Here are a few photos of the state park located at the edge of Borrego Springs, California, next to the Visitors’ Center. In recent posts I’ve shared photos of dispersed camping in this area. If you prefer hook-ups (and paying for them!), you may be interested in the state park.
Anza-Borrego Desert State Park
[slideshow]
rvsue
How is the wind out there today?
Storm blew into the coast today.
Best,
Bob B.
Hi Bob,
Very little wind through the night and morning. Now as we near sunset as I write this, the wind is picking up. A cloudy mist hangs on the mountains and dark clouds have settled over the BLT. The weather is very changeable here, at least since we’ve moved into the area.
There was a time I would have thought those prices good deals. Since following you, I think they are way too expensive. Your frugal life is rubbing off on me. I am teaching my daughter to live debt free. Hard lesson for 18 year olds who get credit card offers in the mail every week. I watched the video the other day, and noticed the writer commented on your 400 followers (made it sound like a cult) Not any more….I see over 700. Love the blog!!!!
The RVSue Cult! 🙂
It amazes me. A short time ago, 400 followers and now well on the way to doubling that number. Your comment makes me smile, Tia. . . the part about my frugal life rubbing off on you. Good advice for your daughter’s money management. There’s a satisfaction that comes from saving for a goal and then slapping down the money! I never got that feeling with debt.
And I expect that many of us… like me… are not included in the “followers” since I don’t want emails. (get too many already) I just check in every day or so and catch up.
What video? Did I miss something?
In yesterday’s post I referred to the Rusty and Timber reunion and printed a link to the video shown on Channel 12 News. Click HERE.
Thanks, Sue. Thought I was missing a chunk of my life there for a bit. Two more days until Christmas break for my students–to say they are wound-up would be an understatement.
Oh, I remember what that’s like. Hang in there . . .
I love the look of the PTV with it’s antenna. Looks like a little spaceship!!!
I know! It looks like that to me, too. I love it. Looks like we’re about to fly away . . .
I think it looks like a submarine.
Ha, it does! As one blog reader and friend wrote, “It looks so . . . so . . . RVSue.”
Two months there would pay for a nice solar installation.
Excellent point, Mick. That’s a measurable benefit. There are also benefits that can’t be easily measured… mainly the freedom solar power gives. No need to be tethered to campground electric posts or the annoyances of a generator.
At first as I studied the price list I was excited. My husband is disabled! Wowee! A bargain price, but then I read the disclaimer along the bottom and since we live in KS our hang tag won’t work. He does have a government card and a National Parks pass, but we do not have the required documentation. Even if I could talk my husband into a small trailer, we cannot get the bargain price. I guess we’ll not camp out any time soon.
There’s something irritating about that message at the bottom of the price list. Disabled is disabled in my book. This is the United States, not a separate nation aka the Republic of California, so why not have the discount apply to all U.S. disabled people. Hmmpff!
Can you not camp out in places like where I camp?
The Republic of Caleee is absolutely correct.
The park pass is $3.50 and is good for life. Here is the website with the requirements and application for your bloggers who may be interested. IF you are traveling thru Calee and know this beforehand…you can apply via the mail.
http://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=1049
Scroll down approx 3/4 of the page..
Thanks for that! I still am grumbling a little bit…
Totally understandable………..Calee would get blood from a turnip if it was possible!
And what a pain to sign up… if you don’t have internet and travel all year… An application form for a $2 discount. Ppffftt!
This is not just a California thing. A lot of states offer discounts to their residents that are disabled, or to their state veterans, that they do not offer to everyone else. I don’t have a problem with each state making that distinction.
I don’t really have a problem with it either. I guess if the prices were more reasonable for everyone, I wouldn’t give the discount a second look.
Yikes…..I’m think’n I could stay in a Best Western for them prices. With that many campers in the State park, it just proves that California campers have way too much money. Them folks got a bunch more dollars than the old Billy Bob is will’n to pay for a place to sleep. Anything over $20 a day in a State park is too much. An’ on top of that….$8.00 entry fee???? Who ever hear of pay’n $8 just to get in? Dang!!!!
A lot of state parks have a day use fee, usually around $6-$8. I agree with you on the campground fees. They charge an awful lot to camp up next to someone else with nothing but tall grass and an occasional palm tree between sites. I tell you, Billy Bob, coming back to my free campsite with its lovely mountains and wide open space is very sweet after driving through the pricey state park!
Having not ventured west I am always surprised at how totally different the campgrounds are there compared to the midwest. Just a completely different world. I hope to visit some day and test them out for myself. Thanks for letting us visit through your eyes, Sue.
You’re welcome, Crystal. As a lifelong Easterner, I agree… The West is a LOT different in many ways.
Hi Sue, I looked for “Bob’s” blog to see your comment to my comment, but I lost him 🙁 Could you pls send me a link as I had intended to add his blog to my list. Thanks!! i am with you on the free sites and boondocking. I need to finish getting my rig set up for that, so I can stay in one place longer.
I found it, I actually had saved it. And my sincere apologies to you if you took what I said to be out of line. I am just a happy-go-lucky-too-free-at-times. type person 🙂 Anyway, hope to meet up with you someday!
Hi Sunny… As a former Language Arts teacher, I had to protect my honor! 🙂
Hi RV Sue, we went here when we went on our trip to the Slabs & Salton Sea. We pulled in and hated it! Pulled right back out and went to camp at Salt Creek Campground where I got stuck in the sand..had the best time ever!!
It’s not my cup o’ tea either.
You answered a question I was having about what was the difference between camping and dispersed camping. I feel that same as Tia after reading your blog for awhile now. 35 a night! I wouldn’t want to pay that even if I had it. Definitely going to need solar panels whenever I get to the point of full-timing.
