Hike The Slot and Borrego Mountain Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, CA

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Jan 26, 2026 — The Slot and Borrego Mountain offer a nice outing to get a taste for the canyons and views of the region. This hike leads through a short, pretty siltstone slot canyon uncreatively called “The Slot” located within Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, just off the side of the road. Any car can make it to the trailhead. There is a self-pay day use fee, and the trailhead gets very crowded, despite its remote location.

A short walk leads down into the head of the narrows. The Slot is cool, but it’s not much different from others like it in the area, though it seems to get a an awful lot of promotion and visitation. There’s an interesting fallen chunk of rock that looms above as you hike underneath, as well as some tightly winding sections. After the short narrows, the canyon opens up.

After, I took the short hike up to Borrego Mountain, which follows a well-beaten trail along a lump in the badlands, then wraps up to just below the high point. Here, I had some difficulty keeping to a trail to gain the summit, so I sort of just beelined up to it.

The photos below of The Slot are from June 2017, Borrego Mountain January 2026.

PEAKS ON HIKE
Elevation (ft) / Prominence (ft)

Peaks on hike

Elevation

Prominence

Borrego Mountain

1207 ft

489 rise

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From the parking area, I hiked along the well-traveled trail just south of the slot.

View down into The Slot from above.

Upper portion of The Slot.

The Slot narrows up.

Gorgeous walls.

Fallen chunk of rock above The Slot.

Walking through the wash for a bit before leaving The Slot.

Onward to Borrego Mountain, seen top right.

View north toward Toro Peak.

Borrego Mountain ahead. A nice trail led basically all the way up to it.

Along the Borrego Mountain Trail.

The trail winds around a bit before reaching the top.

View back. The Slot Trailhead seen far left.

Borrego Mountain summit, view east. Borrego Mountain East Butte seen center.

Borrego Mountain summit, view north. Villager Peak and Rabbit Peak seen center.

Hire me or show me some love!

Hire/refer me as a web developer or send me a few bucks if you find my site useful. I’m not sponsored, so all fees are out-of-pocket and my time preparing trip reports is unpaid. I really appreciate it!