Mortero Wash – Anza Borrego Desert Park

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GPS	N32 47 34.1 W116 06 24.6
Elevation	820 ft. to 1,928 ft.
Season	Year round: best Oct.-May
Terrain	Packed dirt, deep sand in places, washboard, a small rocky, hill climb
Difficulty	Moderate due to one rocky hill.
Required Vehicle	Stock 4WD. Air down for soft sand.
Time	2 hours
Length	approximately 17 miles

Mortero wash, anza borrego trails, overland trails, overlanding, over land, off-road trial, california overland trails, off-road, vehicle supported adventure, — Beautiful backcountry along Mortero Wash Trail

Directions to Mortero Wash: Turn south off the S2 close to the 56 mile post. Mortero Wash is clearly signposted (as seen below). You will be approximately 8 miles northwest of Ocotillo at interstate 8.

Site Location and Description: Mortero Wash is a remote overlanding spot located in Anza Borrego State Park. It is both beautiful, stark and historically significant. Driving into the off-road wash you are surrounded by Ocotillos and various other sorts of desert vegetation. As you drive on, you will get to sandy washes and a couple of rocky spots.

After a couple of miles, you will see the water tower in the distance, bear left to the tower when the road forks at 4.1 miles. Drive over and along the tracks, up to the railroad platform…it’s good fun exploring the area. You can follow the tracks heading west and you will come to a sandy wash bisected by an old trestle.

Because we came out here in June (read: 109 degrees), we did not take advantage of the wonderful hiking this area has to offer. Indian Hill, one of the oldest Native American campsites in Anza Borrego State Park is here. See details of the hike in Afoot and Afield in San Diego County by Jerry Schad. There is also a short hike to an old railroad tunnel.

The History of Mortero Wash: The railroad here was called “The Impossible Railroad”. The San Diego & Imperial Valley Rail Road took 12 years to build and crosses an 11-mile stretch of the Carrizo Gorge, a brutally hot, harsh, although beautiful environment (that we can attest to with our June trip!). Twenty-one tunnels and fourteen trestles were built in this area. The rail road opened in 1919 and operated for over 50 years. The tracks are still in good shape. It is illegal to hike along them, although they are used by illegal immigrants as an escape route from Mexico. Check our trip blog post, Anza Borrego State Park-Smokin’ Hot Week-End Adventure.

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Grapevine Canyon Trail – Anza Borrego Park

Lori Palmer

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GPS	N33 08.20 W116 22.70
Elevation	1400-4000 ft.
Season	Year round: best Oct.-May
Terrain	Packed dirt, small rocks, sandy in places, washboard, some narrow
Difficulty	Easy terrain
Required Vehicle	4 wheel drive
Time	1.5 hour
Length	13.6 miles each way

Directions: Grapevine Canyon Trail begins on Yaui Pass Road (S3), .1 miles north of CA 78 and 12 miles south of Borrego Springs.

Site Location and Description: We used the Grapevine Canyon Trail as an alternate way to leave Anza Borrego State Park and head home to San Diego. Glad we did. This beautiful canyon winds through Yaqui Flat, up Grapevine Canyon and past Angelina Spring, an old Indian village site. It leaves Anza Borrego State Park and goes through Hoover Canyon to the Montezuma Valley Road (S22).

There is camping (with pit toilets) at Yaqui Well as you enter from the southeast. When the trail takes you past Stuart Spring and close to Angelina Spring, the vegetation becomes lush and green. Then you climb the bajada up a singletrack, slightly rocky portion of the trail. Once you reach the top, there are wonderful views of the canyon below and the San Felipe hills. As you leave the park you will notice a few privately-owned dwellings. These become more numerous on the last 5 miles of the trail before reaching S22.

History of Grapevine Canyon: Before Highway 78 and County Roads S-3 and S-22, the Grapevine Canyon trail was a main thoroughfare to the Borrego Valley. Horses and wagons went eastward through the Narrows and then up what is now the Old Borrego Valley Road. Even before that, the northern and southern bands of the Kumeyaay Indian tribes inhabited this area. The tribal boundaries lay close to the San Felipe Creek near Yaqui Well. Some used Yaqui Well as a winter camp for gathering and processing food. In 1929, San Diego County built it’s first prison road camp or “honor farm” close to Yaqui Well. The officials planted tamarisk trees to offer some shelter and today this is the site of the Tamarisk Grove Ranger Station and Camp located at the western end of the trail. The prisoners used hand tools to create the first roadbed along the San Felipe Creek. In 1933, it became California state highway 78.

