Weekend Escape: Anza-Borrego : A Tent Situation : A hiking, biking, gourmet-cooking time in the desert, with a snug bivouac as base of operations

One of the biggest achievements in my life was getting my wife to admit that there is an alternative to camping in the Sierra. Not that sleeping under a canopy of royal sequoias isn’t a near-religious experience. And I sure wouldn’t want to ruffle John Muir’s feathers.

But after her first trip to Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, Leslie confided that her Northern California-bred instinct to turn up her nose at the sandy, arid environs of the state’s southern half was shortsighted. Not only had she discovered the desert’s immense beauty but also its rich diversity of things to do.

That was two years ago. By the time we made our fourth trip to the area in early March, we had our desert routine down pat: We’d leave Friday morning so we’d arrive at the Palm Canyon campground early enough to claim a good site. (We already had reservations--a must this time of year.) Saturday is for mountain biking, Sunday is for hiking. Nights are spent preparing meals that would surely be featured in “Wolfgang Puck’s Gourmet Campground Recipes,” if the famous pizza meister were to ever write such a book.

The 170-mile drive took us about 3 1/2 hours. We checked in at Palm Canyon and quickly got set up. We have a mix of backpacking and car camping supplies that allow us to be lightweight but comfortable--with an emphasis on comfortable. I spread three thermal pads across the floor of our Moss Stargazer tent and used three down sleeping bags to create a bed.

Palm Canyon gets its name from the oasis nestled 1 1/2 miles up-canyon that is home to more than 1,000 palm trees. The campground is at the mouth of the canyon, between 6,147-foot Ysidro Peak and 3,960-foot Indian Head Peak. Looking away from the canyon is the wide, flat expanse of the Borrego Valley, with the purple-hued Vallecito Mountains rising eerily in the distance. There is an area near the campground entrance for recreational vehicles that provides 48 sites with water and electrical hookups. Bordering the creek that flows from the canyon and alongside the base of the opposing hills are 61 campsites. Most are spacious, and each has a ramada to provide protection from the sun, a wood table and a fire pit/grill. The ramadas at several sites have partial stone walls with chimneys. But don’t think about cool evening fires come late May and June because by then high temperatures will be hovering near 100, and by July they will be a scorching 110-plus.

Like oases in their own right are several large bathrooms with private toilets and showers with ample hot water, rare in this era of reduced recreational facilities. Newcomers to camping will be pleased to know that there are mirrors and electrical plugs. Campsites with hookups cost $18 a night, tent campsites are $14 and the park’s five group sites--which accommodate nine to 24 people--are $36. Firewood is available at $3.75 a bundle. Reservations for all state park campgrounds are made through Mistix, not the individual parks. We rode our bikes two miles into the town of Borrego Springs to chat with the local bike shop owner, Dan Cain, of Dan’s Hike and Bike. He rents mountain bikes for $29 a day. The price includes a helmet, but gloves and a water bottle must be purchased separately.

After deciding on our route, Leslie and I went back to our campsite, played a little Frisbee, then started dinner. While she prepared the marinade for our tofu kebabs, I got a fire going in the fire pit so we would have coals to cook on. Then Leslie meticulously loaded up the skewers: onion, tomato, bell pepper, tofu (baked in advance), onion, tomato, bell pepper, tofu; five times on each skewer, and we had six skewers. Three minutes on a grill over the hot coals did the trick, and with rice cooked on a propane camp stove and a salad, we had ourselves a tasty and filling dinner. But fearful that we might be accused of being informants for the cholesterol police, we followed the dinner with Pepperidge Farm Sausalito cookies, washed down with a cup of fresh Starbucks house blend.

We slept in Saturday, enjoying the coziness of our little home away from home. After breakfast, we loaded the bikes on the rack and headed out to Coyote Canyon, a mostly moderate ride that begins about seven miles north of Borrego Springs. We left our car on the shoulder of a dirt road where other bikers and hikers had parked and rode out on the valley floor. The trail was level but sandy the first couple miles. The temperatures were in the low 70s, great weather for mountain biking. We rode through a wide wash that brought us to a slight incline and a harder, more enjoyable trail surface. The canyon is framed by the Santa Rosa Mountains to the east and the San Ysidros to the west. We crossed Coyote Creek, where we stopped and ate lunch on its beach-like banks. Then we began a steep ascent to a plateau that overlooks Collins Valley and its oasis. We rode several miles into the valley, then decided to turn back. We were both thinking of dinner.

After a hot shower, we lounged around our campsite the rest of the afternoon, sipping wine and nibbling on a leftover kebab, some cheese and those divine cookies. When the sun set, I started a fire and after I had coals, tossed in two huge potatoes. Leslie, meanwhile, had artichokes going on the stove. I then prepared our “Accidental Chicken,” skinless chicken breasts wrapped in double layers of aluminum foil with red wine salad dressing and onions. Then I threw them in the fire. Twenty minutes later we sat down to another feast. We spent the rest of the evening lazily sitting around the fire, poking at the logs and wondering why we don’t do this more often.

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For any others wondering the same thing, their enthusiasm may have been dampened about four hours later when the heavens delivered a downpour. Our tent is protected by a waterproof rain fly, so we enjoyed the sound of the pitter-patter. We were still dry in the morning, which apparently put us in a minority, because we saw plenty of drenched campers hurriedly loading up their cars to leave. By the time I poured my first cup of Starbucks, there were fewer than a handful of tent campers in the park.

The hike up to the oasis in Palm Canyon is an easy 1 1/2 miles. Small wood bridges allow you to crisscross the perennial creek that was gushing from the recent winter rainstorms. All around us was a veritable garden of desert blooms. Leslie and I had seen several bighorn sheep the last time we were here, but apparently the rain had driven them off, too. Approaching the first stand of California fan palms, I was struck by the notion that I had thought such sights existed only in fairy tales about bandits traipsing across the Sahara Desert. The Palm Canyon creek cascaded from the boulders above, cutting a circuitous route through the stately grove. We climbed the rocks above the falls and had lunch.

Suddenly the rain picked up, and Leslie and I decided it was time to leave. I figured Mother Nature felt like being alone now, and I thanked her again for inviting us to this beautiful spot. The Sierra, indeed, are not the only game in this state.

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Budget for Two

Gas from Los Angeles: $23.49

Campsite, two nights: 34.75

Road snack: 3.58

Groceries and supplies: 78.92

Firewood, two nights: 14.50

FINAL TAB: $155.24

Anza-Borrego Desert State Park information , tel. (619) 767-5311 . For reservations, call Mistix: (800) 444-7275.