GoorooDougie
Adventurist
Just back from a brief overnight trip to McCain Valley, which overlooks Anza-Borrego Desert State Park in eastern San Diego County. Thought I'd share some pics and info, in case anyone else is down in this corner of the country and is interested in easy off-roading, seclusion, and amazing views.
McCain Valley is about an hour (65 miles) east of San Diego, just off I-8. If you're coming from the west, the Golden Acorn Casino, two exits early, has truck stop services and is a great place to gas up and get any forgotten supplies. From there, take Old Hwy 80 7 miles east to McCain Valley Road. On the way, you'll pass through the town of Boulevard, where you should stop at the Wisteria Candy Cottage to grab some desert for camp. Take McCain Valley Road north. Pavement ends (for the rest of the trip) at about 2.5 miles when you enter the McCain Valley Recreation Area. No fee - this is all open BLM land. About 0.5 miles after pavement ends you'll see a sign on the right for Sacatone Overlook (photo below).
Take this turn off for some amazing views. It's about 2 miles each way down a well-defined but minimally-maintained road to the overlook. I'm in a stock AWD SUV with 8.5" clearance and had no trouble, but side trails probably require 4 low and more clearance. There are abandoned mineshafts along the road to check out, just be careful. Sacatone Overlook has the best picnic table view I think I've ever come across (photo below). Across the Carrizo Gorge can be seen the tracks and tunnels of the San Diego and Arizona Eastern, the "Impossible Railroad". The dark hills on the horizon are on the far side of the Colorado River in Arizona, about 110 miles east. And snowy Mt. San Jacinto, looming over Palm Springs, can be seen to the north, 80+ miles away.
Once you're back to McCain Valley Road, head north. The wind turbines have only been here a couple of years, and the transmission line a decade longer (photo below). I like the look of the turbines and towers marching across the mountains, but many do not. McCain Valley has always felt remote and secluded, since there's no through access to Anza-Borrego, and some folks feel the energy projects spoil the back country feel.
Most people who head out this way come for the Lark Canyon ORV Area, which consists of two BLM campgrounds and miles of narrow dirt bike trails. For more info check out: https://www.desertusa.com/mccain/oct_mcain2.html . After Lark Canyon is another 8 miles of well-maintained graded dirt road to the BLM Cottonwood Campground. Sites are first-come first-served, $6 per night (https://www.blm.gov/visit/search-details/15083/1). There are two loops - the west side tucks into the base of the hills and has a lot of shady oaks. The east side is more flat and open but still has some scattered oaks (photo below).
Each site has at least one fire ring and picnic table, some had multiple. BLM had recently cut down dead oaks and left all the wood behind, which we took advantage of. We had the east half of the campground to ourselves, which is part of why I like winter camping so much. There were some super cool folks on the west side, though, who hosted us at their huge campfire while they opened X-Mas gifts. They even brought string lights and decorated a scrub oak in the holiday spirit
It was very quiet and still all afternoon and evening. None of the turbines near us were spinning, and all you could hear was an occasional high-flying passenger jet and a distant pack of coyotes. That changed about 3:00am when the turbines powered on - the winds had picked up to 20 knots or so and stayed constant the rest of the time we were out there. The turbines weren't too loud, about like one of those airliners going constantly.
Between the turbines, night time lows in the 30s, and the fact that it was the weekend before Christmas, the whole north end of McCain Valley felt even farther from civilization - just what we were looking for! I highly recommend checking the area out if you're between Yuma and San Diego. If you need more details about anything, drop me a line. Cheers!
McCain Valley is about an hour (65 miles) east of San Diego, just off I-8. If you're coming from the west, the Golden Acorn Casino, two exits early, has truck stop services and is a great place to gas up and get any forgotten supplies. From there, take Old Hwy 80 7 miles east to McCain Valley Road. On the way, you'll pass through the town of Boulevard, where you should stop at the Wisteria Candy Cottage to grab some desert for camp. Take McCain Valley Road north. Pavement ends (for the rest of the trip) at about 2.5 miles when you enter the McCain Valley Recreation Area. No fee - this is all open BLM land. About 0.5 miles after pavement ends you'll see a sign on the right for Sacatone Overlook (photo below).
Take this turn off for some amazing views. It's about 2 miles each way down a well-defined but minimally-maintained road to the overlook. I'm in a stock AWD SUV with 8.5" clearance and had no trouble, but side trails probably require 4 low and more clearance. There are abandoned mineshafts along the road to check out, just be careful. Sacatone Overlook has the best picnic table view I think I've ever come across (photo below). Across the Carrizo Gorge can be seen the tracks and tunnels of the San Diego and Arizona Eastern, the "Impossible Railroad". The dark hills on the horizon are on the far side of the Colorado River in Arizona, about 110 miles east. And snowy Mt. San Jacinto, looming over Palm Springs, can be seen to the north, 80+ miles away.
Once you're back to McCain Valley Road, head north. The wind turbines have only been here a couple of years, and the transmission line a decade longer (photo below). I like the look of the turbines and towers marching across the mountains, but many do not. McCain Valley has always felt remote and secluded, since there's no through access to Anza-Borrego, and some folks feel the energy projects spoil the back country feel.
Most people who head out this way come for the Lark Canyon ORV Area, which consists of two BLM campgrounds and miles of narrow dirt bike trails. For more info check out: https://www.desertusa.com/mccain/oct_mcain2.html . After Lark Canyon is another 8 miles of well-maintained graded dirt road to the BLM Cottonwood Campground. Sites are first-come first-served, $6 per night (https://www.blm.gov/visit/search-details/15083/1). There are two loops - the west side tucks into the base of the hills and has a lot of shady oaks. The east side is more flat and open but still has some scattered oaks (photo below).
Each site has at least one fire ring and picnic table, some had multiple. BLM had recently cut down dead oaks and left all the wood behind, which we took advantage of. We had the east half of the campground to ourselves, which is part of why I like winter camping so much. There were some super cool folks on the west side, though, who hosted us at their huge campfire while they opened X-Mas gifts. They even brought string lights and decorated a scrub oak in the holiday spirit
It was very quiet and still all afternoon and evening. None of the turbines near us were spinning, and all you could hear was an occasional high-flying passenger jet and a distant pack of coyotes. That changed about 3:00am when the turbines powered on - the winds had picked up to 20 knots or so and stayed constant the rest of the time we were out there. The turbines weren't too loud, about like one of those airliners going constantly.
Between the turbines, night time lows in the 30s, and the fact that it was the weekend before Christmas, the whole north end of McCain Valley felt even farther from civilization - just what we were looking for! I highly recommend checking the area out if you're between Yuma and San Diego. If you need more details about anything, drop me a line. Cheers!
