San Diego and Imperial Counties, California

Anza-Borrego Desert Tour

Any other year, a trip to San Diego in mid-March would be welcome relief from the clouds of Portland. But this year, Portland weather has been exceptionally warm, dry and sunny. Like many Oregonians, we planned ahead for a trip to a sunny location during the rainy season. We may have saved this one for later if we had known the weather would be so good this year. But, it was still very nice (and hot!) to see the area and sample some of the craft beers. The map below shows our general route through and around Anza-Borrego Desert State Park.

We first took a tour of some historical sites within the city of San Diego, including the Old Town Historical District and Mission San Diego de Alaca. The Mission San Diego de Alaca was the first of 21 Spanish missions in California and was built in 1769 on what is known as Presidio Hill. The mission was later moved to its present location at 10818 San Diego Mission Rd, six miles east of Presidio Hill. An earthquake damaged the structure in 1803 and by 1931, the building had deteriorated so badly that only the facade remained. It was restored in 1931 and is supposedly exact in every detail to the original.

Mission San Diego de Alaca. This site was restored in 1931.

Mission San Diego de Alaca exterior

Mission San Diego de Alaca padres' quarters

Mission San Diego de Alaca now and in early 1900s (public domain)

Our second stop was in Old Town, San Diego. Old Town sits at the foot of Presidio Hill. A presidio is a fortified square, which is typical feature of Spanish colonies. All of the buildings in Old Town have been restored and the site became a state historic park in 1968. One of the prominent homes in the town is the adobe Casa de Jose Maria de Estudillo on the main plaza. It was built by Captain Jose Maria de Estudillo, a commander of the presidio. It was passed down to his son who lived there with his wife and 12 children until 1887. It was restored in 1910.

One of the rooms inside the adobe home of Captain Jose Maria Estudillo

The Cosmopolitan Hotel was originally a home built by Juan and Jose Bandini. In 1846, they permitted the residence to become the headquarters of Navy Commodore Robert F. Stockton and provided supplies to his troops. Stockton was the main driving force in the taking of Alta California during the Mexican-American War. Later, the structure was purchased by Albert Seeley who added second story in the 1860s and converted it to a hotel.

Juan Bandini house / Cosmopolitan Hotel

Old Town is interesting but a bit touristy. Admission is free and it is definitely worth a visit. Another site I really wanted to see was the Torrey Pines State Natural Reserve where the rare Torrey Pines can be found. It was so absolutely crawling with people, we aborted the trip. The next day we headed east on I-8 towards Julian, CA. Originally a gold mining town, Julian is now a quiet little agricultural community known for its apple and pear orchards. It is the location of the Julian Hotel, built by former slaves Albert and Margaret Robinson. They ran the hotel until 1921 when it was sold to Martin Jacobs who continued to operate it as a hotel.

Hotel Robinson (Julian Hotel)

Finally, into the interior of Anza-Borrego! We started with the Box Canyon known for the event when in January 1847, the Mormon Battalion (the only religiously based unit in U.S. military history, which served during the Mexican-American war) had to use axes to chisel a wagon road into the solid rock. It is said that the cuts made by the soldiers are still visible but I could not find them.

Possible wagon route

Desert Beauty

There are other sites to see in this region of the park, notably the seasonal village of the Kumeyaay people with a panel of their rock art. There are over 50 Native American rock art sites in Anza-Borrego. This site was used seasonally by the Kumeyaay for around 1,000 years. Large morteros are still visible where women used rock pestles to grind nuts and seeds.

Morteros

Kumeyaay Rock Art

More desert blooms

We camped at the base of a calcite mine located on the far east site of the park towards Salton Sea. Unless you have off-road driving experience and a reliable four-wheel drive vehicle, it's better to hike into this mining site. It's about a two mile hike each way. Several of the old trenches from the mining operations are still visible. There are beautiful views of the park from this location.

Sunrise

We left the park and headed further east toward the Salton Sea. Camping and fishing are permitted here, but be advised, it stinks. The briny sea was created in 1905 when a high spring flood broke through canal gates built to feed water to the Imperial Valley. The breach was not stopped until 1907 and by that time, a massive lake had formed. An attempt was made to turn the area into a resort in the 1940s and 50s. Most of the water now comes from agricultural sources and is polluted. Agricultural inflow to the lake is also being reduced due to the severe water shortage in southwest. Now, many of the birds that use the area are in danger as it is now a main stop on their migration route along the Pacific Flyway. It is anticipated to reach a critical point by 2018 if conservation measures are not implemented.

Salton Sea

Salton Seashore

El Centro/Calexico began as a tent city of the Imperial Land Company, a subsidiary of the California Development Company. It lies in the Imperial Valley, one of the largest agricultural area in California with fertile alluvial deposits from the Colorado River floodplain. It is well known for salad vegetables, carrots, onions, peppers, cantaloupes and more.

Los Angeles Herald, Volume 33, Number 201, 29 July 1906:

The Imperial Land Company --A wonderful work of development has been in course of progress for the past five years or more in that great section of land lying in the southeast corner of our great California. Prior to 1900 this valley was a portion of the great Colorado desert, which covered the delta, of the Colorado river. This delta, was a desert only because of the lack of rain or water for irrigation purposes. Work on a canal system was commenced in 1900, and the first water was delivered to the ranchers of the southern portion of the valley near the town of Calexico in June 1901. Since then the work has gone forward rapidly, and what was once a desert waste is now a flowering rich, productive country. During four years 218,000 acres of land were filed on and supplied with water stock, and about 2000 families have been permanently located in this great Imperial Valley, now having a population of 10,000 people. Six towns, ranging in population from 100 to 1200 people, have been located at suitable points, more than fifty-seven miles of standard gauge railroad have been built and 800 miles of distributing canals and ditches have been constructed. A conservative estimate of the value of property in the Imperial valley at the present time would place the figure at $25,000,000. This wealth has accumulated at the rate of $6,000,000 a year. The policy of the Imperial Land company is to build up this valley along legitimate lines, and great success has thus far rewarded their enterprise. The offices of the company are located at 121 Merchants Trust building, Los Angeles.

There are a couple of historical sites in Calexico including the Old Customs Building constructed in 1933.

Old Customs Building (1933), Calexico, CA

There is a Desert View Tower located in Imperial County. To get to the tower take the In-Ko-Pah exit from I-8, and travel east along the northern side of the highway for about half a mile. The tower was built in 1922-23 by Bert Vaughn of Jacumba to commemorate the road and railroad builders and pioneers who opened the area up to travel. Adjacent to the tower is an area with animal figures carved into the rocks. These carvings were completed during the Great Depression by W.T. Ratcliffe, an unemployed engineer. More information about Vaughn and the tower can be found here.

Desert View Tower, Imperial County, CA

You can also do some alien watching nearby...

Aliens

On the way back, we had hoped to do some bird watching in the San Diego National Wildlife Refuge just outside of San Diego. We were disappointed that there is no off road access via hiking trails by which we could see the park and look for birds. This is understandable, though, given its proximity to the city. I'm sure the area would be trashed if any access was permitted. In fact, some monster truck skidded around a blind corner and almost hit us as we passed through on the only dirt road. Stupid people ruin everything.

Overall it was a nice trip, but definitely has a different mindset from Oregon. SD has some good craft beers (my favorites - Stone and Green Flash), but I couldn't find much vegan food at all, and they do very little vegetarian. What vegetarian they do, they don't do very well. Sorry guys, just being honest. It's too bad given that California is ground zero for some of the most awesome vegetables on the planet.