A few of us from San Diego went out to Anza Borrego yesterday to do some photography in the Borrego Badlands area. We started out at the north end of Inspiration Wash and took that all the way to its south end right about where paved portion of the road to the dump ends. There are some great views both from the high point of the trail, and down in the narrow canyons. You'll want 4WD for this trail, mostly for patches of soft sand in tight curves, and also for going over a few bypasses made necessary by rockfalls.
The weather on Saturday was about as good as it gets out there.
The views from the high point of the trail are pretty good.
From here it drops back down into the badlands.
There are some great sand dunes along the way.
From the dump we headed south to Borrego Sink, then east into San Felipe Wash. There is a great series of ridge-line trails just south of the wash, up near the San Gregorio Monument. They don't show on my maps, but there are some good views from up there, and a very steep sandy descent back down into San Felipe / Borrego Sink Wash.
Along the way we found a cool little patch of dried mud. The fisheye lens gives a curvature to the tracks in the mud.
Next we headed up Hills of the Moon Wash. You'll want 4WD for this one as well, and also be sure to keep the group small. The spot we turned around in was pretty tight. There were several spots where the mud hills had collapsed into the trail, and the bypasses were somewhat steep and rutted in places. We scouted ahead on foot several times in order to make sure we would not wind up in a spot we could not get out of. It starts out wide, but that doesn't last very long.
Our turn-around spot.
It took a little more work to turn that longer-wheelbase Frontier.
From Hills of the Moon we headed south to Borrego Springs Road at the Texas Dip via San Felipe Wash. That stretch is of San Felipe is easily done in 2WD, but still has some great views, especially in the late afternoon when you look back to the north.
Since people often ask, here is the current wildflower report for the badlands and Henderson Canyon area. Yes, it is that time of year. No, there aren't any this year. It's been way too dry I guess. This is the least I've seen in the last 6 years. Practically nothing, really. It might be worth continuing to watch over the next few weeks, maybe if there is more rain something will bloom.
There are more pictures at this gallery:
http://frankbaiamonte.smugmug.com/So-Cal-Explorations-Day/Anza-Borrego-032412/
