Have you ever heard of this state park? Me neither. Deb sniffed it out of the guidebook she has been using and then Scott and Karen seconded the necessity of including it in our travel agenda. So that became our destination for today.
We left our campsite and headed south toward the Cottonwood entrance. A couple of things to take care of. First thing was to stop at anything that looked interesting. And there were several stops. Among those were the Cholla Cactus Garden and the Ocotillo Patch.
The cactus garden was an expanse of cactus that started abruptly and ended just as abruptly, as if someone had planted several dozen acres of cacti in this area of the park. A path wound through the garden with signs warning of the dangers of touching a cactus.
We stopped at the visitor center to settle accounts as we had not paid for our camp site yet. You can no longer pay at the campground by putting the envelope with your payment into the “iron ranger”, the post with the money slot at the campground entrance. Instead, you have to select your campsite, then drive to one of the visitor centers to register and pay. This is a vast park. And the visitor center nearest to us is closed permanently. To drive to a different one would be nearly two hours round trip and 30 to 40 dollars in diesel fuel. For a fifteen dollar campsite. We decided we would pay on the way out, when we passed directly by the visitor center.
The ranger at the visitor center looked at Deb like she had two heads. “Oh, no, ma’am. We are not equipped to accept those kinds of payments here,” he told her. The only kind of payment they can accept is a donation to the park. So we made a donation in the amount of two nights’ camping fees. Hopefully they can accept a check. Because that’s what they got.
Another order of business: dumping the tanks. Cottonwood campground has a nearby dump station. The fresh water is free and the dump fee is five bucks, or so the ranger told us. The dump station had no signs or anything indicating a fee. The campground didn’t either. We dumped the tanks and topped off the fresh water, with a plan to stop back at the visitor center on the way out. When we stopped after our hike, the same ranger appeared surprised that there was no signage at the dump station. With no provision for payment, the park received another donation. By check.
We hiked the nearby trail to Mastodon Peak. This was a 2.1-mile loop trail that climbed steeply to the peak and also passed an old mine. From the peak, Salton Sea can be seen, many miles away. The Salmon Sea, the largest lake in California, was formed by accident in 1905 after an unusually wet winter. The Colorado River, tapped to provide irrigation for this section of the Colorado Desert, broke through a poorly constructed cut and inundated a large area of land, including entire cities and a railroad.
We started out rather hot as the sun was shining and the day was rapidly warming up, however, it started to cloud over, and the brisk wind and higher elevations brought chills. It was a beautiful hike, however. The trailhead was an oasis with palm trees that had never been trimmed, giving them a fuzzy, bushy look.
As we began the descent from this hike, we happened on a guy laying on the trail that had broken his ankle. Three people had already gone for help, one up the trail to the peak, where cell service could be had, and two more down the trail to the visitor center. Another couple arrived soon after we did and they offered to stay with him until help arrived. With everything being handled, we continued down the trail. The section that he had just come up was quite rocky for a while which probably caused him to stumble. We carefully made our way down this section.
Outside the park, we stopped near where the park road intersects with Interstate 10 and had lunch. Since there was cell service here, we also updated anything we needed to online since tonight we will probably still be without service.
Instead of taking I-10, we took a minor road, marked 195 in the atlas, towards Mecca. In the distance we could see I-10 with lots of trucks. Here we were all alone. This road was a delightful drive. Following a wash down a canyon for about 20 miles, it offered close views of the canyon walls on either side with their interesting colors and rock formations. The canyon eventually opened out into fields of citrus and date palm orchards around the town of Mecca.
We stopped in Mecca, needing to pick up some fuel and some bread. No real grocery stores here except a Dollar General. The other available stores were Mexican, with the only language available being Spanish. It felt like we were no longer in the United States here. Deb really enjoyed the Panderia, a tiny bakery where she watched two bakers pounding out dough.
Do you see a theme here? We seem to hit all the bakeries along the way. We came away with some bread for our lunches and donuts for a snack.
We stopped in Salton City, at a NAPA dealer, to pick up a headlamp bulb. This store was contained in an ATV rental business, with several dozen ATVs parked in rows outside. I asked the cashier about this and she said there is about 87,000 acres of ATV-accessible land, complete with canyons and obstacle courses. I kind-of wish I had my quad along.
In Borrego Springs, we picked up some information and maps on the Anza-Borrego area, and then drove up a steep, winding road to our chosen campground, Culp Valley. 9 miles with a 2500-foot gain in elevation made for a dramatic change in weather conditions. While it was windy at the bottom and is still super windy up here, the temperature dropped from the upper 70’s to 47. Looks like another cold night.
This campground is nearly empty, having only one other camper. Driving in, I could see why. They recommend 4-wheel-drive, and most of the campground roads are deeply rutted by erosion due to runoff. In addition, the sites are not at all level. I found one narrow site that looked less slanted than the others, and used all my leveling blocks on one wheel to try to right the RV. We are still listing three degrees to port, but that will have to do.
We took a half-mile hike in the chilly wind to an overlook. Far below we could see the town of Borrego Springs. The picture just doesn’t do it justice.
We had hot soup for dinner, complete with some extra bacon from our friends, Scott and Karen. Tasted good after being chilled to the bone.
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