Anza Borrego
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 | Butte Pass from above: From the city of Borrego Springs, go south on Borrego Springs Rd until you reach highway 78. Turn left and go east for about 1.5 miles. Look for a small brown sign on the left indicating "Butte Pass Rd". Turn left onto this packed dirt road and go straight for about 1.8 miles until you get to a T-junction. Park your car and look for the trail head which is marked with a metal stick labeled "no vehicles". The trail goes uphill a little, and then veers to the left. At the top of the ridge, you will see a definite trail to the butte. This fairly easy walk will take about 20 minutes to complete. At the end of the trail, you will come to a drop/cliff where you can see sandstone formations and mineral deposits. |
 | Shown on the left is the Butte Pass trail; cliff can be seen at the top left of the photo. Note the spindly tuffs of greenery: these ocotillo plants appear small in the photo but are actually more like 10 feet tall. These unique desert plants are pollinated by hummingbirds and carpenter bees. |
One mound of gravely rock is noteworthy in that it is green-ish in color and looks almost like a clear lake.
Butte Pass from below
From the city of Borrego Springs, go south on Borrego Springs Rd until you reach highway 78. Turn left and go east for about 1.5 miles. Look for a small brown sign on the left indicating "Butte Pass Rd". Turn left onto this packed dirt road and go straight for about 1 mile. Turn right when you come upon an obvious intersection; follow signs for Butte Pass. This road will take you around the Butte so you can look up at it from the canyon below.
 | Many of the formations you've seen from above will be here and it is fun to decipher which formations were the ones you identified while above. The green, gravely mound can serve as a landmark for you to orient yourself. You can park the car and walk around, or you can stay in the car and drive around the loop. Exit the same way you entered. |
Summary
This short trip is quite pleasant and worth doing. Be sure to check out the Slot trail which is easily accessible from this site (Read more here). Or, drive into the city of Borrego Springs and enjoy the life-size metal sculptures in Galenta Meadows (Read more here).
More about Anza Borrego:
- General Info
- Directions
- Visitor Center
- Camping & Camp Sites
- Hiking Trails:
- Palm Canyon Trail
- Mt Palm springs Trails
- Butte Pass and Slot Trail
- more hiking trails - Gallenta Meadows in Borrego Springs
- Desert Flowers
- More Photos
- Anza Borrego Books
- find another attraction in San Diego
- go to Site Map
