Tamarisk Grove Region

Tamarisk Grove Campgrounds is full-featured with an office providing brochures, maps and information about the park. This mountainous area along the western edge of Anza Borrego park is also regarded as the western edge of the Colorado Desert. This is a starting point for both Yaqui Well Trail and Cactus Loop Trail. Cactus Loop Trail offers 7 different types of cacti, as well as Chuckwallas and other lizards.

Yaqui Well is actually a seep surrounded by Mesquite trees. It is renowned for its bird watching and features Costas Hummingbirds, Phainopepla, owls and doves.

Most of the roads in this region are less than 5 miles long and follow washes that cut into the Pinyon and Vallecito Mountains. These canyons are popular among ambitious hikers through the wilderness of the Vallecitos.

About two miles up Mine Canyon Wash Road is a Kumeyaay winter village site, replete with bedrock mortars which were used to grind foodstuffs by this nomadic band of Native Americans. This area still makes a good spot for a picnic.

The scenic Jasper Trail -- good for mountain bikes and off-road vehicles -- begins near the town of Ranchjita, south from County Road S-22. It descends into Grapevine Canyon, between Pinyon Ridge and Grapevine Mountain, offering many vista points as well as stops at Angelina and Stuart Springs. In the late spring, a medley of chaparral wildflowers like Baby Blue Eyes, Goldfields and Creamcups bloom along Jasper and Old Culp Valley Roads.