These links will help you plan your vacation travel route in sunny Southern California
– Travel Routes –
The following 3 travel routes are a small sample of the adventures we have designed for ourselves and our customers - personal memory making journeys in Southern California. Check out all of our custom California road trip itineraries via the Roadtrippers button below!
Mohave National Preserve
There are many things to see and do at Mojave National Preserve, a vast desert wilderness area in southeastern California. Here are some of the top attractions:
Kelso Depot Visitor Center: This restored train station is now the main visitor center for the preserve, offering exhibits on the area's cultural and natural history, a bookstore, and helpful rangers to answer questions.
Kelso Dunes: These towering sand dunes rise up to 650 feet and are a popular spot for hiking and sandboarding.
Hole-in-the-Wall: This unique rock formation is popular for hiking and rock climbing, and there are several trails that wind through the area.
Mitchell Caverns: These limestone caverns feature stunning formations and are open for guided tours.
Teutonia Peak Trail: This moderate 3-mile hike leads to the top of Teutonia Peak, offering panoramic views of the surrounding desert landscape.
Mojave Lava Tube: This lava tube cave is a unique geological formation that is open for exploration.
Rings Trail: This challenging 8-mile hike features several sets of metal rings and chains that hikers can use to scramble up steep sections of the trail.
Mojave Desert Ecosystem: The preserve is home to a diverse array of desert plants and animals, including Joshua trees, yucca, cactus, coyotes, and bighorn sheep.
Historic Sites: The preserve also includes several historic sites, including old mines, homesteads, and ranches, that offer a glimpse into the area's rich cultural history.
Overall, the Mojave National Preserve offers a unique and rugged desert experience with a range of activities and attractions for visitors to enjoy.
Anza Borrego Desert
The Anza-Borrego Desert is a vast and beautiful wilderness area located in southern California. Here are some of the top attractions and things to see in the Anza-Borrego desert:
Slot canyons: The Anza-Borrego desert has several slot canyons, including the popular Wind Caves and the stunning narrow walls of the slot canyons of Arroyo Tapiado.
Wildflowers: During the springtime, the Anza-Borrego desert is covered in a vibrant carpet of wildflowers, including colorful desert lilies, dune primroses, and sand verbena.
Font's Point: This scenic overlook provides panoramic views of the badlands and the surrounding mountains, making it one of the most popular spots in the park for photography.
Borrego Palm Canyon: This lush oasis features a year-round stream and a grove of towering California fan palms.
Galleta Meadows: This unique sculpture garden features more than 130 metal sculptures of prehistoric animals, including mammoths, saber-toothed cats, and dinosaurs.
Blair Valley: This secluded valley features several hiking trails and a collection of fascinating petroglyphs left behind by ancient Native American cultures.
Anza-Borrego Desert State Park Visitor Center: This center provides information about the park's geology, history, and natural features, as well as maps, exhibits, and programs for visitors.
Stargazing: The Anza-Borrego desert is a great place for stargazing, as its remote location and lack of light pollution make for clear, dark skies.
Overall, the Anza-Borrego desert is a breathtaking and unique destination with a wide variety of natural and cultural attractions for visitors to explore.
Carizzo Plain
Carrizo Plain National Monument is a vast grassland and desert area located in California's Central Valley. Here are some of the top things to see and do at Carrizo Plain:
Painted Rock: This large sandstone boulder is covered in ancient Native American pictographs and is considered a sacred site.
Soda Lake: This large, shallow lake is one of the largest alkali wetlands in the state and is home to a variety of unique plant and animal species.
Temblor Range: The rugged Temblor Range is a popular spot for hiking and offers stunning views of the surrounding valley.
Elkhorn Plain: This vast grassland area is home to a variety of wildlife, including pronghorn antelope, tule elk, and coyotes.
San Andreas Fault: The Carrizo Plain lies along the San Andreas Fault, and visitors can see evidence of the fault line in the form of offset streams, sag ponds, and scarps.
Bitter Creek National Wildlife Refuge: This nearby refuge offers additional opportunities for wildlife viewing, including sandhill cranes, golden eagles, and prairie falcons.
