Anza-Borrego State Park

The 2nd weekend in March, Dale and I took a 3 hour drive out of the city East to the Colorado Desert to Anza-Borrego State Park in Eastern San Diego County. It was traffic nightmare getting out there though the 91 freeway pass and the 15 freeway was not any better in Corona. However, once out on the smaller 2 lane highways, it was so much better, and once in the rural areas it was like a heavy weight of the city was lifted off. We both remembered, that this is the reason we go camping.

This is the LARGEST of California stat parks, comprising some 600,000 acres, 1/5 of San Diego County is held in trust within the park boundaries to give you a bit of perspective. The park is home to the endangered Peninsular Bighorn Sheep, the park's namesake, (borrego). The Octillo cactus, Cholla cactus, and also The Black Tailed Jackrabbit and Roadrunners. The park is one of the best places to view wildflowers in the spring, but unfortunately we have had so little rain this spring, that the wildflowers are not blooming like they normally would. That was a bit disappointing, but also it meant it was easier to get a campsite. We camped at the Tamarisk Grove campgrounds with the campground in the middle of a very tall grove of Tamarisk trees that were beautiful just on their own.

Even though it was March, we had some very warm temperatures. It was up to 95F when we were leaving on Sunday. We also took along our neighbor Ren's dog that we were pet sitting. She has a very cute little Shena Ebu, named Hatsu. She loved the camping, and especially when we did smores around the campfire, she thought the graham crackers were the most delicious.

We also did a couple of short hikes in the area, the park is great for well marked trails to hike in in the desert. We went on the Cactus Loop trail that features an excellent view of the surrounding area and well marked cactus. The Yaqui well Nature Trail was also great terminating at a desert water hole.

We took a nice drive back on Sunday through the mountains and the cute town of Julian up at 4000 feet, known for their apple orchards. We also drove through Escondido, and stopped for a nice lunch in Oceanside, before heading up the coast to Long Beach.

It was a great weekend camping get away!