California Tour: Day 8 Anza-Borrego Desert State Park

All photos of Dirtbag Darling by The Corporate Dirtbagger

Our vacation-slash-work trip hadn't been quite as magical as we'd planned thanks to a break in and some bad luck, so we decided to mentally make a change and just have fun. After managing to make a flight from San Francisco to Los Angeles (turns out if you don't have photo ID, TSA just requires some sort of alternate identification—for me, a prescription—and an extra pat down), we took a day off and went to Disneyland. It was a nice refresher to just escape reality for a minute and, please, who doesn't have fun at Disneyland?

This weekend we drove down to stay with friends in San Diego and took a day trip out to Anza-Borrego Desert State Park. The park is the largest state park in California and the second largest in the country. I'm guessing that's because there's literally nothing out there. It's bone-dry sand, a few cacti and a scattering of lizards and beetles. And it's hot—even in February. Here's a tip: When packing for a vacation, make sure you pack some light-colored hiking clothes. Oops.

Sliding through canyons with my new Roxy Outdoor Fitness bag. I love that thing!

After asking some hikers where we could find the trail, we found our way down in the canyons where the shade was welcome relief from the sun. It was much drier than other canyons I've been in, with fewer obstacles, so we made our own by shimming up little chimneys and ducking into caves.

The terrain was really unstable and what looked like solid rock often crumbled into beach sand at the slightest touch. It's a strange feeling to dig into what you thought was a solid foothold only to have it disappear under your feet. Then, at the top of the canyons, I took a HARD fall when I stepped onto rocks that slid out from under me like marbles on glass. At least I'm not the only one who walked about from our hike with major bruises.

The neatest part of our hike had to be the rock (sand?) formations. The rocks looked like everything from giant, layered discs to perfectly-round baseballs. Hikers before us had made amazing cairns (a man-made stack of stones), so we tried our hand at it, too:

Our attempt at balancing rocks.

Oh, and we found a fried egg:

If you live in SoCal and haven't been out to this state park yet, it's worth the drive for some alien-looking terrain and a fun day hike. Just make sure to bring a few liters of water and light-colored clothing. Hiking boots are optional, I did just fine with sneakers.