90 miles NE of San Diego; 31 miles E of Julian
The 600,000-acre Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, the nation's largest contiguous state park, lies mostly within San Diego County, and getting to it is almost as much fun as being there. From Julian, the first 20 minutes of the winding hour-long drive feel as if you're going straight downhill; in fact, it's a 7-mile drop called Banner Grade. A famous scene from the 1954 movie The Long, Long Trailer, with Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, was shot on the Banner Grade, and countless Westerns have been filmed in the Anza-Borrego Desert. An easier access is from Indio: Go south on Highway 86 to Salton City and west on County Road S22 into Borrego Springs.
The desert is home to fossils and rocks dating from 540 million years ago (humans arrived only 10,000 years ago). The terrain ranges in elevation from 15 feet to 6,100 feet above sea level. It incorporates dry lakebeds, sandstone canyons, granite mountains, palm groves fed by year-round springs, and more than 600 kinds of desert plants. After the spring rains, thousands of wildflowers burst into bloom, transforming the desert into a brilliant palette of pink, lavender, red, orange, and yellow. The rare bighorn sheep can sometimes be spotted navigating rocky hillsides, and an occasional migratory bird stops off on the way to the Salton Sea. A sense of timelessness pervades this landscape; it's worth slowing down to take a long look around.
When planning a trip here, keep in mind that temperatures rise to as high as 115°F (46°C) in summer. Winters days are comfortable with temperatures in the low to mid 70s Fahrenheit (mid-20s Celsius), but nighttime temps can drop to freezing. Note: Hypothermia is as big a killer out here as the heat.
