Border Field State Park

Back in July 2011 I wrote about the Tijuana Slough National Wildlife Refuge here. Within a week or two we took another jaunt, farther down the road, to Border Field State Park. Which by its name you might imagine is on the Mexican border. Which it is.

The park was more or less closed. Lots of California state parks are closed. A locked gate blocked the vehicle access road, but we left the car and headed down the road on foot. The parking lot was full of horse trailers, and there were folks heading out horseback along trails through the native brush. We took a longish walk on a big dirt road instead of following the horses, which were kicking up dust, and found ourselves at what had been a picnic area, with restrooms. The restrooms were padlocked, and picnic tables had been hauled away, leaving behind the barbecues. Looked a bit desolate.

But there's good news -- when I went to the Border Field State Park web site today I found that this summer they completed renovations. The road is open (and entrance is $5) on weekends and holidays unless there are flood conditions. (We did see signs of high water as we walked.) Now, the website says, there are shaded group picnic areas and other individual tables, and those restrooms are available. Probably locked on weekdays though.

From the abandoned picnic area we headed on west to the beach. I think it's three miles long, north from the border to the mouth of the Tijauna Estuary. Supposedly you can hike on up to Imperial Beach, but I'm not clear on how you would get across the river -- a satellite view doesn't show a bridge. It look like quite a leap. Maybe when the tide is out? I guess we'll have to go see for ourselves. I'll let you know.

But here's the beach at the border of the US side. Empty of people. Pelicans flying over.

And to our left, up on the hill, that bull ring that we wanted to see close up. We saw it from a distance on the previous trip to the Estuary. Notice the border patrol. 

And heading down the dunes, here's the Tijuana beachfront. It's hard to see in the pictures how packed that beach is. 

Sorry for the blurry telescopic photo.

You can't help imagining how one could get across that border. Or maybe it's just my naturally nefarious mind. 

I wish I had a picture of the roadrunner I saw as we were walking back to the car. It darted into the road from one side, raced ahead of us and then off into the brush on the other side. Mike didn't even see it--they are so quick! That's my second roadrunner ever, and they just make you smile.

There are some other day trips I've neglected to put up here, so I'll be trying to catch that up. Keep an eye out.