Blair Valley Campground — Hotel in San Diego Country Estates

This is a large area for free, dispersed camping in Anza-Borrego Desert State Park. The only amenity is a vault toilet right off the paved road. If you stay close to the road near the toilet, almost any vehicle can get in safely. There is a dirt road running away from the toilet along a dry lake bed. Camping is not permitted on the lake bed, but there are several areas on the other side of the road (at the foot of the hills) where people camp to be further from the road and perhaps bit less crowded. The road is marginal for larger rigs due to a few spots of severe unevenness, plus a few deep ruts and a lot of washboarding. There is also loose sand but it isn't deep. I would not bring a motorhome or large trailer across this road. That being said, there were a handful of small to mid-size rigs of that type camped along the road. If you don't mind risking bottoming out or being rough on your rig, you can drive the road for at least a couple of miles. The vast majority of vehicles using the road are pickups and SUVs, and these are the most suitable rigs for this road. The camping is typical desert dispersed camping...I love it. You're nestled at the foot of rocky hills that ring the lake bed. 3 or 4 miles up the road are some hiking trails to pictographs, former Native homesites, etc. The road to the pictograph trailhead was impassable due to a huge washout. A few hardy souls crossed in 4WD SUVs, but at least three full-size 4x4 pickups chose not to cross, parked on the near side and hiked another 1-1.5 miles to the trailhead. I crossed on my trike and found more unevenness and worse sand going to the trailhead. If you follow Little Blair Valley road (turning off to the left before the road to the pictographs) there is great camping a little more remote from the crowds. I will definitely be...

I have been going here for years. I enjoy it because of the opportunity to have some isolation. I also do a lot of is solo hiking. Unfortunately, it's starting to get too busy for me at Blair Valley. I setup to camp in my usual isolated spot. Someone camped fairly close to me with an RV. There was no need to park so close to me given the size of this area. Then they fired up their generator. Why camp there if you have your windows shut, generator running and air conditioner on. You might as well be in a Walmart parking lot. While at my usual spot, previous campers left their trash behind. If you do go to this location, please be respectful of others space, please keep your music at a reasonable level and pack...

I climbed Ghost Mountain from the Morteros TH on 31 October. I would start following a set of footprints and they would suddenly disappear. Really spooky. Off trail travel provides the challenge of avoiding agaves and cactus. But the Ocotillos were in full leaf, very green from the September hurricane rains, but no bright red flowers. Lots of yellow flowers and even some Beaver Tail cactus were in bloom. The Yaquitepec site is interesting. To reflect that the Marshall South family lived there for years. I drove in through Blair Valley and out through Little Blair Valley. My Prius cruised nicely over these roads. It was warm in the day, but is getting...