This past weekend, I went to a board meeting and planning retreat of the Anza-Borrego Foundation. It was the first time I spent the night in Borrego Springs and the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park. I hoped to take advantage of the “dark sky” available there, in which one can see the Milky Way. Luck would have it that the evening featured a full moon, which pretty much obliterated the possibility of dark sky, but offered its own visual reward.
The photo above is a view to the east from Font’s Point, a promontory in the Park about four miles off-highway that overlooks the Borrego Badlands. Several attendees went there to enjoy some food, Stone beer (Stone supplies the foundation with beer), and the moonrise. This terrain helps explain why it took so long for San Diego to be settled. No wagon train, trying to traverse these badlands, was going to get to it.
The point is named after Padre Font, the missionary who accompanied Juan Batista de Anza, the Spanish explorer who led the expedition that “discovered” the area in 1775-6. Anza provided one part of the name for the state park. Borrego is the Spanish word for lamb, as Anza-Borrego Desert State Park has one of the largest concentrations of Bighorn Sheep in the country. .
Here are some other photos from Font’s Point. (Click on photos individually. This gallery feature doesn’t work well and I need to find a replacement. 🙁 )
I stayed overnight at the Steele-Burnand Anza-Borrego Desert Research Center, run by UC Irvine in partnership with the Park and Foundation, which was also the site of the board and planning meeting. The facility is a renovation and expansion of a mid-20th century clubhouse. As you can see at right, it once was the “Desert Club” (not the most creative moniker) and provided live music for a buck or less. (Wonder what the drinks cost.) Considering that I joined colleagues for dinner Saturday night at a Borrego Springs resort that closed at 9 pm (Saturday night!), the Desert Club both was a different time and was from a different time.
One of the great features of the Desert Club retained in the renovation (to the applause of most) is the sunken, curved vinyl bar in the main room.
Preserved also was what might well be the original cash register.
The living quarters at the research center are on the spare end of the spectrum, but are comfortable. There are four units provided for researchers and dorm-like facilities for grad students.
My room, named the Palo Verde (one of my favorite desert plants), had a double bed and a single bed, no television or other media, and a drought-sensitive shower (not effusive). The industrial strength air-conditioning, set at 80, was “active” throughout the night.
Here is a more general shot of the research center grounds.
Hope to get out to the desert again soon for an over-night, next time with a less brilliant moon, so I can see the stars.