I look forward to reading your post every evening. It is almost always uplifting and gives me hope that I will be able to do what you’re doing someday.
I hope you’ll be doing this, too, Donna. It was the best decision of my life.
Since we are looking at fulltiming by May…little worried about the roads to do dispersed camping. Guess you scout it out first. Getting stuck would not be fun.
No need to worry if you’re cautious and use good sense. (Not to say I won’t get stuck some day). So far I’ve always found a road where others have gone before. I always follow where I can see someone else has successfully driven. When I have any doubt, I get the crew out and we walk the road and the area. I’ll never “blaze a trail’ with my rig.
Two bucks off per nite for seniors – well, that’s big of them : ) $1050/month is quite the tidy bundle. Great post, Sue, but then, they always are.
Thanks, Margie. I agree with you. If one were to take it personally, the two-dollar discount is insulting!
Yes, I was quite underwhelmed by that discount. I had been thinking that it wasn’t bad for half the top amount. Oh well… it’s off the list… 🙂
just watched the video, great story. I like the looks of your campsite rather than the crowed state Park ones. I would be happy to have cheap spot with a pit toilet, but wouldn’t care to pay that $35 per night. We just have an Aliner with port-a-potty. but we are looking at a very lightweight small trailer custom built here in Canada (Taylor Coach) I only want a 14′ to start with. Elder care is keeping me home at this time. really enjoying your blog.
Hi Val!
The crew and I have stayed at a lot of “cheap spots with a pit toilet” for $10 down to free. I’m glad you enjoy my blog. Some day you can gather your own stories on the road.
I was looking at that too & I agree with Margie W, two $ off per night is not a discount now days, senior or not. Sue, your site is much nicer as well as the view and the price is perfect! Now we know where not to camp 🙂
Hi Penny,
There are several privately-owned RV parks in Borrego Springs. The owners probably appreciate the pricing of campsites at the state park. Driving through the park, I thought, “I wouldn’t stay here more than a night, even if it were free.” It’s so much better out by Peg Leg and Clark Dry Lake. Quiet, plenty of room, and an ever-changing light-and-shadow play on the mountains.
We’ll be out in the boonies to join you but only for two nights. We are then going to the THAT expensive State Park for two weeks. We have an all electric refrigerator that needs power, and we don’t have any solar panels. I guess I am not really a boondocker. I am spoiled and love my comforts. We arrive Dec. 31st. Will you still be in the area? We would love to catch up with you since my husband and I are former educators, as well!
Hello, John and Pam!
I wouldn’t be a boondocker either if I weren’t equipped for it, with propane fridge, hot water heater, and heat, and, of course, solar power for my lights, internet, and television. Boondocking doesn’t have to be uncomfortable.
I doubt the crew and I will still be here by the end of the month. I’m thinking about leaving and then coming back in the spring when the desert blooms.
Best of luck to you in your travels. I’ll keep following your blog and maybe we will hook up one day.
As an ole guy and a Calee native, I left that state in ’90 when I retired never to look back. My Grandkids and GreatGrandkids are out there so I visit from my home here in Arizona, but I will never again buy a home there. We are going out for Christmas however. We can no longer “afford” the privilege of living there. It was a great place back in the 30’s, 40’s and even the 50’s. Sue, I wish you, the crew and all of your many readers a wonderful Chrismas holiday.
Thank you, AZ Jim. I wish you and your family the same.
The Casita is in reality a………………wait for it………………..Thunderbird Egg. In these the last days we have been blessed with the return of the Thunderbirds. They come at night and their wings create the wind and they lay Giant eggs right on the ground and when they hatch they are Baby Airstreams called Bambi’s, and now you know the rest of the story….
Sue, you mentioned that they torqued the lug nuts to 140 lbs at your last service. Do you have a road service Co. or “cheater” bar for lug wrench, to loosen them if necessary, (flat tire, etc.)? I had a flat last year on my truck at home, I have a air compressor and pumped it up thinking I could drive to the repair shop, but it was going down fast. So I decided someday I may have to do this where things aren’t easy. and go ahead and change it. I have changed many flats (almost 60 yrs of driving), i carry a star (4 size) wrench and the supplied lug wrench w/the truck (03 Chev), finally gave up and fired up the compressor and had to get up 125 lbs to break them loose. Now I carry a “cheater” bar. Checked the manual and that is what it calls for, doubt that anyone can break the lugnuts loose with supplied wrench, I tightened them by hand and know I can get them loose by hand. I have a road service but in Colo. mountains, not likely to have cell phone service in most areas.
Try the “cheater” bar and verify you can get a tire changed.
Good luck, Bob
What really intrigued me in that RV park was the Palm trees. I have never seen how they look “naturally” since they are always trimmed where I have been… all the dead branches removed so that you can see the trunk. It rather looks like a bush instead of a tree. Your blog is soooo educational. 🙂
The way I read the map, Anza-Borrego Desert State Park is actually wrapped all around the town of Borrego Springs. It’s a huge park with many dispersed/primitive camping areas within it, including Clark Dry Lake, Blair Valley, and lots of others. The campground in the slide show is Palm Canyon Campground, which has sections with and without hookups and is really lovely (much lovelier farther back toward the canyon, without hookups). There are also several other for-fee campgrounds scattered around the vast area of Anza-Borrego Desert State Park. You can pick your favorite elevation, degree of isolation, and vistas. Something for everyone!
i love this state park! a great time to visit is around october when the weather is warm enough so you don’t freeze at night but nice enough to hike in the park. i did the borrego palm trail when i was there. it will always be one of my favorite hikes. http://onecoolthingeveryweekend.com/2012/10/21/borrego-palm-canyon-trail-anza-borrego/