We spent New Years in my favorite way- away from the hoards, traffic, people, and parties- out in the middle of the Anza Borrego desert instead. We drove the scenic backroads of San Diego, stopping for lunch and pie at the quaint old gold mining town of Julian. From here the road dive-bombed down several steep grades on its almost 4000-foot descent into the Salton Trough. Our first stop was to see a neat little slot canyon in the Borrego Badlands (known simply as "The Slot"). Although short and crumbly, it turned out to be a neat little canyon complete with a couple spectacular chockstone arches. We spent some time climbing and exploring some of the side canyons before calling in time and finding our own way out of the canyon and back to the car. On the way we found a neat little patch of sandstone concretions, most perfectly round.
The next order of business was finding a camp spot for the night. We carried on the road near the slot canyon for a short distance only to find ourselves at the top of a "one way" jeep trail. I had a quick look- some of the largest car-swallowing moguls I had ever seen, on a 30°+ slope nonetheless. No thanks! We went back to the last road junction and headed further into the badlands. Just as dusk began to set in we found an offshooting road heading to a neat little granite mine in the side of a hill. We spent some time exploring this mine until we were both satisfied it was time to eat and set up the tent. We had a commanding spot over the badlands from our camp at the mine entrance, a perfect place to ring in the new year (we were asleep by 9pm!). The temperature was surprisingly comfortable through the starry night.
New Years Day we opted for a warm trail run to the Borrego Palm Oasis. It had been years and years since I had been here. I was not very surprised to see the trail had greatly increased in popularity but was surprised to the the oasis was in considerably worse shape. Apparently the canyon got reamed by flash floods in recent years- palms had been ripped out and the wonderful pools have mostly been filled with sediment. Nevertheless we found a nice hammock picnic spot in the main grove and enjoyed the cool shade of the trees before running back down the trail. We returned to LA via Warner Springs, another area of nostalgia for me.
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