Playing In Borrego Springs
Here are some photos of how we spent our time in Borrego Springs when we weren't hanging out with other RVers at camp.
Town was only 7 miles from our boondocking spot at Rockhouse Trail so we decided to check it out on bikes. We saw Vince's trike outside his Airstream and invited him along for the ride. He ended up being our tour guide (since he was at Borrego Springs last year) and we had a great time with him.
Biking into Borrego Springs with Jerud and Vince.
Anza-Borrego State Park surrounds the town and that's where we're headed in this photo.
Being that we were in the desert, we did experience a couple of dust storms.
Jerud and I were eager to go mountain biking so we visited the local bike shop to learn about the local trails. Unfortunately we learned there was no real singletrack to ride, although there were plenty of sandy jeep roads. We took the information we got and headed out for a ride. We never did find the paths we were looking for, but we found some other stuff to ride anyway. Google maps didn't serve us very well -- having a paper map would have been useful.
This wasn't the trail we wanted, but it sure was pretty.
This also wasn't the trail we wanted. But it was a large lemon and orange grove that we rode through to get into the state park.
So we helped ourselves to some of the dropped fruit.
There's also a fruit stand at the corner of Henderson Canyon Rd. and Di Giorgio Rd. that is always filled with large bags of oranges and grapefruits for just a few bucks. We bought one of the large bags of oranges and they were some of the best oranges I've ever had.
Throughout the desert in Borrego Springs, there are these beautiful and intricate sculptures created by Ricardo Breceda. They live in various places and there are a lot of them! My photos don't do them any justice.
There are a handful of canyons in Anza-Borrego State Park. We went out with Brian, Jaden, Ralph to check out The Slot. It's only a 0.8 mile hike, but it's definitely worth the long drive out to it. Note: dogs are not allowed on any trails in Anza-Borrego State Park. This was a huge bummer when we found out. We hate not being able to bring our dogs hiking with us.
The mountains behind us at Rockhouse Trail also have some trails that lead to a few rock sculptures people have made over the years (and they've somehow not been destroyed). Brian (A Guy, A Dog, A Rig), Anna (Small House Big World), Tori and Skyler (Meant for Adventure) and I hiked out to look for them.
From the top we also had a good view of our campsite.
Anna and I continued on with our dogs (hers - Max and me - Tyki). We were both super curious where the trail went so we followed it for awhile. The trail kept going up and over ridges but we eventually made a right turn to head back to camp.
The trail overlooks the fruit groves down in Borrego Springs.
Later I went to check out Clark Dry Lake, which is exactly what it sounds like. It's located right behind where we were boondocked.
One of the last hikes we wanted to do before we left town was the Palm Canyon Trail in Anza-Borrego State Park. It's a short 3.25 mile round trip hike that can be started at the visitor center taking the paved path to the trailhead. By doing it this way we didn't have to pay the $8 to enter the campground where the trailhead parking lot was located. I think the paved path adds a mile to the overall hike.
While we had a great time in Borrego Springs, it wasn't one of our top places that we've been to so far. The big downside for us is the lack of singletrack for riding and few places or trails where we can bring the dogs along.
