This past weekend, went camping with my 11 year old son in Anza Borrego Desert State Park in San Diego county. The specific location was called Indian Gorge, about 15 miles north of Ocotillo on S2. It was his first time camping in the desert.
He was supposed to be camping in a different desert, the beach of Carlsbad (California not New Mexico), but that Boy Scout camping trip fell through at the last minute, so we decided to head east.
I found Indian Gorge online and it seemed like a good spot to explore. My research usually takes about 5 minutes, so it can be hit or miss. This was a solid hit.
It was kind of like Big Bend, minus the rio (so no bend of any size), but you didn't have to pull permits for camping on the 4x4 roads. You just go.
We loaded up and left home about 7:30am on Saturday. Grabbing some McDonald's for breakfast, he fell asleep and I drove.
We first checked out Box Willows campground for future use. I think my wife would like it since there is a toilet. Granted it is a pit toilet and no water, but that's better than what the rest of the desert has.
We then turned off onto Indian Gorge road and headed in.
The road through the wash wasn't that tough. I did use 4 high as it would start bogging down in the soft sand if you got out of the track. A few rocks made having high clearance nice, but they were navigable. I do subscribe to the theory that no matter how difficult a 4x4 road is, a Subaru will be on the other side.
At the end of the gorge, Terote Canyon comes in. We stopped briefly to read about Elephant Trees, then continued on.
Indian Gorge opens into Indian Valley. Real original names here. The road splits to north and south. We decided to explore North first.
We only passed one other car on the road. Didn't see a camp, so assume they were hiking.
The road dead-ends at some cool rocks.
We stopped and explored for a bit. Walked back to see the palm springs.
Seemed like a good campsite, so I kept it on my short list.
We then drove back to explore the south fork of Indian Valley.
Shortly after turning onto the road, saw what looked like a great campsite. Of course there was a "no camping" sign. We then saw a cool rock cave and realized why it was marked "sensitive area." We decided to explore.
The cave had scorch marks in it. Looks like Indians would have had a fire in it then slept towards the outside to stay warm.
Walking around the rock we found the kitchen.
You could see in the rock that had fallen off the larger rock the mortars in it.
We continued walking around it and found the current resident, a boa.
We continued to the end of the road where another palm spring was. There was of course a Subaru parked there.
We started back up the road looking for a campsite. We found a good one, just south of the Indian camp.
We set up camp, explored the rocks behind our site, then had lunch. Sandwiches all around.
The sunshade was the real MVP. Though we only needed it a few hours, it would have been torture without it.
We then discussed what we wanted to do that afternoon. My son did ask at the cave "any paintings on the rock?" So I gave him three options, one, go look at pictographs, two, go explore Terote, three, stay at camp. He chose Terote, so we headed back up to the edge of the gorge. We'll be back next month to explore the pictographs.
We did about 2.5 miles, following the canyon up until the next valley. Took about 1.5 hours with stops. Nothing too difficult, but the catclaw was the biggest obstacle!
We headed back down and complained about catclaw while wanting to find an elephant tree. I looked up on the ridge and found it.
The marker at the mouth of Terote says they have a distinct, yet hard to describe aroma. Absolutely agree! Cool plants. They can hold a years worth of water in their trunk, hints the name, so they are slightly squishy.
Headed back to camp and made supper. Burgers. Had a pound of meat, so we had double cheese burgers. Wasn't no Whataburger, but certainly better than that California In-N-Out crap.
Enjoyed a beautiful sunset from camp.
We started a fire in our Solo Stove, dispersed camping has to have a metal fire pit, and of course had smores. We enjoyed the stars, saw about a dozen shooting stars, and even a Starlink sky train.
We slept that night in our tent, Coleman Oasis 4 man, with no rain fly. Was in the 50s so even in a 1-2 season bag, it was still warm. But anytime I woke up, the stars greeted me.
Next morning I got up and the the sun greeted us with light on Sombrero Peak first.
I decided then that I'm coming back in the spring to camp here again and then climb Sombrero with my teenager.
Great trip, even the 11 year old said so.
The worst part though? Cholla.
If you've never lived anywhere you had to deal with cholla, it is the most evil plant on earth. It earns its name jumping cholla because if you get within 10 feet of it, it'll get on you. If has these tuffs that fall off and litter the ground, so you soles always have them and they will go through the shoe. Because it is on your sole, occasionally you'll kick it up into your calf. But it is also everywhere. We were throwing the football and I catch it, well the cholla got on the ball and now I have needles in my hands. I get in the truck and the floor board is covered. The tires of the truck, nothing but cholla. You want to lay down on the ground to look at stars? You can't because of cholla. You want to dig a cat hole and take care of business? Cholla.
