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Borrego Springs


The village of Borrego Springs is your "base camp" for the park. It offers plentiful creature comforts, shopping, and a variety of restaurants. Take your time, and ask around, as we don't have many signs – see if you can find our grocery store, the Center Market. Good things wait for those willing to look around a bit.

Close-by hiking includes the very popular and worthwhile Palm Canyon Trail near park headquarters. The Culp Valley area is at a slightly higher and cooler elevation, with vast open areas perfect for wandering cross-country. Hellhole Canyon, just off S-22 west of town, contains a surprising variety of ecosystems, capped by a water fall and maiden hair fern grotto.

The Park Visitor Center is a must see, with a living desert roof – unique! A short loop trail here displays well-marked examples of local plants, shrubs and trees, with desert pupfish pond; yes, of course we have fish in the desert! And visit the visitor center store for guidebooks, maps, and other useful planning tools.

The valley floor contains a surprising collection of life-size sculptures of pre-historic residents, courtesy of local benefactor Dennis Avery. Traverse Borrego Springs Road both north and south of Christmas Circle to take them all in. While we're on the subject of art, be sure to take in the Borrego Art Institute, SoShoMe Gallery, Matsen Gallery, and more.

You will find all our lodging options in Borrego Springs. The rest of the park area contains only camping, with the exception of vacation rentals in the Shelter Valley area (see Tamarisk Grove & Blair Valley section).