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Mazourka Peak: Inyo National Forest

Andy Palmer

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GPS	36.8066 -118.2033
Elevation	3,800-9,400 ft
Season	Best from April to November.
Terrain	Graded to rougher
Difficulty	Easy trail
Required Vehicle	2WD
Time	1.5 hrs
Length	20.4 miles one-way (16.1 miles unpaved)

Directions: Take I-395 north up to the town of Independence and the Inyo National Forest. The overland trail to Mazourka Peak leaves the southern edge of Independence and crosses the Owens River Valley to enter Mazourka Canyon on the western side of the Inyo Mountains. It then travels up Al Rose Canyon to Badger Flats.

Site Location and Description: On leaving the I-395, you head east towards the Inyo National Forest. As you finish the paved section, you start to see the remains of past mining activity and the adventure begins. The trail up to Mazourka Peak isn’t particularly scenic until you cross over into Al Rose Canyon. At this point you leave the desert scrub and begin to enter slightly more lush high desert terrain. At Badger Flats, it all makes sense. Great primitive camping opportunities exist amongst the pinyons and junipers, with views west to the Sierras. From Badger Flats you can explore higher to Mazourka Peak (fantastic view of the Owens Valley) where you will come to a communication tower and magnificent views , or continue on to more remote and rugged Papoose Flats. In our opinion, getting an off-road trailer to Badger Flats is easy and 4×4 is not required, however trailering to Papoose requires more nerve and experience and certainly a high-clearance 4×4 would make sense.

TAP Note: The 3 days we overland camped there leading up to 4th of July, we didn’t see a single person. A vehicle supported Adventure can be hot and dusty in summer months, despite the elevation.

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Anza Borrego State Park- Arroyo Tapiado Mud Caves

Lori Palmer

GPS	N32.8955, W-116.1789
Elevation	604 to 1,249
Season	Year round: best Oct.-May
Terrain	Mostly sand washes with hard packed dirt.
Difficulty	Easy terrain
Required Vehicle	You can use a 2 wheel drive for most of the trip and get to the caves.High clearance 4×4 is needed for the last 3 miles into the cave/canyon area.
Time	2 hours
Length	18.1 miles including a trip to Diablo Dropoff.

Anza Borrego Mud Caves entrance — Mud Caves entrance

Directions to the Arroyo Tapiado Mud Caves: From Interstate 8, take Imperial Hwy., Exit 89, north through the town of Ocotillo. The highway turns west, then heads northwest, marked as S2. After 13.2 miles you will pass a brown sign on the right for Canyon Sin Nombre. Keep going another 7 miles then turn right into the Arroyo Tapiado Wash (heading north). Continue on Arroyo Tapiado Wash Road until you reach the canyon area where the caves are located.

Site Description: The Anza Borrego Arroyo Tapiado Mud Caves make for a fascinating afternoon of exploration. Arroyo Tapiado is Spanish for “walled wash”, as the caves have formed along the walls of the canyon’s wash. Up to this time, 22 caves and 9 slot canyons have been found. This is one of the most extensive cave systems in the world. These caves are as long as 1,000 ft and have ceilings up to 80 feet high. The caves vary in width and height and provide a fun variety of scenario. The caves were formed by erosion caused by heavy rainfall. Some of the cave openings look like nothing more than cracks in the rocks. The caves are not always obvious. You may need to do a little searching and exploring to find hidden entrances and caves that are off the beaten track. When you park and walk into Arroyo Tapiado Canyon, you will begin to see dark holes or cracks in the side of the mud walls. These are the entrances to some of the caves. Others can be found by walking into the slot canyons off of the main wash area that runs through the canyon.

