The Island is one of those areas that we have driven by for twenty years and never stopped. To be honest we are not sure it is even called the Island. It is a freeway island, sandwiched in between the high speed lanes of Interstate 8. The Jacumba Mountains flank its' northern edge while the In-Ko-Pah Gorge lies to south.  Driving east I was surprised to find some late season snow near Pine Valley. Bighorn Sheep, freeway debris, Sunrise Powerlink towers, Native American artifacts, target practice folks and beautiful desert all stuck between the high speed lanes of ... [More]

We finally had a free weekend, so we decided to drive out to Anza Borrego to see how the wildflowers were progressing. Our plan was to camp in Carrizo Gorge but as we approached the turnoff we noticed at least 20 cars parked at the entrance. Not sure what was going on but we quickly drove by to find some where a bit more secluded. We ended up camping in Indian Valley which was a great choice. We found a great spot set among the blooming Ocotillo plants and set up our camp.  Now onto our  Anza Borrego Wildflower report : The Ocotillo are putting on an amazing display in southern An... [More]

I left the coast on an overcast morning with a cold north wind blowing.  Daren had invited me to check out some pictographs he had found around the Jacumba area so I was excited to make the trip.  Once I hit Lakeside the clouds disappeared and the clear blue skies beckoned me eastward. We had planned to meet at the Subway / gas station in Jacumba , so I arrived a bit early to pick up a sandwich. The place was busy with people heading east towing all types of sand toys. Funny how the desert means different things to different people. To some there is nothing better than blasting up ... [More]

MuMu the FJ40 Land Cruiser conquers the Squeeze in Anza Borrego Pulled this one out of the archives.  Fast forward 17 years later, we still own "MuMu" the Land Cruiser but unfortunately she has been retired to the garage with the occasional trip to the grocery store. :)

"Looks like we have some pretty thick fog", Mary commented as we made our way east past Alpine towards Anza Borrego. What started out as an overcast morning on the coast transformed into a damp, drizzly mist that shrouded the freeway. Lucky for us, as we started our descent into the desert town of Ocotillo, the fog lifted and the mountains blocked any further advance of the wet weather. The S2 highway was deserted on this late Monday morning as we headed north towards the Indian Gorge turnoff. The Ocotillo plants swayed in the wind adding motion to an otherwise still desert morning. The... [More]

We left Leucadia on a damp, foggy winter morning in hopes of enjoying some clear desert skies. Our destination was the mud caves at Arroyo Tapiado in the Southern Anza Borrego Desert. The Arroyo Tapiado Mud Caves are the result of centuries of rain and flash floods which over time have formed an intricate labrynth of  tunnels , sink holes and slot canyons.  While we have been out to the Arroyo Tapiado Mud Caves a handful of times, this time the plan was to visit some of the caves we had not yet explored. Once we arrived we established our "base-camp", donned headlamps and ent... [More]

Snapped a closeup of a Monarch Butterfly while we were camping in Carrizo Gorge on Thanksgiving. We also managed to mount the Maggiolina Rooftop Tent onto Mary's Toyota Tacoma which takes a little bit of tweaking. :)    

Borrego Days marks the start of the desert season in Anza Borrego. Temperatures are beginning to drop from their summer highs allowing hikers, campers and 4-wheelers to return and enjoy the beautiful Anza Borrego Desert.  Unlike most of our trips to Anza Borrego, the Maggiolina Rooftop tent, propane stove and other various types of expedition gear were left behind. We had an invite to stay with friends in Borrego Springs at their beautiful rancho style home. (Thanks Jon and Elena)  After a quick morning hike along the old De Anza trail, Mary and I headed over to the Borrego Days fe... [More]

 After driving out to Ocotillo to voice my concerns over the proposed Ocotillo express Wind Farm, I came to realize that the  Bureau of Land Management's definition of "public input" was a bit inconsistent with mine. Representatives from the BLM, Imperial County officials and Pattern Energy were all given center stage, but when it came time for Ocotillo residents and others to voice their concerns, the presentation quickly came to an end.  We were told that this was an informational meeting only and comments would only be accepted via email and letters. Personally I ... [More]

At an Elevation of 6533 feet/ 1991 meters, Hot Springs Mountain has the distinction of being the tallest mountain in San Diego. It tops San Diego's next highest peak, Cuyamaca Mountain, by a mere twenty one feet. The amazing thing about Hot Springs Mountain, located on the Los Coyotes reservation, is that the peak is accessible by a high clearance vehicle preferably with 4-Wheel Drive. For our ascent, we chose to hike up the old jeep trail leaving our vehicle at the campground 2000 feet below the summit. Large fields of yellow wildflowers and daisies lined the trail as we trekked upwards. T... [More]

This started out as one of those trips that looked like it might not happen.  First there was the over anxious border patrol agent that hassled me at the Mortero Wash checkpoint. I am not sure why he singled me out? Perhaps it was the combination of the sunglasses, beard and the Lazy Lizard baseball cap that aroused his suspicions?    Next as I pulled off at Indian Gorge, Daren was heading out in his big Dodge diesel looking a little stressed. OK sure I was an hour late (sorry Daren) but this looked like something else. He explained that while on a short morning hike, he got s... [More]

We did a quick overnight trip to Anza Borrego to check on the wildflowers and to do a little hiking. We were excited to find some Monkeyflower, Sand Verbena, Desert Pincushion, Desert Dandelions and a few blooming barrel cactuses. I will have to say the big winners are the Ocotillo and the Chuparosa. I have never seen such amazing Ocotillo blooms! The tips range from a flaming red to a bright orange and they are all over the southern Anza Borrego Desert. The Chuparosa bush, a hummingbird favorite, has also been quite prolific in the southern areas and worth checking out. I think t... [More]

The morning fog that was shrouding the coast, finally let up as we dropped down into Santee from the Mission trails summit. We were driving out to Anza Borrego to meet up with our hiking buddy Daren for a hike out to Inner Pasture. A majority of our hike would be just west of the Anza Borrego State Park on BLM administered lands.   Besides being one of the more isolated, beautiful regions of the Anza Borrego desert; the area is also a corridor for immigrant traffic, a fact we would soon substantiate by the clothing and water bottles discarded along the trail. First thing we noticed as w... [More]

What I love about living in San Diego is that I can be walking our dog Diesel on the beach in the morning and an hour and a half later be on a snow covered road about to drop down into the Anza Borrego Desert.  Granted the snow part is somewhat rare, but usually a few times a year the conditions will be just right to transform our local mountains into a winter wonderland.  As we approached the Sunrise Highway turnoff, we considered abandoning our Anza Borrego desert plans and taking a detour up to Mount Laguna to enjoy the snow. A quick glance at the hundreds of cars lined up to ge... [More]

My overnight Anza Borrego wildflower scouting trip began with a stop at New Leaf Biofuels in Barrio Logan. New Leaf is currently the only location in San Diego where you can buy B99 Bio-Diesel. I filled up 10 Scepter Gas Cans (50 gallons), helped Danny load them into the LandCruiser and headed east hoping to find a campsite before dark. By the time I arrived in Mortero Wash, I barely had enough light left to crank up the Maggiolina Tent, pull out the chair and open up a cold Bohemia. The desert sky was clear which was good and bad. The good is that I counted 5 or 6 shooting s... [More]