A spring break trip to the desert took me into the Borrego Valley. With decent lodging (Borrego Springs Resort) past a street called Frying Pan Road, I had a place to park between ventures into the badlands, California’s largest state park and the Salton Sea.
Anza-Borrego Desert State Park is a heavily regulated nature preserve. For example, rules practically forbid dogs. The drive is an effort, with steep drops from winding roads, no rest stops or gas stations, and land that’s harsh, bare and with not a ranger in sight. Covering 500 miles of dirt roads, a dozen wilderness areas and miles of hiking trails, including Palm Canyon, where we spotted bighorn sheep (borrego in Spanish), the park, named for Spanish explorer Juan Bautista de Anza, hosts families, birdwatchers and naturalists. With mountain lions, wildflowers, roadrunners, iguanas, eagles, cacti, kit foxes, and mule deer as well as red diamond rattlesnakes, vultures and other wildlife, Anza-Borrego is a vast, wild desert. Located on the eastern side of San Diego County, with portions extending east into Imperial County and north into Riverside County, the state park is about a two-hour drive from San Diego, Riverside and Palm Springs, probably closer to four hours from Los Angeles. Borrego Springs is small and simple, not an enclave such as the communities of Coachella Valley. This valley and environs are friendly but guarded and conservative, with a clerk at the General Store telling me when I asked about a larger store, that there not only isn’t one; inhabitants don’t want competition because it would, in her words, put the General Store out of business. It isn’t hard to see how growth might affect the landscape and local merchants. The only grocery store closes at sundown.
Head out of town 30 miles to reach the stinky Salton Sea past the badlands, which are eerie and worth stopping for, and pack plenty of water because this land is dry. The Borrego Valley, which is dotted with and surrounded by Navy grounds, Indian lands and desolation, also has golf, swimming and recreational activities, so feel free to bring dirt bikes, campers, golf clubs, sunblock and binoculars for an immersion in – and interaction with – the desert.