Into the Desert
The desert is on my mind today for some reason. I’m sure it has something to do with all the rain that keeps on falling, but I want to go beyond that. I am always more inclined to head east from here than to head west. West means heading towards the throngs of people near the coast. The ocean can be pleasant, but the crowds rarely are. By contrast, if you head towards the desert, even on a busy day you are pretty much on your own. I like the experience of heading into the desert. Our go-to desert location for a day trip is the Anza-Borego Desert that surrounds Borego Springs, which is 44 miles from here. That makes it a pleasant 90 minute drive or ride which takes through several Native American reservations (all with their incumbent casinos), past Mount Palomar with its twisty switchback road up and sweeping road down. After the miles of California golden ranch land, you get to the start of the desert proper, just past Ranchita and heading over the Pinyon Ridge dropping down into the desert with its 20 degree hotter environment.
Borego Springs is a pretty sleepy desert town. People have clearly tried in several ways over the years to replicate the success of Palm Springs, but that isn’t happening. There are a few cafes and a small tourist museum and gift chop that specializes in native desert arts and crafts, but that’s about it. The best time to go to Borego Springs is when the Anza-Borrego bloom takes place in late February/early March. I’ve seen it once at its peak and it is magnificent with multi-colored wildflowers alongside the road at every turn. I’m wondering if all these atmospheric rivers we have had this year (we are on our tenth one right now) have advanced or enhanced the bloom out on th hillsides this year. I may have the chance to see for myself this week.
I have decided to try to go to visit my friend Steven at his newly built house in La Quinta. There are three ways to get to La Quinta from here. If I was trying to get there as quickly as possible, i would go up around the edges of the LA Basin and get to the 10 and take that into Palm Springs. That is the mainline route for Angelenos that go to the desert for their weekend respites. I tend to not like that route even though it is faster because it is very much lacking in soul. My favorite route is to go over the Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains through Aguanga and Anza and drop down into the Palm Springs valley into Palm Desert, which is just north of La Quinta. When I mentioned that route to someone a few days ago they warned me about the possibility of snow up on the San Jacintos. That never occurred to me even though I can easily see the snowpack on the mountains from here. I think of places like Idyllwild as having snow and not so much Anza. But I’m inclined to take the concern seriously given the amount of storm activity we have had lately. The road condition blog I look to for information speaks more about ground saturation than snow on Rt. 74, but I’m not so sure that sounds like a lot of fun either.
The alternative route is for me to go through Borego Springs and out the eastern road on the Borrego Salton Seaway that takes you out of Borego Springs to Rt. 86 north along the western side of the Salton Sea that heads north to La Quinta. That seems like it would be a lonelier and less fun way to go, but perhaps a safer way to go with inclement weather in the offing. It’s now two days before I plan to try this trip and I am still unclear about whether the weather will accommodate my venture. I know the ride out to Borego Springs quite well and it is a lovely ride. I have never taken the road from Borego Springs out to the Salton Sea and then north, but I’m guessing that like most desert rides it is both interesting and soothing in its vastness. So, I am looking forward to the ride overall, but mostly I am looking forward to welcoming my friend to the West Coast.
As mentioned, I recently sold my motorcycle trailer, which I most often used to transport my bike across the Mojave Desert to Las Vegas so I could ride up into Utah to enjoy the canyons. I have ridden through the Mojave on several occasions and there is nothing about it I dislike other than running across an occasional snake (and I do mean “running over”). It’s been a few years since I crossed the Mojave and that time I did it with my youngest son, Thomas, in the pillion seat. We had a fun trip and enjoyed the loneliness of it all. I have also ridden quite a few times up through Death Valley, which is technically in the northern Mojave Desert. And, based on its proximity, I have regularly ridden through the Anza-Borrego Desert, which is the desert I will be crossing on this trip. The various deserts have subtle differences, but they are all also very much the same. Except for a small part of Death Valley, these deserts are less Sahara-like with big shifting sand dunes. Mostly, these are dry, tumbleweed-covered stretches that go great distances and usually end in some mountain range or other.
The trip on Apple Maps says that it is two hours and thirty-nine minutes, which is about twenty minutes longer than going the northern route and testing the fringes of the LA Basin. The place I am heading in La Quinta is about as far east and south as that whole Palm Springs corridor goes. In fact, as new construction, it seems, according to the map, to be on the southern-most fringe of La Quinta, which puts it almost at the top of the Salton Sea. That means that going through Borego Springs is a very logical path for this visit. On the assumption that this will be the first of many visit with Steven, its probably a good trip to try out and with which to familiarize myself. Borego Springs is the perfect half-way spot to stop and take a quick stretch break on the ride. Then it is only a bit more than an hour from there to Steven’s house in La Quinta.
I feel like I have gotten friendlier with Steven over the past year or two. His thinking and politics agree with mine more than I had ever realized and when we speak, I find we are most often on the same wavelength. I am also very happy to see a friend choose California over Florida. I know that everyone has their reasons for where they choose to live and I know that Leslie, Steven’s wife, has a son in Los Angeles that makes the move appealing to her. But I also know that like me, Steven seems less enamored with Florida than most and that is some combination of the tropics and the politics. Palm Springs has a mixed reputation of being appealing to people who choose to move there. Friends Gary and Oswaldo tried it and decided they didn’t like it as a full-time residence. In Steven’s case, he has kept his Manhattan apartment, so he has a safety valve, especially in the searing heat of summer in the desert, so hopefully he will like being there. It will be nice to have another friend in the area, even if I have to travel into the desert to get to him.