A Day in Anza-Borrego Desert State Park
By Lauren Wong
If I could go back and redo this part of my road trip, I would. This park is so massive that with only spending one day here, I feel like I barely made a dent in all there is to see and do.
We camped inside the park at Agua Caliente Park, which I absolutely loved. There’s three pools located in the park that are naturally fed from geothermally heated springs.
A mistake we made was driving deep into Anza-Borrego before stopping to get food. Once you’re inside and the sun has begun to set, there’s really no options for food unless you want to drive about an hour back out to the nearest town (which even then, the park rangers told us everything was probably closed). With no service we couldn’t check, so our dinner consisted of sharing the last few crumbs of Sun Chips we had left. Prepare better than we did!
The first thing we did the next morning was drive 30 minutes to Red Feather Offroad Market and Cafe to fill our empty stomachs. There were two “must hit” spots on my list, so we started with those to see how much time we had afterwards (which ended up not being much).
The first stop was Font’s Point. You need four wheel drive to make it to this spot, and even then you have to be careful because the sand makes you lose traction. This lookout point was truly magnificent. For miles upon miles you look out over this seemingly endless terrain, the highs and the lows of the canyon walls until it blends in with the horizon.
Our next stop was the Slot Canyon Trail. You’ll also need four wheel drive to hit this stop. The road to the trailhead is similar, but slightly less rugged, than the road to Font’s Point.
This 2.3 mile, moderately challenging hike takes you right into that beautiful viewpoint you just saw. After looking from above, you’re now smack dab in the middle, canyon walls towering above you as you maneuver your way down the path through the slot canyons.
This hike is definitely up there as one of my favorites. If you’re in a time crunch and want to visit this underrated California State Park I would say these two stops need to be on your itinerary.
