One of the standouts in Southern California is the huge State Park located about 2 hours east of San Diego called Anza-Borrego. This park is much less busy then any of its other California counter parts probably due to its large collection of land which is all spread out to many different sites. We set out on two hikes while we were there, one was the Slot that Zac wrote about, and the other was Hellhole Canyon that you can see here.
According to the visitor center, Hellhole canyon is one of the more intense hikes in the park. That being said it is not very intense compared to other standards. The hike itself is about 6 miles round trip with about 1000 feet of elevation gain. It starts out in the wide desert with one canyon in the distance you are hiking to, then as you get closer the canyon starts to close in and the trail becomes less easy to find. The real highlight of this trail is two fold, there are at least four palm tree oasis and there is a waterfall that is hidden up in the top of the forth one.
The waterfall itself is hard to find. You have to keep pushing back into the canyon and make your way around rocks and plants until you finally stumble on it. When we were there it didn’t have much coming from it, only a trickle, but it was still a beautiful place to relax and a worthwhile end to the hike. In addition, the palm oasis provide amazing places to rest and relax while exploring what the canyon has to offer. This hike is easier during the winter and spring months, but if you are going during the summer I would recommend you take a lot of water as there is almost no shade until the end of the hike. Check out the statistics and pictures below.
Duration: 3 hour and 22 minutes
Length: 6 miles
Total Elevation Gain: 1000 ft
Difficulty Level: Moderate
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