California - Borrego Springs - Beyond the Palm Canyon Oasis

More Anza Borrego Hiking

A beautiful hike beyond the palm oasis.

At the Visitor center start hiking on the nature trail to the left.
Also called the campground trail. This adds an extra 50 minutes (return) to the hike.
Closer to the campground, hike left (west) the trail is well marked and hard to miss.

Past the official trail head parking, continue on the Palm Canyon trail

Closer to the oasis, keep right and don't go to the actual oasis on the left.
This approach is a lot easier than going in the oasis itself.

The first part is probably the most difficult part of the entire hike.
A lot of large boulders, the most difficult part is finding the easy route.
Do not end up too far up left or right of the canyon wall.
Follow the GPS and the hike should be fairly easy.

At point "narrow" the canyon narrows so much, you have to go right or left out of the canyon.
Right seems easy, but with your hiking boots wet, it's very very slippery, I slipped back down, this is why we decided to opt for the left approach.
This is safer and easy, you may even be able to climb the narrow boulder passage.
If not, go up a bit more. Down is easy.

You see why this is called Palm Canyon, the canyon is filled with clusters of palm trees, all the way up.
We made it to a fork where you see palms in the right fork.
Going into the left fork (more or less straight on) there should be a couple more clusters withing 1000 yard.
But beware, the going is slow and the vegetation is getting denser.

Warning: This is suited for casual hikers. Bring in enough water and start out early.
At 8 am, on a weekday, we were not the first hikers to start at the trail head.
But only very very few hikers go beyond the oasis.


The pictures

Make sure:
You think before you start climbing, mostly there is an easier way.
Put on some sturdy, waterproof shoos, when there is still water running.


How to get here:

Start at the visitor center. (Free)
Start at the campground, trail head parking (day use fee, $6 2012).
For the campground, follow the sign campground. (turn right, before you reach the visitor center parking.)