Visiting Anza-Borrego Desert State Park

Anza-Borrego Desert State Park is part of the Colorado Desert in Southern California and although it is actually the second-largest state park in the contiguous United States, it is often overlooked by people when visiting SoCal.

It is a 3hr drive from Los Angeles, and only 1hr30min from Palm Springs or San Diego. We drove through Anza-Borrego SP on our way home from Palm Springs and I’m so glad we did!

Related Posts: Guide to Palm Springs in 2020

Read on to find out more about the wild landscape of Anza-Borrego Desert State Park

How To Get There

For your first visit to Anza-Borrego, we definitely recommend entering from the west side if possible. There is more to see right after entering the west entrance but both sides do have good things to offer. We entered from the east side near the Salton Sea, down an empty road and were eventually greeted by the badlands area of Anza-Borrego. The rugged and colourful canyons were so vast and unique to view. It’s a great place for some cool desert vibe photos or for off-roading if you have a 4x4.

If you enter the park from the west entrance (coming from San Diego or Los Angeles) then make sure you check out Galleta Meadows in Borrego Springs. This is a collection of huge metal sculptures created by Ricardo Breceda, that are standing in the desert sands with mountains as the backdrop making it quite a site to see.

It really does feel like the middle of nowhere, especially because there was no one there when we went but that made watching the sunset over the mountains more special! You can also check out the visitor center before heading into the park, but it was closed (due to the pandemic) when we went.

Things To Do

• Camping (there is a wide variety of primitive campsite options & dispersed backcountry camping)

• Hikes (popular hikes include Borrego Palm Canyon with a Palm Oasis & Slot Canyon)

• Off-Roading (with a 4x4 check out Font’s Point & Goat Canyon Trestle)

Another fact about California’s largest state park is that Anza-Borrego is an International Dark Sky Park which means it is a great place for star-gazing and night photography! Also make sure you are prepared with enough fuel, food & water for the duration of your stay because there isn’t much around the area, even after exiting the park.

Places To See

• Galleta Meadows Sculptures (the main attraction to Borrego Springs)

• Clark’s Dry Lake (you can drive down to it or see it from the main road)

• Salton Sea (if you’re coming from Palm Springs you’ll drive past Salton Sea, which is almost a ghost town)

Nearby Attractions

• Palm Springs

• Joshua Tree

• San Andreas Fault along Coachella & Indio

I hope this gave you a better idea of what visiting Anza-Borrego is like. You can drive through the park for a day-trip or camp to spend more time finding hidden gems around!

Thanks for reading and if you would like to see more, check out our Anza-Borrego video on YouTube here. 

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