About Blair Valley And The Pictograph Trail

A huge sweeping valley surrounded by mountain peaks, Blair Valley is truly one of the most scenic areas in Anza Borrego Desert State Park. Located in the southwestern part of the park, just off the Great Southern Overland Stage Route, Blair Valley is a popular primitive/dispersed camping area with miles of available spots to camp, all with a beautiful views of the valley floor and surrounding mountains. On the eastern side of the ridge sits Little Blair Valley, another great spot for setting up camp. Come after a rain and the whole valley may be exploding in color with a wildflower bloom.

Blair Valley also hosts one of the best hikes in Anza Borrego – the Pictograph Trail. This is a 2.6 mile out and back hike that ends at a dry waterfall with stunning views to the Laguna Mountains to the southwest. On the rocks along the trail you will find red pictographs left by… well nobody actually knows. Presumably they were left by the Kumeyaay people who inhabited this region for hundreds, if not thousands of years. There is something stirring about finding connection with ancient humans in a place as uninhabited and barren as the Colorado Desert.

Best Parts

• Getting outdoors
• Moving your body
• Free things to do

Behind The Counter

At over 640,000 acres, Anza Borrego Desert State Park, located in the western part of the great Colorado Desert, is the largest state park in California and the third largest state park in the country. The park stretches from near the Mexican border in the south to up near Temecula in the north. The first parcels of the park were purchased by the state in 1932 and it has expanded ever since.