Culp Valley - 3000 feet above the low desert

Located on the S-22 road leaving out of the Borrego Springs Valley is a spectacular granite wonderland of boulders, cliffs, and scrubby oaks. This area is home to Culp Valley and a nice hike you can do when you want to escape some of the heat of the desert.

With temperatures in the low 80's below, we climbed to 3500 feet by road, stopped at the Pena Spring parking area and hiked up hill on the California Riding and Hiking Trail.

It was a beautiful landscape with sweeping views down onto Borrego Springs Valley and the Salton Sea in the distance. The vegetation was made up of scrub oaks, manzanitas, sugar sumac, and a variety of yuccas and cactus.

Hilina hiked about 2 miles of the 5.5 mile roundtrip. It was a pretty relaxing and enjoyable day.

Borrego Springs below the Santa Rosa Range