Ride Report: Ocotillo Wells to Anza Borrego Desert

Kyle (above) enjoying the palm tree farms scattered across the desert. Dates (below) were found off the side of a date palm in a field of palms. Some of the best dates were the ones pulled from the sand. It appeared that the fallen dates had a sweeter taste compared to the picked ones.

The route takes you through a series of slot canyons that traverse out of the Imperial Valley and slowly into the Anza Borrego Desert State Park where you find yourself hike-a-biking through the sandy washes all while slightly gaining elevation. The sun is hot but proper headwear is choice for surviving the desert heat. Plenty of water is a must! A minimum of 6-8 liters per person per day is ideal for riding through the California desert. More is preferred in case you find yourself pushing your bike through the sand.

On the route out of Ocotillo Wells via Split Mountain Road, we began riding into the Fish Creek Wash where we were met with Sandstone Canyon Walls exceeding 150' in height. These ancient walls, encrusted with boulders of any shape and size, take over the landscape. Their size was intimidating at first but once I realized that shade can be found behind most corners, excitement set in.

As you can see, the kitty liter sand is quite thick and impassable. While we may be riding our bikes in the image above, I can tell you that we rode about 50% of the 13 mile Fish Creek Wash in +/- 5 hours. That's a comfortable 2/3 miles an hour. Early morning wash riding. We started our ride at 7am to avoid the sun as much as possible. At this time of the year, we saw 11 hours of sun with temps reaching upwards of 90°.Riding out of the desert, we were met with high elevation California chaparral landscapes that were rich in mesquite trees, oak trees and many other native Southern California species.  While most routes were passable, we were met with quite a few impassable routes that left us hiking our bikes for miles.We laughed, we cried (well, perspired out of our sweat glands) and we ate. Wow, did we eat! From the mid-day burritos to the late night Mountain House packable meals; we had many great conversations around many great meals. 

Because of the intense difficulty of this route, I wouldn't go as far as recommending it to anyone but I would recommend that you take the time to visit some of Southern California's deserts by bicycle. There are many fun (and easy) routes to be found out near the Salton Sea. Just don't forget your sun hat!

A big shoutout to Tom for planning the route and to Kyle for traveling all the way over from Berlin, Germany to bike camp the desert with us and of course Bikepacking.com for supplying us with the route and que sheet.