BORREGO SPRINGS is a super cool, tiny desert community where residents are deeply focused on birding, botany, paleontology, anthropology, geology, astronomy, Photography, art and...  wildlife tracking.  The San Diego tracking team conducts twenty-eight desert wildlife surveys annually.  Our town is famously free of traffic lights—there isn’t a single one—yet home to the largest traffic circle in the United States, known as Christmas Circle, though nobody seems to know why it’s called that.

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ANZA BORREGO DESERT IS THE CENTRAL LOCATION FOR OUR EVENTS:  The certification & tracking workshop will be held in the Anza Borrego Desert and surrounding mountain foothills, all centered in or around the Anza Borrego Desert State Park.  Past locations include Scissors Crossing, Grapevine Canyon,  Warner Springs, Lake Morena, Volcan Mountain and the Laguna Mountains.   The exact location of the certification workshop will be wherever our workshop leader - after 2 days of scouting - believes will yield the best tracking experience.  The starting location will be announced the evening before the workshop begins.  Central to the action is the tiny town of Borrego Springs (no stop lights but the largest traffic circle in the USA).  

ACCOMMODATIONS:  In light of the fact that the event (and free prep day(s) are targeted around Borrego Springs and the Cuyamaca and Laguna mountains, we recommend camping in Anza Borrego Desert State Park or renting accommodations in Borrego Springs   We recommend the Borrego Springs Resort ($270), the Borrego Springs Motel ($120) or the least expensive of all... the 1950s style Stanlund's Motel & Inn - all listed on Booking.com.   There are many other accommodations around Borrego Springs listed on AirBnB, Booking.com and VRBO.  

CAMPING:  Camping is free anywhere in Anza Borrego Desert State Park  (1,000 square miles of desert wilderness).  Two improved State Park Campgrounds are near the town of Borrego Springs: Borrego Palm Canyon (hookups and electric) and Tamarisk Grove (restrooms, no hookups).  There are also many commercial campgrounds in Borrego Springs.  We recommend Glorietta  Canyon, Pinyon Wash and Inspiration Wash... all will pop up on a Google Search with the canyon name and Anza Borrego Desert.  Hookup camping is available at a plethora of campgrounds when you search "Camping at Anza Borrego Desert" or "Campgrounds Borrego Springs" 

BEST TAKEOUT: 

Mirage!  Truck Stop Comfort Food, sandwiches, pizza and... everything!  (caution: addicting)  

Jilbertos!  Best Mexican Food within 100 miles. Like a REAL takeout in Mexico.​

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GROCERIES: 

The Center Market  -  The Desert Pantry  -  Dollar General 

OUTFITTERS

Borrego Outfitters is the only outfitter & camping retailer for the entire region.  Whether you're camping, hiking, tracking or birding, it carries an extensive collection of clothing and footwear, backpacks, water bottles, and everything else associated with tracking in the wild. It's a surprisingly large selection for such a small town, testifying to the amount of tracking, birding, star-gazing, botanizing and geologizing that goes on around our desert. 

BEST "ABOUT BORREGO" AND "ANZA BORREGO DESERT STATE PARK" AND CAMPING WEBSITES  

Wikipedia Borrego Springs:  Detailed Climate data, terrain, history, geology, paleontology, fossils.  

Wikipedia Anza Borrego Desert State Park:  Plant life, desert bighorn sheep, animals, wildness, history, geology, paleontology, fossils. 

Chamber of Commerce:  Good links to lodging, shopping, the community.

Christmas Circle:  Our "center of town" does not have ANY traffic lights, but it DOES have the largest traffic circle in North America.

Anza Borrego Desert State Park:  Free camping in more than 1000 square miles of desert wilderness.  

Passion & Passport Page of Anza Borrego:  geared more towards tourists, yet somewhat informative

Escape to Anza Borrego:  Great imagery... this is what "my" desert looks like.

Guide to Free Camping in the enormous desert wilderness of Anza Borrego Desert Sate Park.... the largest state park in the USA.