Camping in Anza-Borrego | another trip to the desert

Hey, everyone! I hope you’re all doing well. Last year around this time I made a photography post on my trip to Death Valley that I took during spring break. And this year, I went back to the desert for my spring break, to Anza-Borrego. I took a lot of photos that I thought would be fun to share with you all.

We got to our campsite in the afternoon and met with my aunt and uncle who had come up the day before. It was much hotter there than it was back home which took a little getting used to.

One of my favorite things to take pictures of is the sky. And I have a lot of pictures of the sky. I tried a bit of night photography which I think turned out pretty well. You can’t see the stars in the photos very well, but if you squint, you can make them out.

My favorite one out of these is either the one with the blue sky at night, or the really early sunset. Funny story, actually. I wanted to take a picture of the sunrise and it was about 5:30 in the morning. I didn’t want to put on shoes, so I went outside barefoot. Note to self and everyone: don’t go into the desert barefoot. I forgot that there were baby cacti and everything in the desert fights back. It took about thirty minutes to get all the cactus needles out. Fun.

On the first full day we were there, we went on a hike called the Slot Canyon. Through the hike, you were surrounded by these tall rock formations. It was a lot of narrow passages and winding through the canyon. At one point it got so narrow that we had to walk sideways.

It was a lot of fun and a good hike for that day since it got so hot. We were in the shade for most of the time until it opened up and we were underneath full sun.

On our second day, we went on a shorter hike to see some pictographs. It took a while to drive out there and we accidentally took the wrong road at one point. The pictographs were really cool and we tried to figure out what the drawings meant, but didn’t come up with anything.

On our last day, we went to a higher elevation since it was so hot in the desert. It was so much nicer than the campsite, though it was really windy. We went on a hike that’s part of the Pacific Crest Trail, which was cool. The flora there was crazy. There was desert plants and also oak woodland which was an interesting mix that I didn’t think I’d see.

So, that was my trip! I had a lot of fun, even with the hot weather. I’ve never really been a person who camps in the desert, my family usually camps in forests. The desert feels so vast and open–it definitely took some time to get used to.