CA's largest: Anza Borrego Desert State Park, San Diego
When I visited my friend in San Diego, California, he took me on a Sunday to Anza Borrego Desert State Park. I didn't have much idea as to what to expect here. But back from there, it was a good visit. This post tells you why.
Anza Borrego Desert State park is about 80 miles from San Diego downtown. It is about 15th of San Diego county in size with an area of over 6 lakh acres and thus the largest state park in California. We reached Anza Borrego after exploring Palomar Mountains. It was almost mid-day when we reached there. The roads were curvy, rocky and fairly deserted. Not a spot where you'd like to be stranded.
Once we entered Anza-Borrego Desert area, my friend drove straight to a location he had in mind- where a metal dragon sculpture was standing tall, partially buried under sand. We took several photos, had our packed lunch and moved on to next spot. Being a desert and mid day, the temperatures were high. Being out of the car for long was tough.
Next we drove around randomly- there were several metal sculptures- like this jeep, many animals such as elephants, dinosaurs and so on
Next we headed to the main attraction of the Anza Borrego Desert State park- the scorpion
Scorpion and a grasshopper offer perfect photo opportunity.
Finally we headed to Anza Borrego Desert State park information centre. But this was an unmanned place with some basic information. There were a few walking trails, a sort of viewing deck and some information display.
Anza Borrego Desert park is very large area and has over 130 sculptures like the ones shown above- but many are small or life size, so not super exciting or photo worthy- a few giant ones like the Scorpion or the Dragon gets most of the tourist attention. You can easily get lost in the park if you don't have sense of direction or a proper navigation.
Other information: the town has some cafes, a hotel and other such basic facilities. But area being super hot and nothing much to do, you might want to get out of there quicker. Better to go with full tank fuel, adequate supply of water and food. Hat, Sunscreen etc will also be crucial. I couldn't find any buses during our drive, so I don't think the Anza Borrego park is accessible via public transport. Rent a car and drive.
More about the park on Wikipedia
Other California posts: USS Midway Museum * Golden Gate bridge from 7 viewpoints * Things you can do at Mountain View Google HQ *
Anza Borrego Desert State park is about 80 miles from San Diego downtown. It is about 15th of San Diego county in size with an area of over 6 lakh acres and thus the largest state park in California. We reached Anza Borrego after exploring Palomar Mountains. It was almost mid-day when we reached there. The roads were curvy, rocky and fairly deserted. Not a spot where you'd like to be stranded.
Once we entered Anza-Borrego Desert area, my friend drove straight to a location he had in mind- where a metal dragon sculpture was standing tall, partially buried under sand. We took several photos, had our packed lunch and moved on to next spot. Being a desert and mid day, the temperatures were high. Being out of the car for long was tough.
Next we drove around randomly- there were several metal sculptures- like this jeep, many animals such as elephants, dinosaurs and so on
Anza Borrego Desert park is very large area and has over 130 sculptures like the ones shown above- but many are small or life size, so not super exciting or photo worthy- a few giant ones like the Scorpion or the Dragon gets most of the tourist attention. You can easily get lost in the park if you don't have sense of direction or a proper navigation.
Other information: the town has some cafes, a hotel and other such basic facilities. But area being super hot and nothing much to do, you might want to get out of there quicker. Better to go with full tank fuel, adequate supply of water and food. Hat, Sunscreen etc will also be crucial. I couldn't find any buses during our drive, so I don't think the Anza Borrego park is accessible via public transport. Rent a car and drive.
More about the park on Wikipedia
Other California posts: USS Midway Museum * Golden Gate bridge from 7 viewpoints * Things you can do at Mountain View Google HQ *
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