Exploring California's Highway S22 - From the Mountains to the Salton Sea

Highway S22 travels from the mountains of San Diego's east county, through the Anza Borrego Desert, and ends at the Salton Sea in Imperial County. As the S22 travels down the mountain to the desert, you are rewarded with some of the best desert views on any drive in the state. Along the highway there are a large number of fun and unique sites to check out, especially in Anza Borrego Desert State Park, which covers the majority of the drive.

California's S22 travels through the towns of Ranchita, Borrego Springs, and Salton City. In this video we check out the Ranchita Yeti, the Montezuma Valley Overlook, Borrego Springs, the Peg Leg Smith Monument, Fonts Point, the Badlands Viewpoint, the Calcite Mine Trail (with its fantastic slot canyons), and the Salton Sea.

[pammurphy]

very cool! I lived in Borrego Springs from the mid 80’s till ‘94 and enjoyed seeing the sights again after this many years.

[kurtbilinski]

You missed Clark Dry Lake, just north east of the Peg Leg monument. For decades, my high school Physics teacher, Mr. Karge, took the "Rocket and Astronomy Club" kids on weekend camping trips out there, where they would look at the heavens though telescopes in the really great seeing conditions, and launch home-built rockets, back when you could. Mr. Karge was a big influence on me but I never got to thank him :(

[stevenwalls]

Help me out here. As a kid, I explored some ancient indigenous peoples caves in what I see now as in the slot canyon caves. The bottoms were deep sand and the sides and tops were darkened with smoke from ancient cooking fire smoke. My mom found a stone Arrow Straightener in the sand which might be in the Yreka Calif museum now. Where exactly was this area?
I do remember that to get up in there, my dad had to drive the little army Jeep up a real narrow sand creek bed, around huge boulders. Does this sound familiar?

[AbandonedMines]

This was a nice documentary! Interesting that all those cars were parked at the slot canyon trail head but you didn’t see a single person while you were there. That is ideal! You mentioned Hellhole Canyon during your narration. There is a really spectacular waterfall called Maidenhair Falls up in Hellhole Canyon that’s worth the somewhat difficult hike to reach it.

[lockdot]

I went down the hill to Borrego Springs the other day, it was an awesome drive! I had to go back up the hill, and go back down again, that's how neat it was.

Car wasn't happy, that 8% grade is very intense for the 10 miles it goes up! The car happily went around 18, to 25 MPH up the hill. Slow and steady, got more time to see the views!

Wow! That's a neat dragon! I didn't know the town had stuff like that, I just stayed on S22 the whole way. I will have to check them out another time.

[ShanerTheGrey]

Brown and raised in San Diego and have family in el centro and brawley. I love exploring out in the desert and this is your entire channel! Love it man!

[berndk.]

Borrego Springs is actually one of my personal favorites among all places in Californie. I've spent many days hiking up to the palm paradises, hanging out at the Palm Canyon Resort and other places and I always enjoyed the great food at Carlee's Restaurant, which offers high quality food which noone would seriously expect so far away from San Diego or the Palm Springs areas.
When travelling with visitors who haven't seen the desert, I always choose Highway 22. And the views never fail to blow them away.

[RobinHullBuilds]

Oh boy…

I’ve been fortunate to have travelled to Southern California a few times. My expat, now US citizen, brother moved to California for 2 years and has been there now for nearly 40 years!

The countryside is nothing like we have here in the U.K. Yes, our Lake District and mountains in Wales and the Scottish Highlands are breathtaking, but driving through Southern California and up through the Sierra Nevada mountains is just wonderful.

I love your videos. Fabulous stuff

[janblake]

My first trip on the Truckhaven Trail was in 1957. It was strictly a 4x4 road. We did it with a CJ Jeep.

[bobbysavetheworld]

Love driving this Highway. Good job on the video, I enjoyed it 👍

[SharingtheRoad]

Seems like such a scenic drive! Such a unique landscape to be cruising through! 🚙

[bigdaddy]

Very nice and informative videos. Being an east coast person I love “exploring” the west with these kinds of videos. Keep up the great work and if you ever venture east, I can show you places that are equally as fascinating and beautiful.

[aventuraseneldesiertodecal]

WOW 😣, que hermosos paisajes!!!!👍👍👍New subscriber!!!!

[galardmills]

On the occasional spring when the rain produces a “super bloom, ” both sides of the highway through that portion of the State Park are spectacular!

[jerroldkazynski]

I had a work project near Holtville. Traveling via auto from Fresno area, for variety I took many routes around the Salton Sea. But only a few in the hills and mountains to the west. They're on the list, though! Thanks for another great video trek.

[varminter]

You should check out the Carrizo Scenic Overlook a short distance off McCain Valley Rd. A excellent view from 4000 feet looking east towards El Centro and well beyond. Amazing night time views as well. Nice place to camp back in the day.

[jimschafer]

Another great road trip thanks for the share, great views and content.

[PinInTheAtlas]

Beautiful scenery. Loved the slots. Looking forward to the vids on hellhole and the mine.

[IndridCool]

Don’t know how I missed this video when it was first posted, but glad I saw it now. I’m a desert rat and the views you showed are ones I need to see. Maybe this winter! 👍🏼😎🌵

[alanacragin]

I love the Lyon air museum!! The docents are almost all veterans and are so kind and informative! Whether you’re asking specifics about the planes or vehicles or wars, they are always more than happy to give you a thorough answer as well as share their own personal combat stories. You should sign up for the museum’s email list because a few times a year, they have “open cockpit days” where they allow visitors to climb up inside some of the planes and into the cockpit or gunner positions. The B-25 mentioned in this video is usually on the list for open cockpit days and I have pictures of myself and my 3 year old nephew in every possible location inside that plane.

Great museum to visit and also a great place for events