Anza Borrego

We woke up and put the camper in traveling order. Our night's sleep was restful, but we still had concerns about our fluid leak. I looked under the truck before we pulled out; no oil spots were on the ground. Linda gave me directions and we were on our way to celebrate Christmas at Anza-Borrego Desert State Park.

The drive was much easier than our past routes. We mostly traveled on the freeway but finished with very slow, curvy two-lane roads. We had to negotiate 9 miles of steep switchbacks on the final descent into Borrego Springs. It was a bit of a white knuckler. We kept it in low gears and went very cautiously.

At the check-in gate, we were informed that we could not check in until 2:00PM. It was 1:33PM. We drove to the Discovery Center, ate a sandwich, and then returned to the park entrance and got in line. We were glad to be at the campsite where we would spend some rest days, so all was good!

Anza Borrego was one of Linda's family's favorite spots for getting away on family adventures when she was young. The area brought back so many memories of the adventures they experienced. They were a huge part of her youth. I wrote about some of her thoughts in the blog post from our first visit.

We spent our time there hiking, resting, relaxing, reading, and enjoying this special place. We stayed three nights. On Christmas day, we packed up and drove out of the park. Our final stop was the lot in Yuma, where our neighbors, Steve and Jodi, awaited our arrival.

Desert sunrise.

Roadrunner, beep, beep!

Our clean little camper, ready for our winter stay in Yuma

Anza-Borrego

A welcome sight!

When we first started making plans for this trip, Linda asked if there was a chance that we might visit some of the spots where she camped when she was a young child. Of course, I agreed, and this became a major focus of ours during our journey down to Queen Valley, AZ and then back home to Post Falls.

Linda's family had been a very active camping family when she was young. They would load up many a weekend and drive down into the desert to Anza-Borrego State Park and enjoy the solitude of the desert. 

We knew it was a bit crazy to stay in QV and then drive south to Kartchner Caverns and loop all the way back over to Anza-Borrego before returning home but in our view, it had to be done. 

After our stay at the caverns, we followed highways 8 and 86 into the desert. Linda had gotten us reservations at the park where she and her family spent many weekends relaxing and exploring. As we drove through the town of Borrego Springs, Linda's eyes filled with tears and she began to tell me the stories she remembered of this unique area. 

Linda and her family had visited so often that they knew all the names of the park rangers. Her father, many times, would drive the family down to the park, spend the weekend and then leave the family and return to Alhambra for the workweek. Mom and the kids would spend the week enjoying the desert and then he would return on Friday after work. She told me about the many hikes they took. One, in particular, was the Palm Canyon trail into the oasis. I loved hearing her memories and the look in her eyes as we entered the park. 

As you can imagine she was excited, but she also realized that it had been almost 50 years since she had been there. We talked about what she remembered, and that, other than modern upgrades in the park, the layout of the campground was much the same as she remembered it from her childhood.

We found our campsite and settled in and for the next four days we hiked and drove around the area exploring our first real desert.

Linda's favorite memories were of the hike up Palm Canyon to the oasis. She had told me the stories of those hikes. On one occasion the entire family was sitting under the palm trees on the sands near the water when a photographer approached and asked if he could take pictures of the kids playing by the spring. With the parent's approval, he shot photos. When he finished he said that he produced postcards from his shots and that he may create one of the kids. Our hike up this trail was a bit different. We were unable to get right down into the oasis as there'd been a fire two years ago and they were allowing restoration to take place. They were also a bit concerned about falling palm trees. The native palms in this area were noted for their "skirts" of palm fronds that form up and down their trunks. 

Sure enough one of the photos was used to create postcards and were sold in the gift store. The family was able to get several for their memories. 

Scan of the original postcard.
Linda's dad with Linda and
her sister

On one of the days, when we weren't hiking, we drove to an area where an artist had created metal sculptures of animals and prehistoric creatures. It was amazing!  

The artist was a Mexican bootmaker who created a metal elephant for his daughter's birthday.  The work was discovered by a millionaire, the heir to the Avery Labels fortune, and the bootmaker was commissioned to build other statues for an exhibit on the outskirts of Borrego Springs.  As it turned out, he created over 130 different metal sculptures. These beautiful pieces of art are called the Galleta Meadows Sculptures.

Linda's Notes:

Though I spent just the first 11 years of my life in southern California, those years had a huge impact on me. They were the years that fostered my love for sports and the outdoors.

My family went camping as often as possible - all 5 of us in a pop-up tent trailer. One of our very favorite places to go was Anza Borrego State Park.

Our campsite in the park.

I have regaled Dean with our exploits at Anza Borrego for the last 40 years. When Dean and I decided to spend this winter in Arizona I knew we HAD to visit Anza Borrego on our way home.

My memories of Anza Borrego aren't only specific details of our times there though I have many of those - Dad hiding a penny in a palm tree to find on the next hike of the Palm Canyon Trail; Oscar, the roadrunner (and his descendants); having us kids' picture randomly taken by a professional photographer who then got permission to make it into a postcard to be sold at the gift shop... Mostly, the memories are emotional memories, memories of how I felt when I was there.

As we passed the sign welcoming us to Anza Borrego State Park, I started crying. I was really surprised by this reaction. Dean asked if I was ok and I was. My tears were tears of gratitude for being able to share something that had been so important to me as a kid with someone I loved so much. There were also tears of remembrance - for my dad who's no longer here and with whom I couldn't share this. They were also for my mom. She has been sad to not be there with us to see this "family place" again, but also so excited for Dean and me to experience this together. She made us promise to tell her all about it while we were there. I shared all of our adventures with her - the changes (not as many as you'd think in the 50 years since I'd been) and the things that had remained the same.

Dean will do his Canyonwren Travels blog entry and fill everyone in on our wonderful stay here. Dean's already made a slide show to share with Mom. I just felt the need for a small introduction to this very special place.

Hike Photos:

The desert was green,
and blooming plants were everywhere.

Hiking to Palm Canyon oasis.

We passed an artist painting the canyon.

The Oasis where Linda played.

Metal sculptures in the desert.