Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Visit Anza-Borrego's West Fork Lizard Canyon, where geological and botanical wonders delight the eye.

With canyons and ravines numbering in the thousands or tens of thousands, the one-thousand-square-mile Anza-Borrego Desert State Park offers a lifetime of scenic exploration. Even the smaller canyons of the park offer a variety of biological habitats: sandy washes where smoke trees periodically deal with destructive flash floods, north-facing slopes where pinyon pines and junipers take refuge from the glaring sun, and south-facing slopes where drought-resistant agave and cacti plump up to store every bit of meager runoff they can get from infrequent rains.

Lizard Canyon (a.k.a. Lizard Wash) is one such canyon, moderate in width, length, and depth compared to others in Anza-Borrego. It lies in the central part of the park, just south of Highway 78, in an area known as the North Pinyon Mountains.

Sponsored
Sponsored

A circumspectly marked unpaved road departs from Highway 78 at mile 75.9 (as reckoned by the white state highway mileage markers) and goes south along the bottom of Lizard Canyon for about a mile. That road is suitable for high-clearance vehicles, and probably disastrous for most passenger cars. So those with low-slung vehicles should park alongside Highway 78 and hike in from there.

At a point 0.7 mile into Lizard Canyon, the canyon divides. The unpaved road bends left, staying in the shallower, wider, East Fork Lizard Canyon. Abandon the road at this point (not in your car, but on foot!) and enter the more-interesting, narrower, deeper, roadless West Fork Lizard Canyon on the right.

The walking is easy as you gradually ascend the West Fork, trending south, mostly on smooth sand and sometimes over rocks. You pass soaring walls of broken, cream-colored granitic rock, and later metamorphic rock consisting of striped and banded beige and chocolate-brown layers. Small caverns pit the canyon wall on the left, where the metamorphic zone begins.

Ocotillo, two types of cholla cactus, barrel cactus, and fishhook cactus (diminutive and drab in color) dot the slopes above. The display of annual and ephemeral wildflowers here is concluding a stellar season; these plants will virtually disappear as soon as a string of hot spring days occurs. The cactus bloom, though, is probably peaking at present.

After 1.0 mile, the canyon becomes narrower and swings right (southwest then west). Hardy junipers, clinging to life at this marginally low elevation, dot the slope to the left.

Starting at 1.6 miles, the canyon swings left, trends south again, and widens. This a good area to turn around and retrace your steps back to the car -- but not before you treat yourself to a few minutes' silence. Contemplate the naked rock, the blue sky, the soft sounds of small birds flitting about, and the yammering of an unseen woodpecker tapping on an agave flower stalk.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

SDSU pres gets highest pay raise in state over last 15 years

Union-Tribune still stiffing downtown San Diego landlord?
Next Article

Best Sports Betting Sites - 10 Online Sportsbooks Ranked for 2024

Best Sports Betting Sites (2024) - Reviews of TOP Online Sportsbooks

With canyons and ravines numbering in the thousands or tens of thousands, the one-thousand-square-mile Anza-Borrego Desert State Park offers a lifetime of scenic exploration. Even the smaller canyons of the park offer a variety of biological habitats: sandy washes where smoke trees periodically deal with destructive flash floods, north-facing slopes where pinyon pines and junipers take refuge from the glaring sun, and south-facing slopes where drought-resistant agave and cacti plump up to store every bit of meager runoff they can get from infrequent rains.

Lizard Canyon (a.k.a. Lizard Wash) is one such canyon, moderate in width, length, and depth compared to others in Anza-Borrego. It lies in the central part of the park, just south of Highway 78, in an area known as the North Pinyon Mountains.

Sponsored
Sponsored

A circumspectly marked unpaved road departs from Highway 78 at mile 75.9 (as reckoned by the white state highway mileage markers) and goes south along the bottom of Lizard Canyon for about a mile. That road is suitable for high-clearance vehicles, and probably disastrous for most passenger cars. So those with low-slung vehicles should park alongside Highway 78 and hike in from there.

At a point 0.7 mile into Lizard Canyon, the canyon divides. The unpaved road bends left, staying in the shallower, wider, East Fork Lizard Canyon. Abandon the road at this point (not in your car, but on foot!) and enter the more-interesting, narrower, deeper, roadless West Fork Lizard Canyon on the right.

The walking is easy as you gradually ascend the West Fork, trending south, mostly on smooth sand and sometimes over rocks. You pass soaring walls of broken, cream-colored granitic rock, and later metamorphic rock consisting of striped and banded beige and chocolate-brown layers. Small caverns pit the canyon wall on the left, where the metamorphic zone begins.

Ocotillo, two types of cholla cactus, barrel cactus, and fishhook cactus (diminutive and drab in color) dot the slopes above. The display of annual and ephemeral wildflowers here is concluding a stellar season; these plants will virtually disappear as soon as a string of hot spring days occurs. The cactus bloom, though, is probably peaking at present.

After 1.0 mile, the canyon becomes narrower and swings right (southwest then west). Hardy junipers, clinging to life at this marginally low elevation, dot the slope to the left.

Starting at 1.6 miles, the canyon swings left, trends south again, and widens. This a good area to turn around and retrace your steps back to the car -- but not before you treat yourself to a few minutes' silence. Contemplate the naked rock, the blue sky, the soft sounds of small birds flitting about, and the yammering of an unseen woodpecker tapping on an agave flower stalk.

Comments
Sponsored
Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Top Websites To Buy Instagram Likes + Bonus Tip!

Next Article

San Diego Reader 2024 Music & Arts Issue

Favorite fakers: Baby Bushka, Fleetwood Max, Electric Waste Band, Oceans, Geezer – plus upcoming tribute schedule
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.