Spring 2023 California Saga, 3.21.23 - 4.9.23, Part 2 of 8, Anza-Borrego State Park(Con’t)

Anza-Borrego State Park is huge. At just under 600,000 acres, it is the largest state park in California. It is located a couple of hours east of San Diego where the Colorado Desert meets the Mohave Desert. The park holds twelve wilderness areas, over five hundred miles of rugged roads and many miles of hiking trails. In this truly desert environment are many animals including bighorn sheep, coyote, mule deer, kit fox, bobcat and mountain lions. There is an abundance of flora. Many different kinds of cacti grow here and depending on precipitation, the area can be a vivid display of wildflowers of every color, shape and size.

Every morning on this trip I would get up before the sun to watch the day unfold. I have been accused of running my dear wife at a frenetic pace but this trip had lots of down time for relaxing and just to enjoy being on vacation. On this morning for the second day in a row they got to sleep in. After we cooked breakfast and got our act together we once again headed south past Christmas Circle to Highway 71. This time we drove past Buttes Pass Road and turned south onto Split Mountain Road. Several miles down a beat up old paved road we came to the turnoff for Fish Creek Wash. There were a number of 4WD vehicles here airing down for the day and I did the same.

Airing down is fairly new to me. The idea is to let some air out of the tires to increase the amount of tread on the ground. There is a two-fold purpose for this. One is that you have a better grip for driving through sandy areas or climbing rocks and hills. Another is that by spreading out the tread a bit, the ride is far less bouncy and makes for a much more comfortable ride. I have a set of tire deflators that I pre-adjusted to 15 psi. I simply screw them onto the valves, let them do their thing and in just a few short minutes they automatically shut off when the tire drops from the normal 36 psi to the pre-set level of 15 psi.

Once aired down we began our journey down the Fish Creek Wash. This is ground zero for off-roading and we couldn’t believe how many 4WD vehicles were heading down the wash. One particularly testsosteroned dude had to drive over every large rock he could find. As we caught up to him he high-centered his truck on a large rock and the other vehicles he was with were convening to figure out how to free him.

Fish Creek Wash is another fairly wide dry wash but like many, it began to narrow up. Soon we came to Split Mountain where the wash literally cuts right through a huge crack in the mountain. The walls rise high on either side until eventually the wash opens up again. The scenery along the wash is beautiful with odd shaped rock formations of various colors lining the sides of the wash.

Beyond Split Mountain the number of vehicles diminished but we still saw several Jeeps coming and going up and down the wash. Our destination was a side wash called Sandstone Canyon. As soon as we found it and turned up into it the walls tightened up and grew higher around each bend. This was our most challenging Jeep ride so far. Several rock steps had to be negotiated and at one point we had to climb over a high rock step where the walls on both sides were just an inch or two from our side mirrors. I wish I had video of driving through this stretch. It was really a tight squeeze.

Once we made it past this spot we came to a small loop where the road dead-ended. It used to go further where conditions were more for the hard-core rock crawlers but a rockslide blocked the road and they simply closed it permanently beyond the rockslide. What surprised us was that when we arrived at the turnaround it was like a huge Jeep party. There were so many vehicles you barely had room to turn around in the loop. Also coming down we had to communicate with vehicles coming up to allow for taking turns through the narrowest sections. There were Jeeps of every kind and it took a bit to get out of the high traffic section and back down the canyon.

Once back into Fish Creek Wash we headed back the way we had come until we reached a trailhead for the Wind Caves. This was a steep but very short hike to some pretty cool rock formations. It was less than a mile to get to the caves. The Wind Caves are a series of rocks with holes permeating them like a big hunk of Swiss cheese. Because Wind Caves is a bit of a climb, we also had great views looking down Fish Creek Wash towards Sandstone Canyon and some of the surrounding badlands known as the Carrizo Badlands.

**Looking down Fish Creek Wash towards Sandstone Canyon**

Fish Creek Wash was a fun drive but Sandstone Canyon was really a blast with its tight, high walls. After getting back out of the wash I aired up my tires with an air compressor before getting back onto the pavement. It takes me about three minutes per tire to air back up from 15 psi to 36 psi so the whole process is really only fifteen to twenty minutes and so worth it for the smoother ride on the bumpy, rock-strewn washes. It wasn’t that late in the day so we stopped by to see a few more sculptures on our way back to camp.

We had only allotted three nights for Anza-Borrego so the next morning was our planned departure. Being the kind husband and father that I am, I suggested to Bridgit and Andrew that they sleep in. This freed me up to drive back out to Font’s Point early in the morning. It wasn’t too far from where we were staying and I was itching to see what I could come up with for a sunrise after having already seen the sun set there.

I left for Font’s Point in the dark at about 5AM and arrived before 5:45AM. I keep track of ideal lighting conditions with a wonderful app called Photopills. There are three key times in the mornings and evenings for photography. The blue hour is when the sun is still significantly below the horizon. What little amount of sunlight in the sky takes on a bluish and sometimes purplish or pinkish hue. The golden hour is just after the sun rises or before it sets when the light is still redder and softer. Sunrise is of course when the sun actually is fully above the horizon and you get vivid orange light on the subject. I arrived shortly before the blue hour and shot several photos during all these phases.

Now that I’ve shot Font’s Point at both sunrise and sunset, I would say that if I had to choose I would pick sunset. The Borrego Badlands are more lit up during the late afternoon to sunset and there seems to be more photo options than at sunrise. Still, they both have their high points!

Since sunrise was at 6:49AM, I still had plenty of time before we had to leave. On my way back I drove through Henderson Canyon which I had remembered had good flower displays. In the southern deserts, the springtime is when the desert comes alive with color from all kinds of plants and flowers blooming for a short period of time. Some years are better than others and if there is the right amount of early precipitation you get what is known as a superbloom. The key to this rare phenomenon is a rainy autumn with enough rain to soak into the soil. There are many factors that go into having perfect conditions for a superbloom. There was one in 2017 and again in 2019 but there hadn’t been one since. However, the stars lined up and not only were conditions right to have a superbloom in 2023, but we were fortunate enough to have been there while it was occuring!

One of the best spots to witness this event is along the road in Henderson Canyon which was very close to where we were camped. I drove through there on my way back from Font’s Point. The sun had risen enough to light up the peaks at the end of the canyon but the floor of the canyon was still shaded offering a much softer light which is better for shooting flowers.

Henderson Canyon is very close to some of the sculptures north of Borrego Springs so I stopped at a few on my way back to camp.

Thus ended our stay at Anza-Borrego State Park. I wish I had known about this place earlier in life. My father lived in Valley Center which is just over an hour away. He would have loved this park. We used to visit him when Andrew was still a toddler so we weren’t thinking about exploring too much in those days. Still, he had an SUV and it would have been so easy to drive up to Julian, eat a pie or two and then drop down into Borrego Springs. I had heard of the place but it was only recently after our friends Greg and Cindy visited there that my interest was sparked. It turned out to be a fantastic place and we would go back for more in a heartbeat!

Spring 2023 California Saga, 3.21.23 - 4.9.23, Part 2 of 8, Anza-Borrego State Park(Con’t)

Spring 2023 California Saga, 3.21.23 - 4.9.23. Part 1 of 8: Anza-Borrego State Park

Spring 2023 California Saga, 3.21.23 - 4.9.23, Part 3 of 8, Joshua Tree National Park