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All the United States California Borrego Springs Fonts Point

Fonts Point

A remote desert lookout offers unparalleled views of the California badlands for those who brave the trek.

Borrego Springs, California

Added By
James Ricci
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Fonts Point   Kevin Speicher/Getty Images
Fonts Point   Kevin Speicher/Getty Images
The view from Font’s Point, facing west.   James Ricci / Atlas Obscura User
Font’s Point   James Ricci / Atlas Obscura User
The way to Font’s Point is not particularly easy.   James Ricci / Atlas Obscura User
Ocotillo near Font’s Point.   James Ricci / Atlas Obscura User
The view from Font’s Point, facing east.   James Ricci / Atlas Obscura User
SR22 entrance   Extreme Road Trip / Atlas Obscura User
  Avoiding Regret
At twilight   Avoiding Regret
Sunrise at Fonts   Extreme Road Trip / Atlas Obscura User
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About

Difficult to get to but worth the trip, Fonts Point, found in the heart of the Borrego Badlands, offers a stunning vista unparalleled in California.

While today the Borrego Badlands are subject to scorching heat and almost no rain, they were once lush and verdant. Here, the ancient Colorado River deposited fresh water into the Gulf of California as it carved out the Grand Canyon, and supported estuaries, grasslands, marshes, and forests. These rich ecosystems supported a variety of marine life, but also horses, giant sloths, camels, bears, big cats, and other ancient charismatic megafauna.

The Colorado River has since migrated (the nearby Salton Sea was created when the river burst its levees) and most of the life it supported has died out. But the ancient remains of the river and the life it supported are still clearly visible. The Borrego Badlands is one of the best places in the world to view sediment from the Pliocene and Pleistocene Epochs, displayed in dramatic canyons eroded away by millennia of wind and flash floods. The landscape is rife with fossilized remains of the flora and fauna that once inhabited the area. The Borrego Badlands offer a lifetime of exploration, but to gaze over it all in a day, perhaps no place is better than Fonts Point.

Father Pedro Font was the official chaplain, observer, and diarist on the de Anza expeditions of 1775-1776. As the expedition passed through the area, Font described the landscape as the “sweepings of the earth.” On the same expedition, he would go on to be the first to map the San Francisco Bay and chose the site for the Mission San Francisco de Asis, all while advocating for improved treatment for Native Americans. Fonts Point is an epic vantage point, worthy of the name of an epic man.

Related Tags

Deserts Panoramas Landscapes Natural Wonders Rivers Nature

Know Before You Go

Font’s Point can only be accessed by a four-mile road of loose sand baked by an unrelenting sun. Only four-wheel drive vehicles are advised, and services to help stranded passengers are few in this remote location. While the location is theoretically accessible by a standard car during a scant few weeks a year (after spring rains), 4WD vehicles are HIGHLY recommended to traverse the loose sand and rough trail. There are also half-day excursions from local businesses that take visitors to the vista point. The best times to go are dusk and during full moons.

Community Contributors

Added By

James Ricci

Edited By

Avoiding Regret, Shiv, Blindcolour, Extreme Road Trip...

  • Avoiding Regret
  • Shiv
  • Blindcolour
  • Extreme Road Trip
  • Michelle Cassidy

Published

June 14, 2017

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Sources
  • http://www.abdnha.org/pages/06_exploring/north/roads/022/fontspoint.htm
  • http://www.desertusa.com/anza_borrego/du-abpbobad.html
  • http://www.visitcalifornia.com/attraction/borrego-badlands-font%E2%80%99s-point
  • http://www.foundsf.org/index.php?title=The_Spanish_Presence_at_Mission_Bay,_1775-1833
  • http://www.sandiegoreader.com/news/2010/sep/29/roam-anza-borrego-fonts-point-best-view-badlands/#
Fonts Point
Fonts Point Dr
Borrego Springs, California, 92004
United States
33.257, -116.233123
Visit Website
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Explore the Destination Guide

Photo of Borrego Springs

Borrego Springs

California

Places 3

Nearby Places

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Borrego Springs, California

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Photo of Borrego Springs

Borrego Springs

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