He was supposed to be camping in a different desert, the beach of Carlsbad (California not New Mexico), but that Boy Scout camping trip fell through at the last minute, so we decided to head east.
I found Indian Gorge online and it seemed like a good spot to explore. My research usually takes about 5 minutes, so it can be hit or miss. This was a solid hit.
It was kind of like Big Bend, minus the rio (so no bend of any size), but you didn't have to pull permits for camping on the 4x4 roads. You just go.
We loaded up and left home about 7:30am on Saturday. Grabbing some McDonald's for breakfast, he fell asleep and I drove.
We first checked out Box Willows campground for future use. I think my wife would like it since there is a toilet. Granted it is a pit toilet and no water, but that's better than what the rest of the desert has.
We then turned off onto Indian Gorge road and headed in.
The road through the wash wasn't that tough. I did use 4 high as it would start bogging down in the soft sand if you got out of the track. A few rocks made having high clearance nice, but they were navigable. I do subscribe to the theory that no matter how difficult a 4x4 road is, a Subaru will be on the other side.
At the end of the gorge, Terote Canyon comes in. We stopped briefly to read about Elephant Trees, then continued on.
Indian Gorge opens into Indian Valley. Real original names here. The road splits to north and south. We decided to explore North first.
We only passed one other car on the road. Didn't see a camp, so assume they were hiking.
The road dead-ends at some cool rocks.
We stopped and explored for a bit. Walked back to see the palm springs.
Seemed like a good campsite, so I kept it on my short list.
We then drove back to explore the south fork of Indian Valley.
Shortly after turning onto the road, saw what looked like a great campsite. Of course there was a "no camping" sign. We then saw a cool rock cave and realized why it was marked "sensitive area." We decided to explore.
The cave had scorch marks in it. Looks like Indians would have had a fire in it then slept towards the outside to stay warm.
Walking around the rock we found the kitchen.
You could see in the rock that had fallen off the larger rock the mortars in it.
We continued walking around it and found the current resident, a boa.
We continued to the end of the road where another palm spring was. There was of course a Subaru parked there.
We started back up the road looking for a campsite. We found a good one, just south of the Indian camp.
We set up camp, explored the rocks behind our site, then had lunch. Sandwiches all around.
The sunshade was the real MVP. Though we only needed it a few hours, it would have been torture without it.
We then discussed what we wanted to do that afternoon. My son did ask at the cave "any paintings on the rock?" So I gave him three options, one, go look at pictographs, two, go explore Terote, three, stay at camp. He chose Terote, so we headed back up to the edge of the gorge. We'll be back next month to explore the pictographs.
We did about 2.5 miles, following the canyon up until the next valley. Took about 1.5 hours with stops. Nothing too difficult, but the catclaw was the biggest obstacle!
We headed back down and complained about catclaw while wanting to find an elephant tree. I looked up on the ridge and found it.
The marker at the mouth of Terote says they have a distinct, yet hard to describe aroma. Absolutely agree! Cool plants. They can hold a years worth of water in their trunk, hints the name, so they are slightly squishy.
Headed back to camp and made supper. Burgers. Had a pound of meat, so we had double cheese burgers. Wasn't no Whataburger, but certainly better than that California In-N-Out crap.
Enjoyed a beautiful sunset from camp.
We started a fire in our Solo Stove, dispersed camping has to have a metal fire pit, and of course had smores. We enjoyed the stars, saw about a dozen shooting stars, and even a Starlink sky train.
We slept that night in our tent, Coleman Oasis 4 man, with no rain fly. Was in the 50s so even in a 1-2 season bag, it was still warm. But anytime I woke up, the stars greeted me.
Next morning I got up and the the sun greeted us with light on Sombrero Peak first.
I decided then that I'm coming back in the spring to camp here again and then climb Sombrero with my teenager.
Great trip, even the 11 year old said so.
The worst part though? Cholla.
If you've never lived anywhere you had to deal with cholla, it is the most evil plant on earth. It earns its name jumping cholla because if you get within 10 feet of it, it'll get on you. If has these tuffs that fall off and litter the ground, so you soles always have them and they will go through the shoe. Because it is on your sole, occasionally you'll kick it up into your calf. But it is also everywhere. We were throwing the football and I catch it, well the cholla got on the ball and now I have needles in my hands. I get in the truck and the floor board is covered. The tires of the truck, nothing but cholla. You want to lay down on the ground to look at stars? You can't because of cholla. You want to dig a cat hole and take care of business? Cholla.
