Anza-borrego Desert Region: A Guide to State Park & Adjacent Areas of the Western Colorado Desert (Paperback)

~ Lowell Lindsay (Author), Diana Lindsay (Author)
Key Phrases: connecting trips, box canyon, imperial formation, Coyote Canyon, Borrego Valley, End of Side Trip (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

The Anza-Borrego and Western Colorado Desert Region is a vast land spanning much of San Diego County and parts of Riverside and Imperial Counties. This intriguing landscape harbors a rich variety of desert plants and animals, all within two to three hours' travel time from major Southern California cities.

Now in its expanded 5th edition, The Anza-Borrego Desert Region offers complete coverage of the over 1 million acres of desert lands, including Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, Ocotillo Wells State Vehicular Recreation Area (OWSVRA), parts of the Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains National Monument, and adjacent BLM recreational and wilderness lands.

This is a guide for hikers, campers, 4WD explorers, history buffs, mountain bikers, equestrians and casual visitors. It includes:

• Comprehensive road and trail logs with UTM coordinates
• Higway mileage markers, natural history detail, and historical anecdotes
• Newly revised and expanded backpocket map, now in full color
• Expanded Desert Directory - agencies, accomodations, and facilities
• GPS waypoints

About the Author

Diana and Lindsay Lowell have been desert naturalists for over 25 years and have written and edited several books including: Our Historic Desert; Ansa-Borrego A to Z: People, Places, and Things; Marshal South and the Ghost Mountain Chronicles; Fossil Treasures of the Anza-Borrego; Geology of the Anza-Borrego; Edge of Creation; and Geothermal Resources of the Imperial Valley.

Product Details

• Paperback: 200 pages
• Publisher: Wilderness Press; 5 edition (February 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0899974007
• ISBN-13: 978-0899974002
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #271,053 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Fifth Edition is the Best Yet., May 6, 2006

By	Fritz R. Ward "dayhiker" (Crestline, CA United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

For someone who really enjoys mountain trails, I seem to spend a lot of time in the Anza-Borrego Region. This ever-growing state park and surrounding public lands offer some of the best off season recreation in southern California and one cannot find a more comprehensive guide to the area than this book by Lowell and Diana Lindsay. With a huge map, sharp photos, and new updated GPS coordinates (using UTM and traditional lat/lon locations) this book is simply a must have for anyone who wants to spend time in the southern deserts.

Like previous editions, and unlike most Wilderness Press books, the focus of this guide is off-road vehicle travel and auto-touring. Anza-Borrego Desert State Park and the adjacent BLM lands (and Ocotilla Wells State Vehicle Recreational Area) cover such a large area that auto touring is simply the best way to explore the region. (The "Desert Driving Techniques" section of the introduction is almost mandatory reading for any would be RVers. The authors' humorous descriptions of what happens to weekend road warriers are plenty sufficient to keep me and my little chevy out of many of the areas they describe.) Still, the guide does feature many nature walks and dozens of longer hiking options, including a few backpacking trips. It also lists the many camping opportunities in the region.

Finally, like all Wilderness Press Books, this one is heavy on natural and cultural history. Readers will be treated to the story of Pegleg Smith and his legendary lost gold mine, the destruction of Oh My God hot springs, allegedly for health reasons but actually a concerted effort by citizens of Salton City to rid the area of nudists, the history of Ghost Mountain and poet Marshall South, and a description of the recent (September, 2004) flood of Borrego canyon that uprooted hundreds of Palm Tress (the bowls of which can still be seen some 20 feet above water level) and forever changed the canyon. This all makes for enjoyable reading and adds immensely to one's appreciation of the desert as you explore it. I cannot recommend this guide highly enough.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Fifth Edition is very good but with room for improvement !, November 21, 2007

By	Richard Zmasek (Winterthur, Switzerland) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I visit the Anza Borrego regularely and have used this book since many years.
The book is essential for everybody who wants to take a closer look at this area, be it hiking, camping, off-roading, whatever.
It covers history, geology, botany, hiking and off-roading in an interesting way. The structure of this book is something one has has to get used to first, but afterwards it becomes indispensible.
The only negative comment I have to make is on the pictures, they always were and still are inferior.
What I did not find in the book was a reference to the map-datum used. Maybe I did not read everything carefully enough, but I could not see whether NAD-27 or WGS-84 (nearly the same as NAD-83) was used for the map and for indications of Latitude and Longitude
Nevertheless I would not visit the Anza Borrego without this book.