California Overland

Fun and informative few hours on the Badlands tour. Kids had a blast riding in the open air military vehicle. Got to explore places we could not get to on our own. We all loved taking in the special nature of this land. Very much enjoyed learning the history of this area along with the other ecological tidbits. Joe was very kind and knowledgeable, and helped us develop a deeper appreciation of this unique place. Hoping I get another opportunity to go on their other outings!

I had a wonderful experience!! Amazing views, and the guide was knowledgeable and comfortable to be around (in case you decide to do a private tour like I did) so I felt safe. I learned a lot about the area's history along the way, so I now feel a "connection" to this land. 110% a must do if you are here. Thanks to my guide, Joe and the outfitters there!

Thanks to Mark for an amazing day together exploring Anza Borrego desert, including the wind caves, hawk canyon, seventeen palms oasis and a stunning badlands viewpoint. Highly recommend!

Top notch tour operators and amazing adventures. Very easy to book. 24 hrs phone service to leave messages and callbacks. Worth the time and cost and very knowledgeable.

Absolutely loved this. Joe was our guide and we had 16 people down from San Diego, it was so much fun and informational. Absolutely amazing views

Joe was an amazing tour guide. The three terrain tour was an excellent blend of off road sites. The pacing between sites was great and very family friendly. Joe was also incredibly knowledgeable about the geology, history, and botany of the place and explained it all so well. We’re hoping to come back in the future for one of their stargazing camping tours.

We had a fantastic your with Joe. The scenery was amazing and Joe was incredibly knowledgeable about everything. Our 5 year old son loved it. Highly recommended!

This is a truly, amazing one-of-a-kind experience! Our family booked the private tour with Joe, and it was fantastic. Joe is super knowledgeable about the area, took us to the best spots in this awesome rig, and had fabulous snacks including local grapefruit! He also took great care of the entire group - from providing us water to helping one of the little ones when she got overheated. This tour is 100% worth it, and I cannot recommend this experience enough!

We took a two and a half hour tour with Joe in our rented 4WD. What a nice guy -- he even remained cheerful and upbeat when I hung the car up on a large rock and he had to crawl under to free it. We visited a palm oasis and Vista del Malpais. On our own we'd never had these experiences. Anza Borrego is not a great place to explore on your own if you don't know what you're doing (and I definitely don't). His knowledge and love for the area really shows. If you get a chance to go for a ramble with him, don't pass it up.

We took the 5 hour three terrains excursion in March 2022 with Joe as our guide. We hiked a slot canyon, visited a vast dry lakebed and the grand finale was a very bumpy offroad trip to Vista del Malpais (like California's Grand Canyon) Three terrains tour https://www.californiaoverland.com/holiday/the-perfect-anza-borrego-overview/ The tour included a relaxing lunch stop at the Calcite Mine trailhead, Joe provided chairs and had a cooler with our delicious bagged lunches from a local cafe (included in the price). Joe is an excellent guide, he is very knowledgeable about desert geology, plant life, and history. It was a great adventure we hope to do one of the other tours in 2023. It is a bumpy ride, you need to hang on! And if you have back/spine/accessibility issues ask in advance if the tour is suitable for you. We had a blast!!!!!