Wildflowers: During the springtime, the Carrizo Plain is covered in a vibrant display of wildflowers, including California poppies, lupines, and goldfields.
Visitor Center: The Carrizo Plain Visitor Center offers exhibits and information about the natural and cultural history of the area, as well as maps and guidance for exploring the monument.
Overall, the Carrizo Plain is a unique and rugged landscape with a variety of natural and cultural attractions for visitors to explore.
– Insider Info –
Recommendations
Cayucos
Just north of Morro Bay is the small beach city of Cayucos. Here you’ll find 2 places not to be missed, a seaside eatery and a cookie bakery.
Visit the beach front patio at The Hidden Kitchen and grab up some mouth watering hand pressed blue corn tacos. Their patio is open for dine-in and our take-out window is available for food, smoothies, and other drinks to-go as well. They are there 5 days a week from 9am-3pm (closed Tuesdays + Wednesdays).
Follow your taco fuel-up with a visit to The Brown Butter Cookie Company - it’s within walking distance from The Hidden Kitchen, you’ll see the sign, trust me ;) Try a Tower Special, it’s a combo pack of Chocolate Chunk, Snikerdoodle, Oatmeal Raisin, Lemon Sugar and Cocoa… AND remember “Butter makes everything better!”
Yucca Valley and Joshua Tree Area
Pioneertown - The town started as a live-in Old West motion-picture set, built in the 1940s. The set was designed to provide a place for the actors to live while using their homes in the movie. A number of Westerns and early television shows were filmed in Pioneertown, including The Cisco Kid and Edgar Buchanan's Judge Roy Bean.
Joshua Tree - Viewed from the road, this desert park only hints at its vitality. Closer examination reveals a fascinating variety of plants and animals that make their home in this land shaped by strong winds, unpredictable torrents of rain, and climatic extremes. Dark night skies, a rich cultural history, and surreal geologic features add to the attraction of this place. Come see for yourself!
Pappy & Harriet's Pioneertown Palace - The legendary Pappy & Harriet's Pioneertown Palace has been delighting locals and travelers alike since 1982, with its mesquite barbeque, live music, dancing and friendly service. There is also a long history here. In 1946, Pioneertown was founded by a group of Hollywood investors with dreams of creating a living movie set - an 1870's frontier town with facades for filming and interiors open to the public.
Dry camping is available directly behind Pappy & Harriet’s Pioneertown Palace at Pioneertown Corrals.
Integratron - This historical structure is a resonant tabernacle and energy machine sited on a powerful geomagnetic vortex in the magical Mojave Desert.
The Integratron is located in Landers, California, 20 miles north of Joshua Tree National Park. Its creator, George Van Tassel (1920-1978), claimed that the structure is based on the design of Moses’ Tabernacle, the writings of Nikola Tesla and telepathic directions from extraterrestrials. This one-of-a-kind 38-foot high, 55-foot diameter, all wood dome was designed to be an electrostatic generator for the purpose of rejuvenation and time travel.
The Wildlands Conservancy - The Aerie is surrounded by 100's of acres preserved by The Wildlands Conservancy, that owns and operates California's largest nonprofit nature preserve system. This preserve system includes 12 magnificent landscapes spanning over 145,000 acres of diverse mountain, valley, desert, river and ocean front properties. The Wildlands Conservancy also funded the largest conservation land gift to the American people in U.S. history - over 560,000 acres. Operating exclusively with private funding, TWC purchases and restores landscapes and builds national park quality visitor facilities that are open to the public at no cost. Over the past ten years, TWC has been California's nonprofit leader in providing free outdoor education programs for school children.
Joshua Tree Farmer's Market - This market has come a long way from the beginning and keeps getting better and better! Beautiful sprouts, honey, dates, Greek Guy with great Olive Oil, pita, feta and more, Gail with her yummy dog biscuits, and the fact that it's not far to get to! Saturday becomes a day around the market and a great way to run into locals and old friends that make time to get down to the market to buy some veggies and fruits. Saturday 8am - 1pm in downtown Joshua Tree village! Open Every Saturday 8:00 am to 1:00 PM
