Blogs from Borrego Springs, California, United States, North America

Geo: 33.2558, -116.374Borrego Springs fancied itself as the second coming of Palm Springs but something happened on the way to riches- a distinct lack of water for those necessary golf courses and pools. The good thing for those who go beyond the lure and comfort of Palm Springs is that the village of Borrego Springs is uniquely surrounded and protected by the amazing 600,000 acre Anza-Borrego Desert State Park. The nearest stoplight is fifty miles away and Borrego is California's first Dark Sky Community (there are no significant street lights and bright lights of all types are regulated). Great for stargazing.There's no question that the Desert Park is the area highlight but the first things to catch your eye are the many metal sculptures that dot the landscape. The menagerie (140 figures in all, including modern-day ... read more

Geo: 33.2558, -116.374Having experienced the real desert yesterday we decided to visit a slightly sanitised version (i.e with cafes and toilets). The Living Desert in the town of Palm Desert is part tourist attraction part serious conservation centre rather like the Eden Project. To get there we had to drive for a couple of hours through the Borrego Badlands, stunningly beautiful in a starkly barren way. Past Salton City which lies on the banks of the Salton Sea, formed in 1905 when a dam project on the Colorado River went wrong and flooded the area! We drove through some rather grim towns and then found ourselves amid the manicured lawns and titivated flower beds of Indian Wells. All that greenery in the desert must need a ludicrous amount of water.The Living Desert was a great day ... read more

Geo: 33.2558, -116.374The conference has finished so the real holiday can begin! We waved bye-bye to the Grand Hyatt and to Downtown and headed east. We went uphill and we went downhill. With the three of us and all our lugguage, the poor car had to work quite hard to get us over the hills. It didn't take long after leaving the city to find ourselves in the wilderness. Not quite the Sahara, but the surrounding landscape was definitely desert. Every so often, we would come across a bit of an oasis where some water made it to the surface. Cuyamaca Lake was one of those places. We stopped there for lunch - in an American version of a greasy spoon, but the food was surprisingly good. The view of the lake was superb. It's a ... read more

The night was much cooler and predicted high for the day was in the mid 70s, so there was less urgency to get started on our hike up Palm Tree Canyon. We left KC in HoW which was a mistake as his barking brought a nastygram from the camp host. We started to walk to the trail head, but it was about a half mile away on a paved road. A bush quote seems appropriate here “fool me once, shame on — — shame on you. Fool me — — You can't get fooled again”. So TT was used to go the rest of the way. The trail was cut around a ridge and up the canyon. We were initially greeted by an unusual desert sight (see photo) and then onward and upward. Although there were ... read more

Today a new adventure. Off to Anza Borrego State Park with a stop at WinCo in Indio to replenish eats as they were reaching a meager point (oatmeal, fruit, and left-over soup and pasta). While Emily shopped, KC and I tried to keep cool in the high 70's low 80's sun. Finally Emily returned, but not empty handed. After loading the refrigerator we were off down a familiar highway CA 86 to a turn-off at an ARCO station in Salton City. About 30 miles later we pulled into the state park and the best camping site our House on Wheels (HoW) had occupied. Full hook-ups on the north edge of the campground meant no neighbors to look at. BTW – high temp for the day was 88. Anza Borrego State Park surrounds the community of Borrego ... read more