For those who have not been on this trip before, or have not been to Anza Borrego, here's a bit more info.
- The meet spot is at the Anza Borrego State Park Visitor Center. If you have not been there before you may want to wander into the Center itself and take a quick look around, and pick up the free map/brochure that they have (or buy a guidebook and/or map, the proceeds go to a good cause). There are real rest rooms at the Visitor Center. After that it's the vault toilets at Fish Creek Primitive Camp and then rocks and bushes the rest of the way. I'm hoping we can leave the Visitor Center fairly early this year, because it is a bit of a drive to the trail head. I would like to roll out of there by 10:30AM at the latest.
- The trail head at the end of Split Mountain Road is 28 miles from the Visitor Center, so it does take some time to get out there. We'll stop to air down at the trail head, then head up Fish Creek about 12.5 miles before turning in to Sandstone Canyon. We'll make a few short stops in Fish Creek to check out the geology. There are some very interesting rock formations along the way.
- We know a good lunch spot about 1.5 miles in to Sandstone Canyon, figure we'll hit that around 1:00PM, but it's hard to say for sure. We've done this run several times, and it's always pretty leisurely, with a long stop for lunch.
- At the end of Sandstone Canyon there is a wide (relatively speaking) area where we can park and take a little hike. This past May I hiked up a different canyon than the one we did on last November's club run, it was really nice, I think better than the one we did last year. Sandstone Canyon is a dead-end, so we'll be coming out the same way we came in.
- There is gas available in Borrego Springs, but there could be a line and prices could be high. If you plan to fill up there be sure to allow enough time to do it before getting to the meet spot. If you're coming in via Hwy 79 from I-15 at Temecula it would be best to top off there. If coming from San Diego fill up at Ramona at the latest.
- I plan to stop at the Julian Pie Company main bakery in Santa Ysabel when they open at 9:00AM. This is at the intersection of Hwy 78 and Hwy 79, it is not in the town of Julian. Going through Julian takes you well out of the way if headed towards the Visitor Center. The best way from Santa Ysabel to the Visitor Center is north on Hwy 79 to right on S-2, then left on S-22 through Ranchita and down the Montezuma Grade into Borrego Springs.
- For those of us who are not camping it is quite possible we'll get back to Split Mountain Road after dark, or close to it. A flashlight or headlamp is nice to have when airing back up.
