1. From 4895 CA-78, Borrego Springs, CA 92004, take the dirt road marked Buttes Pass north for 1.8 miles to get to the trailhead on your right. The initial climb down into the canyon is steep, but once you're down there it is almost flat. This is a short but spectacular trail! The trail is sandy, unique, and easy for all skill levels.
2. The slot canyon is a beautiful natural formation nestled in the heart of the Anza Borrego State Park, about an hour and a half East of San Diego. The park has no fees to enter, thousands of miles to explore and off road on and has unique areas such as the palm tree oasis of Hellhole Canyon, abandoned mines and the slot canyon itself.
3. The Slot, Borrego Mountain Wash, Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, Borrego Springs, CA 92004. I typed in The Slot, San Diego County, CA in Google maps and it came up without any issues. We were able to find the turn off for the road at the end of the driving directions on the Google maps based on eyeing the GPS locator. The Trail: Kayla enjoying.

The Slot is a 2.3 mile heavily trafficked loop trail located near Borrego Springs, California that features beautiful wild flowers and is rated as moderate. The trail is primarily used for hiking and is best used from September until May. Length 2.3 miElevation gain 301 ftRoute type Loop. The slot canyon starts a few feet from the parking lot and gets quite narrow, then opens up a bit to be more of a normal canyon.

The Slot Trail in Anza-Borrego Desert State Park is a short but very enjoyable hike.

Essentially named The Slot, this thin siltstone gulch gives a standout amongst the most energizing climbs in Anza-Borrego Desert State Park. This 0.8-mile trek is topped off with an entry underneath a gravity-challenging rock traverse. This short climb has only 100 feet of height misfortune, yet the memory will be considerably more significant.

The Slot lacks a defined trail marker. From the parking area, look for footprints leading down into the ravine below. Left of the trailhead, just to the right of a dirt road continuing east, is a wide path that appears to descend into the canyon. This is not the way. The winding trail cliffs out above dry falls in a side canyon above The Slot. The correct route is the narrow steep-looking trail that drops right off the rim of the ravine, straight ahead from the parking area.

Gradually slide into the trench. The trail is steep, however not so steep as it looks from above, dropping under fifty feet. There are not any more optical dreams from here, simply eye-popping normal miracles.

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Turn left and venture down to The Slot. The siltstone walls grow taller and closer together. A tenth of a mile from the start, the canyon becomes quite narrow. Hopefully, you did not eat a big breakfast, because you will need to squeeze through course walls that are shoulder width apart, and less in places.

The shaded slot provides cool relief from the desert above. Progress through the narrows for 0.3 miles to the highlight of the trek, a slanted rock slab bridging a narrow gap in the canyon. This scepter-shaped block appears to have broken off one wall and come to a comfortable resting place between the two. The precarious feature could fall at any moment, but it remains lodged overhead, trapped in some loophole of the earth’s gravitational pull.

Not far below, the canyon widens, and the trail meets the top of a jeep road. One option is to walk down this road a ways to a junction and turn left to loop back to the start, adding over a mile to the hike. It is probably better to turn around when you meet the road and hike back up through the slot. The trail is enjoyable a second time (and several times more).

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To the north of the parking area, a trail ascends to the 1,207-foot summit of West Butte in the Borrego Mountains. From the summit, one can hike west along a ridge to the dirt road below The Slot and return to the trailhead through the canyon for a 3.5-mile loop. No fee or permit is required to hike The Slot in Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, so get out and enjoy!

To get to the trailhead: From Christmas Circle in Borrego Springs, drive 11.5 miles southeast on Borrego Springs Road. Turn left on Route 78 East, drive 1.5 miles, and turn left (north) on a dirt road marked Buttes Pass. Drive one mile up this dirt road to a fork, and continue to the left-up Borrego Mountain Wash. Go another mile to the parking area for The Slot. Low clearance vehicles should be able to drive all the way to the trailhead at the end of the sandy dirt road.

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Trailhead address: Borrego Mountain Wash, Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, Borrego Springs, CA 92004

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Trailhead coordinates: 33.18213, -116.21417 (33° 10′ 55.7″N 116° 12′ 51″W)