Safety Tips:

Always hike with a partner
Bring a light source
If you have a hard hat or helmet, bring and use it.
Carry more water than you think you will need. The caves go on for miles and you may find yourself exploring for longer than you thought you would.
Do not walk on top of the caves, along the ridges or in areas that look like the ground could be unstable. The caves and surrounding area is made of mud that is very unstable.

TAP Note: you may not have cellphone coverage here.

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Sandstone Canyon Trail-Fish Creek

Lori Palmer

GPS	N33 02.38’ W116 05.76’
Elevation	300-1900 ft
Season	Year round: best Oct.-May
Terrain	Packed dirt, deep sand in places, some moderate sized embedded rocks; bumpy washboard and dips. Can flash flood, so watch weather.
Difficulty	Easy terrain
Required Vehicle	High clearance stock SUV or pick-up. Depending on weather, 4x4H may be needed.Full sized rigs should be careful in narrow canyon.
Time	3 hours
Length	28 miles out and back

Directions to Sandstone Canyon Trail-: The trail starts off of Split Mountain Road, 8 miles south of CA 78 and Ocotillo Wells.

Site Location and Description This area of Anza Borrego State Park displays amazing examples of geological history and interesting rock formations due to weather erosion and tectonic upheaval. Explorers will enjoy seeing everything from mollusk beds deposited in the wash walls from an ancient river, wind caves formed from water and wind erosion over millions of years, to spectacular examples of tectonic uplifting along the canyon walls. At 1.4 miles along the trail, Fish Creek Wash offers primitive camping. The only facility there is a pit toilet. The camp area is above the wash, although plenty of people camp along the wash itself. TAP Note: Always be aware of flash flood potential when camping/hiking and off-roading in the wash.

Further along the route you will come to a short 1.5 mile hike up the side of the wash leading to the Wind Caves; a display of natural sandstone sculptures. It is well worth the hike. Fish Creek Wash eventually turns into the well-marked Sandstone Canyon. The Sandstone canyon trail is a relatively short but spectacularly narrow, twisty, bronzed- walled sandstone canyon. The overland terrain is sandy and just wide enough for your vehicle. Truly breathtaking.

TAP RECOMMENDED: This trail is one of the best in Anza Borrego. However, unlike many other trails, it can get fairly busy, but it’s definitely worth checking out.

The History of Fish Creek-Sandstone Canyon trail : This region’s amazing geography was formed over 19 million years ago, when a great body of water, one that precedes the Colorado River, flowed through this area. Along with it came a large variety of sea life that was left in the uplifted layer of the west side of that canyon as the sea retreated. This vast array of fossilized mollusk shells can be seen there today in the layers of sandstone rising up from the canyon floor.

Please Note: It is against the law to take anything from the park. Come, enjoy, look and leave it for others to enjoy as well.

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Chloride City Trail- Death Valley National Park

Lori Palmer

GPS (Trail Start)	N36 45.03’ W116 56.15’
Chloride City Elevation	3300-5200 ft
Season	October-May
Terrain	High desert (sand and rocky trail)
Difficulty	Moderate/rocky climb
Required Vehicle	Stock SUV’s with high ground clearance and 4WD
Time	2 hours

Directions to the Chloride City Trail: 3.4 miles NE from Hells Gate rest stop on Hwy 374 towards Beatty. A small trail marker (4×4, High Clearance marker) at pull- off marks start of trail. Ten miles NE of intersection with California 190. Finishing point: Nevada 374 at the boundary of Death Valley National Park, 9.5 miles southwest of Beatty, NV.

Trail Length and Description This is a moderate out and back off-road trail that covers approximately 17 miles. It starts at 3300 ft elevation with easy flat sandy terrain and then climbs mild rocky switchbacks to Chloride Cliffs at 5200 ft. The view at the top looks over Death Valley National Park, the Amargosa range and the Panamint range and is one of the best in the park.

The History of the Chloride City Trail: The City and mine was established in the 1871 by A.J Franklin when he discovered silver at Chloride Cliffs. Unfortunately poor profitability caused abandonment by 1883. The mine was re-opened in 1908 but again closed by 1918. Today you can see the remains of old cabins, the mine shafts and the grave of miner, James McKay.