Borrego Springs

Friday, January 2
Time to walk off some of the New Year's excesses. We took a one hour drive over to the Anza-Borrego State Park. First we went East to Santa Ysabel, then north on Hwy 79. We turned on California S2, otherwise known as Montezuma Valley Road. It's a good road until you get to the overlook as you head down toward Borrego Springs. This section is very steep and very twisty but also very scenic.

East of Ramona

Hwy 79 north of Santa Ysabel

Hwy S2 heading east toward Borrego Springs.

Coming down into the valley. You can see the Salton Sea in the distance.

Lots of twists and turns. Most of the curves have guard rails.

Getting closer to the desert.

We arrived on the desert floor safely. First stop was a visit to the visitor center.

We stopped at the Visitor Center to pay our $10 day use fee and then over to the trailhead for the Palms hike. It's about a mile and half one way and about two miles back using the alternate route. Not a difficult walk but you do need to watch your step on the rocks. Walking in the intense sun was noticeable so thankfully part of the trail was in the shade.

Very nice landscape.

The Visitor Center had some very nice displays.

This area used to be home to Saber Tooth cats and......

......huge Tortoises.

Campground and trail head in the distance.

Better stop at the outhouse before I hit the trail.

OK, so this is a first. The absence of rain means there is no need to a roof on the privy!

The trail is rocky in places.......

....and smooth in other areas.

Remnants of old palm trees moved by flood waters.

A few little lizards like this guy scampered about.

Further up the was water started to appear.

Lots of rocks as you get higher.

Palm trees start to appear.

Very narrow trail in places.

For a sense of scale....notice the guy standing on the rock on the right of the picture.

There they are! The Palm oasis.

You have to make your way through the bush to get to the shady oasis.

Then you are here!

Cool and shady. A good spot for a break before heading back down the trail.

Back through the bush.

Back down the trail. I took the alternate path back to the truck. It added about a half mile.

Very interesting rocks.

Borrego Springs in the distance.

How did this brown stone land on top of the light grey ones? Water maybe, or falling off the mountains.

There were some huge Ocotillo Cactus along the trail. This guy must have been twenty feet (seven meters) high.

The parking lot is in sight!

Back at the truck after a 3.5 mile hike was enough for me for one day, so we decided to scout out the famous metal sculptures around the Borrego Springs area. We managed to find quite a few.

The sculptures began to appear in 2008. The sculptor was Ricardo Breceda and funding was provided by town benefactor Dennis Avery.

The sculptures are built of  formed and welded steel plates.

The most famous is this sculpture of a serpent. It is multi-segmented that seems to rise and fall into the earth.

The serpent seems to dive under the road and then rise again on the other side. Very cool.

 

The details on the horse is incredible.

Not sure if this fallen Saguaro cactus is laying there by design or vandalism.

One of the newer additions is this Jeep.

We took a different route across the mountains back to Ramona. South of Borrego Springs we turned on California S3 and up into the mountains. We then turned on Hwy 78 and into the town of Julian. Frome there it was a familiar road to us as we headed back to Santa Ysable and Ramona. So scenic, but watch the traffic. Not sure why SoCal residents feel the need to drive as fast as the possibly can to get from point A to point B! They must hate us tourists!!

Not sure if they are still in business, but if they charged a nickel a beer they likely aren't.

Horse drawn carriage in Julian. Likely the fastest way to see the town.

Still lineups for the restaurants in Julian. Maybe they are still in line since last week when we were here!

We filled up with fuel in Ramona and headed back to the trailer. We'll take it easy Saturday and head off toward Palm Springs on Sunday.

.....and that was Our View From Here!