rgrusin

My wife and I (both 60) are interested in taking a trip to San Diego and environs in January. We would like to spend a couple of days in San Diego, but focus mainly on Death Valley, Joshua Tree, and Anza-Borrego. We will rent a car/SUV. We're thinking 7-9 days. We would welcome any advice on length of trip, length of stay at each location, or other natural sites in the area that we should be sure to see. We are foodies who love nature--a long day hike topped off with a good meal makes a perfect vacation day for us.

dulciusexasperis

With only 7-9 days I would leave out Death Valley simply because it is too far away from San Diego. Joshua Tree and Anza Borrego have more than enough to see/do.

Joshua tree is a bit limited in terms of nearby accommodation in my opinion. Twenty Nine Palms is the pits as a town and I would say it's better to stay on the Palm Springs/Desert Palms side and enter Josuhua tree from Highway 10. Personally, I have always camped/backpacked when visiting Joshua Tree.

There is a lot to see between San Diego and Anza Borrego depending on which roads you take. The drive east on Highway 8 and then 79 north and into the park is good. Continue on 79 past Lake Henshaw almost to Warner Springs. Go east on S2 and S22 into Borrego Springs. On S22 you overlook the whole Borrego Valley as you descend into town.

Borrego Springs has all kinds of accommodation available. My favourite is the Borrego Valley Inn if the budget allows it.

The Park visitor's centre is quite unique as it is semi-underground. The most used trail but still well worth doing is the hike up Borrego Palm Canyon. Big Horn Sheep are regularly seen in this Canyon.

There are all kinds of hikes and off-road routes (if you hire that SUV just remember the rental company insurance doesn't cover you off-road, so be careful)in the Park.

I consider Anza Borrego and Borrego Springs one of the best places to visit for desert activities in the USA.

Re food, Borrego Springs has a good variety of restaurants available. The most popular restaurant in town is Carlee's Place. Typical comfort food which is good but the real reason to go here is the atmosphere. It's just 'the' place to go.
http://www.tripadvisor.ca/Restaurant...alifornia.html

For an upmarket meal the newly re-opened La Casa Del Zorro is the place.
http://www.opentable.com/butterfield...casa-del-zorro

You could easily find enough to do in Anza Borrego for a week on it's own.

tomfuller

The Mojave National Preserve has plenty of Joshua trees and some interesting geology. Try to drive at least a few miles of the National Trails Highway (old US 66).
Primm NV (I-15 exit 1) is a good jumping off point to go to Death Valley from the east side.
There are a couple of fair (not great) restaurants at Buffalo Bill's in Primm. For great you'll have to drive on into Vegas.
Don't get lost on a hike in Death Valley. There is no cell phone service there.

rgrusin

Thanks. It looks like Death Valley is about a 5-6 hour drive from San Diego Airport. That doesn't seem too bad. We could get there for the full moon hike they offer each month and stay three or four nights or so before heading to Joshua and then Anza-Borrego. Is that just doing too much?

nanabee

Joshua Tree NPark is ok - unfortunately it is near the towns of Yucca Valley and 29 Palms which in my opinion are the dumps. I would definitely not stay in Yucca Valley. I would do like dulciusexasperis mentioned
and "stay on the Palm Springs/Desert Palms side and enter Josuhua tree from Highway 10."

It will be cold and you may have snow at the higher elevations.

dulciusexasperis

How you spend your time is up to you rgrusin. I'm just looking at your 7-9 days and seeing it as a very short period of time. I've spent up to 2 months in Borrego and not run out of things to see/do.

While the drive to Death Valley is doable from San Diego as you note, the question is do you want to basically spend 2 days driving to/from there out of your total number of days? Or do you want to spend your time IN a place seeing/doing things?

Personally, I don't see there as being enough in Death Valley to see/do to make it worth two days of travel time. Then if you spend 3-4 nights there as you suggest, what will you do with that time there? I don't see enough to keep you there that long. Then there is how much time would you then have left for Borrego and Joshua Tree? If you spend 2 days driving and 3 days IN Death Valley that's 5 of your 7-9 gone. What does that leave for the San Diego area(where you say you want to also spend a couple of days),Borrego and Joshua Tree? I can't see it as best use of time at all. In fact, I can't understand your thinking that it is even possible to consider '3-4 nights' in Death Valley and do anything other than drive in/out of the remaining 3 places you want to include.

In my opinion, 7 days is a minimum for San Diego and Borrego at most. While 9 days allows a visit to Joshua Tree as well. Personally, I would want 2 weeks for just the San Diego area and a bit north (La Jolla, Delmar, Carlsbad)along with Borrego. Driving one way there (hwy 8 and 79) and looping back on hwy. 78 through Escondido. Numerous day trips can be done either from the coast inland or from Borrego.

If your top priority for some reason is Death Valley then go there. In that case, forget Borrego and Joshua Tree. As the movie put it, 'A Bridge Too Far'.

