Exploring the Anza Borrego Calcite Mine

While spending the winter trying to stay warm in Southern California, we took some time to get to know Anza Borrego State Park. We had just recently found out about this huge but low key state park and didn’t know what to expect. Exploring Calcite Mine was a great introduction to the adventures to be found in Anza Borrego!

This size of this state park rivals the size of some national parks and is the largest state park in California. It is less known than many other parks so it was not very crowded beyond the visitor center. There are countless adventures and amazing scenery! Canyoneering is one of our favorite hobbies and there are tons of awesome canyons in Anza Borrego, including Calcite Mine.

Quick Info

Directions: From the Anza Borrego Visitor Center, follow Palm Canyon Drive to the roundabout and take the 4th exit to continue on Palm Canyon Drive. After about 13.9 miles, park on Highway S-22 near mile marker 38. From here walk up the jeep road or walk west and follow Palm Wash.

Distance: 4 miles roundtrip with lots of options for further adventuring!

Difficulty: Moderate

Exploring Calcite Mine

Our first time in Anza Borrego State Park we went camping for a few days. On the first night we had just set up camp at one of the primitive campgrounds where we went from a relaxing night camping in the desert to thinking we were going to be abducted by aliens! This is what we saw in the the night sky in the middle of the desert. Turns out it wasn’t alien related…

The next day on our way to Calcite Mine we stopped at Fonts Point Badlands Overlook. The badlands sprawling out below looked amazing! Pictured below is a Lost Coast Longboarding cruiser board overlooking Fonts Point Badlands Overlook.

To get to Calcite Mine we continued on the S-22 toward mile marker 38. This particular canyon is called Palm Slot and is located in the Northeast region of the park. You can park on the shoulder of S-22 and hike in toward the canyon or if you have a 4×4 high clearance vehicle you can drive closer to the slot entrance.

Once down the hill into the main wash, go left. Eventually, the canyon will get too narrow for a vehicle and this is where the good part begins!

At the start of the slot, you are immediately greeted by a cool arch that stretches from one side of the canyon wall to the other. Once you pass under the arch, the wash continues but there are also numerous side canyons.

It felt like we were in a (natural, beautiful, grown up) playplace!

While exploring the Calcite Mine area took quite a few of these side canyons and checked out the narrows, the obstacles, and rock wall free climbing.

There are also a number of dry falls in the canyon. Here is a picture of one of the more challenging dry fall climbs.

After each of the canyon side adventures we returned to the main wash and continued to follow the canyon. We explored the side canyons and the main wash for about two miles before turning back. The canyon continues here allowing for further exploration, though!

You can also continue on the main dirt road to more canyons. We just parked and wandered. We found another narrow canyon on the left just off of the main dirt road. There are some fun and challenging climbs here.

There are also a number of very narrow areas as well as some large boulders and obstacles. Here you can see our buddy Todd crawling through some tight gaps between boulders.

The road eventually leads to an old calcite mine but the road gets pretty rough so we walked the rest of the way to the mine. There’s not a whole lot to the mine but there’s plenty of calcite around! As we were exploring Calcite Mine, we continued to the top of the massive rock slab nearby. This giant rock must be at least 100 feet tall and is full of caves and holes.

We climbed all the way to the top.

On top it felt like the top of the world, and Shane had to jump over some of the rocks while we were so high. From the top you can see all the way to the Salton Sea and maybe even into Mexico.

From the calcite mine there is also another small rock formation with an arch on top, we could not resist the opportunity to climb more rocks to get to the top and crawl through the arch.

Thanks for Keeping Up With The Lost Longboarder!

There are plenty more adventures in Anza Borrego State Park! If you’re interested in exploring canyons like us, be sure to check out these adventures:

There are also opportunities to longboard in Anza Borrego State Park!

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