As a place on the map, Borrego Springs has long intrigued
me. It is the only significant settlement
in the eastern half of San Diego County, east of the mountain barrier and deep
in the desert. Even the word significant
is questionable since it has a permanent population of only about 3,500. By California standards, that’s
minuscule. Surrounded by Anza-Borrego
Desert State Park, the town is a natural base for exploring the region, but
what would it be like, I wondered.
Well, for me it turned out to be a kind of paradise, a small
town surrounded by desert and mountain wilderness with scattered small resorts,
a place with no traffic signals and barely any stop signs, a place with no
chain motels, chain restaurants, or chain stores, and where there are barely
any cars on the main street through town. I suppose mid-November when I was
there wasn’t yet full high season, but the temperatures were tolerable. It’s
what I imagine the Palm Springs area and some smaller towns like Ojai and
Escondido toward the coast to have been like in the 1940s and 1950s when they
were small resort and farming towns before getting incorporated into the
megalopolis that Southern California has become.
It’s remote enough from the
bright lights of the massive metropolis that it has been designated as an
official International Dark Sky community.
And I can attest to it that as I car camped there that the skies truly
are dark and you can see an impressive array of stars as you might in Montana
or Wyoming. If I were to become a snowbird, this is a place I might consider
for my winters. There are apparently four public golf courses, a tennis center,
and several country clubs, but Borrego Springs is nothing on the scale of
Scottsdale or Palm Springs.
I was told that some people make Borrego Springs a
destination for what is known as its “Sky Art”, but I was completely in the
dark about it until I arrived. “Sky Art” or perhaps more appropriately called “Rust
Art” is the sculpture work of artist Ricardo Becerra, dozens of large metal
sculptures scattered through the desert surrounding the town based on several
themes – Fossil Treasures of Anza-Borrego, History and Nature of Anza-Borrego,
and Whim and Fantasy. Thus, the
sculptures include extinct early mammals like saber tooth cats, mammoth, and
giant ground sloths, dinosaurs from more ancient prehistory, historical figures
ranging from desert explorers to modern farm workers. It’s actually quite
fascinating and the setting in barren landscape of mountains and desert
stunning.
2025-02-10