WhereAreWe

I think 3 nights in Death Valley is a good amount of time. That gives you 2 full days plus a part of 2 other days to see a lot of things. You'd definitely want to stay inside the park to cut down on your driving while there.

I spent a couple nights camping in Anza Borrego last fall and it was a nice park. However I'm baffled as to how someone could spend 2 months there without running out of things to do, yet think there isn't enough to do in Death Valley to warrant the 5-6 hour drive from San Diego. Death Valley is enormous, there are plenty of day hikes plus you can strike out on your own and hike just about anywhere. There is certainly enough to do to fill several days if not several months.

I don't consider a 5-6 hour drive to be a full day of traveling, so I don't look at this as you are wasting 2 complete days just driving to and from Death Valley. Others may differ but that's the way I see it. And given that you want to go for the full moon hike, you will be stretching the days out even more.

Leave San Diego early, you'll be in Death Valley by early afternoon. Spend a few nights, then leave early again to drive to Joshua Tree. You can have 2 nights apiece in San Diego, Joshua Tree, Anza Borrego and 3 nights in Death Valley.

If you have more time (and it sounds like you may have some flexibility there) then by all means add a night or two to San Diego and Anza Borrego.

Tomsd

Death Valley is a pretty easy drive from SD - and then on to wherever. I would consider basing yourself in Palm Desert/the area - as Nana suggests - and do day trips to the other places.

Personlly - I also prefer driving up the Coast to Big Sur than hanging in the desert -but it's your vacation.

Tomsd

Also - San Diego and the Palm Desert area have great restaurants - whereas most of the desert locations you seek do not.

Clousie

dulciusexasperis, I'm also wondering what you found to do for 2 months in Borrego. On another thread, I had asked about spending 5 nights there and was told it was way too much time. Having said that, I do know that in many cases the longer one spends in a place, the more one finds to do

dulciusexasperis

Well Clousie, I've been visiting Borrego from time to time since first finding it about 30 years ago. It remains one of my favourite places in the USA to visit. But I love desert and hiking in desert areas.

It's easy to find a hike to do every day for 2 months if you want to.

Check this couple's list of 100 trails. They are from the Netherlands and like me found Borrego by accident. They loved it so much they eventually moved to Borrego!

http://www.borregohiking.com/hiking/...o_springs.html
Click on a few of the hikes listed and have a look at their videos of the hikes.

I also do quite a bit of off-trail exploring with map and compass and often join two trails together to form a loop by going cross-country from one to another.

Driving off-road is also an attraction in the area. For example a drive to Split Mountain and then a short hike to the Wind Caves is a great day.
http://www.desertusa.com/anza_borrego/du_absp_4x4.html
Click on the link in #1 to see a video of it.

Besides all there is to see and do in the park itself, there are also plenty of day trips you can do from Borrego. We usually drive to Del Mar on the coast for lunch as an example or over to Joshua Tree or Palm Springs.

I could write a book on Borrego there is so much of interest in the area. Google, Marshal South Ghost Mountain; Salton Sea the slabs (part of the movie 'Into the Wild' was shot in this area); Butterfield Stage Coach Anza Borrego. Those are a just a few interesting things in the area.

The desert wildflower bloom in Anza Borrego is arguably the best to be found anywhere. The desert bloom all depends on the weather leading up to it and so there are poor years, good years and spectacular years. When we stayed for 2 months, one of the reasons was the indications that it was going to be a great year for the desert bloom. Seeing a desert literally carpeted in flowers where a few days before there was nothing is one of those things you have to see for yourself. Pictures are fine but come no where close to being there.
https://www.google.ca/search?q=anza+...w=1280&bih=687

To actually get the most out of the desert in bloom you need to be there for about 3 weeks to watch it change from start to finish.

Another thing I find fascinating is the history of what people have done in the valley. Farming because of the availlability of a good underground water supply is what really got the area settled but since then a lot of gone on. It was a hang out for many major Hollywood stars in the 50's for example. Since then, developers have tried numerous times to turn it into another Palm Springs and time after time they have failed. It's as if Borrego Springs refuses to be changed. There still isn't one traffic light in town. Read here for a history of one major development that has had numerous owners since 1982 and failed every time.
http://www.mcarronwebdesign.com/rhca...tory/index.htm

A night at Carlee's can result in meeting some really interesting people. Crews shooting car commercials (a lot of those have been filmed in the area); TV station crews there to film the desert bloom; a movie producer who made a documentery film on Marshal South; some of the many low key millionaires who have homes there (I estimate there is more money in the valley than anyone will ever realize but it is people who want to remain low key and above all do not want the flash of Palm Springs); desert characters that belong in a movie; a Pool shark who knows every pool table within a 100 mile radius. I've met all of these and many more while sitting at the bar and having the Wednesday night barbecue ribs special.

Anza Borrego the Park and Borrego Springs the town remain one of the jewels of the USA in spite of all the efforts of the developers and long may it remain so.