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Note: I took this trip in February, 2004. Be sure to check with the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park ranger for current road conditions. The lost city of Petra, Jordan, is a long way from San Diego. This faraway place, where the final scenes of the 1989 movie “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade” were shot, came to mind in a trip to Split Mountain, in the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park.
The spectacular Petra gorge, where Indiana, his father and the hated Nazis discover the temple holding the holy grail, is a three- to five-hour drive from the Jordanian capital, Amman. Split Mountain, up the Fish Creek wash in Anza-Borrego, is about an hour and a half from central San Diego. Like the scene in the movie, cruising through Split Mountain puts drivers at the base of shear sandstone cliffs, rising perhaps a hundred feet or more from the dusty bed of Fish Creek. At about 200 feet, the split in Split Mountain is a bit wider than the Siq — the route into Petra — so you won’t need to walk (although there are Siq-like crevices in other parts of the park). The creek bed narrows in spots, but stays well wide enough for an SUV to make it through. Still, drivers feel swallowed up as they slide on the sand. The temples and other remains of the great city are missing, as the Nabataeans were never here. All you’ll find in Anza-Borrego are fossils.
One of the more spectacular and popular drives in the State Park, the Fish Creek/Split Mountain trail is just 20 miles southeast of the visitors center in Borrego Springs. With the hot summer temperatures long gone, I headed out once again to tour San Diego’s beautiful eastern entry, the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park. The Miata was left home and a Jeep Liberty secured, as I hoped for a day of driving on dirt. And, being more of a novice off-roader, I was looking for something easy. Recommendations from volunteers Margaret and Marty Orenyak at the visitors center sent me down to Fish Creek and Split Mountain. They fixed me up with a handy map that shows the mileage through Fish Creek and areas where two-wheel and four-wheel drive would be needed. The trail is about 13 miles each direction and, not allowing for stops, takes about an hour each way. Lowell and Diana Lindsay’s excellent book, “The Anza-Borrego Desert Region” also includes a mileage-marked driving tour up the creek, describing all the sites along the way that sadly, don’t include any ancient temples. I always make the visitors center my first stop, as it has a listing of road conditions throughout the park. A status board lists all the trails, noting any closures and giving drivers an idea of what to expect.
For example, the day I visited was just after a winter
rain. A special caution sign noted that vehicles had been getting stuck
on part of Coyote Creek. Fortunately, it wasn’t on my itinerary
for the day. It’s an easy drive to Fish Creek from Borrego Springs back to Highway 78, then east to the hamlet of Ocotillo Wells. Access to Fish Creek takes drivers outside of the State Park, through through the Ocotillo Wells State Vehicular Recreation Area. This area is open to on- and off-highway vehicles for exploration; drivers don’t need to keep to trails. A fee is charged and each vehicle needs to display one of the green permit stickers. Ocotillo Wells is also home to several “snowbird”
camps, where refugees from cold climates bring their RVs and trailers
to the desert for the winter. About a mile before the turnoff to Fish Creek is the Elephant Trees trail, a 1.5-mile hike from the parking area, leading to a stand of rare Elephant Trees. It’s worth the stop if only to get your desert “legs” after the drive from Borrego Springs.
Back on the road to Fish Creek, drivers may have noted a “primitive” campground listed on maps in this area. Believe me, when the maps say “primitive,” they mean it. There are no facilities here, so you’ll need to bring everything with you, including water. Nearby sites include an abandoned strontium mine (over your shoulder to the northwest) and the active gypsum mine (to the southeast). But the best is ahead, as the road crisscrosses through Fish Creek. Geologists tell us that this area was once the northern finger of what’s now the Gulf of California. The sea was responsible for laying down layers of soil, rocks, plants and animals that give cliffs their striped look. After this inland sea receded millions of years ago, seismic stresses uplifted the area, resulting in the cracks, splits and folds we see today. More erosion from wind and water give the area an appearance of the Virgin River Gorge in southwestern Utah; Interstate 15 runs through this area east of Las Vegas, Nev., and south of St. George, Utah, but that’s another drive.
Heading toward Split Mountain, Fish Creek is wide and flat, flanked by up-thrusting cliffs. If it doesn’t remind you of Indiana Jones, it might evoke images from a science fiction movie, as the area looks like Hollywood’s idea of another planet. Dry, dusty and just a few scrubby shrubs dot the riverbed. It’s important to follow the road ruts thorough this area for several reasons. First, you don’t want to disturb any more of the desert, as tire ruts can take years to disappear. Outside of the trail it’s also very rocky, and the sharp stones can damage standard SUVs. So, keep to the path. The riverbed slowly narrows until drivers are in the middle of Split Mountain. Sandstone strata swallow travelers; I wouldn’t like to be here in an earthquake (and further up, according to the map, is damage from a 1968 temblor). A fossilized reef, Oyster Shell Wash, hills that look like elephant knees and spectacular views are along the trail. Hiking areas are identified on the maps and sometimes posted. There’s more than enough to explore in one day, but at the same time, I’m told that if you’re going to explore one area in Anza-Borrego, this is it. And frankly, I like to leave a little left unexplored... it gives me an excuse to return. |
