Desert Joys : Hiking Adventures Abound in Anza-Borrego Park

A thousand square miles of varied, scenic and generally remote terrain await the intrepid explorer within San Diego County’s sprawling Anza-Borrego Desert State Park. But you don’t have to lurch for hours down washboard roads to reach some of the finest destinations. Within a three-mile walk or climb from Anza-Borrego’s centrally located Visitor Center, there exist three palm-filled canyons, several small waterfalls and peaks that rise nearly a mile above the desert floor. You won’t see many desert wildflowers for a while yet, but the cool, crystal-clear weather prevailing over the next two months is perfect for hiking and backpacking at all levels of difficulty.

The hikes described here begin from either Anza-Borrego’s Visitor Center or the Borrego Palm Canyon Campground. Both starting points are about two miles west of Borrego Springs. Some of the hikes are challenging and enter remote areas, so you may want to discuss your plans with park personnel at either the Visitor Center or nearby park headquarters. You should also be apprised of the park regulations, particularly those concerning campfires (they’re prohibited outside the main campgrounds). You can reach the park at 767-4684 or 767-5311.

Borrego Palm Canyon

Whether it will be your first or your fifth time on this popular tourist path, the Borrego Palm Canyon Nature Trail never ceases to inspire. It begins at a large parking lot at the west end of Borrego Palm Canyon Campground. At first, there’s nothing much to see along the trail but the typical desert floor vegetation--thorny, spindly or prostrate. As you round a bend, you suddenly catch sight of a patch of iridescent green cradled in the yawning mouth of the canyon ahead. Hundreds of noble palms stand there, each holding high a crown of feathery, fan-shaped fronds. After the winter rains, water splashes over the canyon boulders and gathers in pools, delighting all the senses. Here you make your acquaintance with the Washingtonia filifera , or California fan palm, which is California’s only native palm.

The nature trail, 1.5 miles long, ends at the first and biggest palm grove, but you could easily spend hours rock-hopping and exploring the other groves ahead. If you’re really adept at rock scrambling, you could spend two or three days poking into the various forks and branches of the canyon that lie well upstream.

The Borrego Palm Canyon Nature Trail is spectacular in the silvery moonlight. Ideal moonlit conditions are in store for the weekend of Jan. 1-3 (for early or late evening hikes), and for the weekend of Jan. 8-10 (late evening only).

Panorama Overlook

An easy hike from either the Visitor Center or the campground will put you atop a small knoll called Panorama Overlook. The view of Borrego Valley and the surrounding mountains is quite satisfying--but don’t stop if the spirit moves you. The higher you climb, the more the panorama expands. Those with the mettle to tackle the next 4,000 vertical feet of ascent on the trail-less, rock-strewn ridge ahead might eventually reach the cool pinyon-pine-and-juniper belt atop the towering east shoulder of San Ysidro Mountain. Even partway up this rugged climb there’s a pseudo-aerial perspective of the entire Anza-Borrego region, with vistas stretching from Mexico to the snow-capped San Bernardino Mountains.

Hellhole Canyon

This “hellish place to lose a cow,” as the old-time cattlemen of the area put it, is a wonderful place to lose one’s self for a while. Concealed within the boulder-studded walls of the lower canyon is Maidenhair Falls, adorned with mosses and ferns and framed by twisted sycamores and cottonwoods.

From the Visitor Center, head southwest across the open desert toward the broad mouth of Hellhole Canyon. Then thread your way another mile along the canyonside, following paths beaten down by animals and hikers. Palms appear as the canyon walls pinch in tightly. A short way past the densest grove of palms, tucked amid a jumble of boulders and fallen trees, you’ll find (with some luck) the grotto containing 25-foot-high Maidenhair Falls.

There’s another adventurous destination in the immediate area. Just before you reach the wide mouth of Hellhole Canyon, you’ll pass below another, steeper and more forbidding canyon to the right (west). This is Flat Cat Canyon, which conceals palm trees in its upper reaches nearly 2000 vertical feet up.