband Ed. 7-P1030601 The view was amazing but the road was very winding with steep drop offs. 5-P1030597 4-P1030590 We enjoyed spending time with Sandra and Ed in their lovely home.

On Thursday we spent the day exploring Borrego Springs by doing some hiking and geocaching.   After stopping by the Visitors Center which included an interesting movie about desert plant and animal life, we took a hike which turned out to be more challenging than we expected as it took us over a fairly rocky trail that was longer in length than was shown on the park map. 1-P1030607 2-P1030613 We always enjoy our desert hikes with the beautiful plant life, however we did not encounter the birds and wildlife we had hoped to see.  We were amazed to see his and her bathrooms in the middle of the desert!  3-P1030614

After the hike we spent the rest of the day geocaching in Borrego Springs where there are more than 130 free standing steel metal sculptures created by Ricardo Breceda of Perris, California spread over a 3 mile area of desert landscape.  Luckily for us, several of these sculptures had geocaches hidden in them, and we were able to enjoy both the sculptures and get in some geocaching!  The size and detail of the sculptures were truly amazing!  6-P1030619 4-P1030615 9-P1030628 8-P1030622 7-P1030621 5-P1030618

Our list of places we want to return to someday is growing, and Anza-Borrego Desert State Park is definitely on that list!