You'd be hard pressed to find a kinder, more compassionate soul than Joe Raffetto in any desert. I cannot speak highly enough about Joe (founder and owner of California Overland Desert Excursions) and his outspokenly enthusiastic partner Michael who teamed up IN THEIR OFF TIME to rescue me. Hopelessly marooned in the desert sands mere hours after my arrival in Anza-Borrego Desert State Park (AZB), they towed me back to pavement when the state park officials would have just left me stranded there (too much LIABILITY). Joe showed up in my life at the exact moment of my greatest need, eager to help. When I first met him, I felt like the luckiest guy in all the world. I don't own a 4X4. I don't even have AWD. I showed up driving an economy car, wannabe Subaru, the 2WD old-school Ford station wagon - a true "Sag Wagon" - rear struts mostly collapsed under too much weight... I was way over my head out there. But once I first heard about AZB hundreds of miles into my make-it-up-as-I-go California road trip I knew I couldn't journey all the way there from NW Oregon and turn around. I needed to explore it for myself and experience the primal challenge of driving in the sand... Out of pity for those who show up with 2WD, the park rangers hand out a brochure entitled "The Exciting Triangle Tour," linking the five SAFEST destinations in the entire 600,000 acre park. Stick to this route and you have ZERO percent chance of getting stuck out there. The superlative, emasculating title of this route dared me to stray beyond to test my mettle. I set out to follow it, but discovered that the San Felipe Wash offered a shortcut to an acclaimed slot canyon (it would be the first I'd ever visited), and with the daylight fading fast, I tried my luck. I'd no hope of getting there in time taking the long way via pavement. I breathed in and departed the highway. Grinning, I kept my speed up, knowing I couldn't afford to let my manual transmission drop below second gear; I motored along, heart racing and adrenaline pumping... but managing. For a while, I was looking good. But I met my match in the desert, ignorant to the forces of nature which sculpt this vast, untamable landscape and illiterate to the signs written in the loose and ever-shifting sand... Lines on a map are a poor substitute for knowing what's out in front of you, and I y learned this lesson in earnest (along with several others!) that day in AZB. Five miles up the road, I bogged down hopelessly in a patch of deep sand. With impeccable timing, not two minutes after I've given up any hope of escape that day, Joe Raffetto pulled up alongside me and hopped out to offer help. With a big smile, he introduced himself. After listening thoughtfully to my distraught backstory of being quickly humbled, he replied, "Ahh, a Greenhorn, eh?" - still smiling. Quickly and skillfully Joe brought out his rescue gear, a pair of oversized rugged traction plates and his massive tactical grade tow strap. In minutes he had me free and up on the sandbar. Joe gently recommended I hunker down there for the night and patiently await the new day's light to make my escape back to pavement. But I was a bit embarrassed at my folly and didn't want to be on display all evening for whoever cruised on by... against his instructions and my better judgement, I Tried my luck again. Made it 1.5 miles but still 4 miles out, I hit deep sand and was again marooned. Somehow, miraculously, Joe Raffetto found me - AGAIN - on his way back to the highway at the end of his starlight supper tour. The best of all Good Samaritans, he promised he would return to rescue me in the daylight. Before I had even finished my breakfast the following morning, here comes Joe in his thunderous heavy military truck, with Michael McCormick driving the chase rig, a bright yellow Jeep. Within the hour they had me safely returned to HWY 78, and even invited me to share a cup of coffee with them before kicking me loose. We sit out on the porch in the fresh air, already growing very warm beneath the rising winter sun. I shake my head in awestruck disbelief that the two most capable guys in all the desert just rescued me twice back-to-back and I'm sitting here with them, entranced by their storytelling, safely reunited with the paved road system. The two kindest souls I could have asked for, the immediate answer to my desert prayers for rescue. Joe's parting words: "Stay just this side of misadventure." Their joint rescue that fateful morning - my first full day in the desert - proved to be hands down the most memorable adventure out of all the weeks I spent exploring the Anza-Borrego Desert. I'm stoked to revisit Anza-Borrego and book a tour with this uncommonly down-to-earth, genuine, neighborly, passionate, dedicated, knowledgeable and exuberant team of desert tour guides. I cannot recommend the California Overland crew highly enough. It'll be nothing short of world class.

Five of us booked a 8 hour private tour with Joe. We told him what our interests were and he put together an itinerary that satisfied our requirements. Joe is easy going and put up with our jesting. Anza-Borrego is beautiful but navigating it with a regular AWD vehicle was daunting so I am glad we parked our vehicle and had Joe take us around in his modified van. He made the ride thrilling, especially where the terrain resembled a roller coaster. I liked that he allowed us to roam and adjusted the itinerary on the fly. He took us to places that were less crowded and had great views. I truly believe we had more fun going with Joe than if we had gone by ourselves. If I come back to Anza-Borrego (maybe during the wild flower season), I will definitely book another tour with Joe.

This was our first trip to Anza Borrego, and we are so glad we booked the 5h tour with Mike in mid April 2021. We pretty much had the entire park to ourselves and Mike showed us his favorite places. We walked through the canyon, overviewed the badlands, climbed into a cave and took a deep breath at the playa. Although it hadn't really rained much, we saw plenty of vegetation, and Mike had us smell and taste some interesting desert shrubs. Don't mess up your car and try to do these spots by yourself, California Overland knows what they are doing, so you don't have to worry. We had refreshing cold lemon water throughout the trip, and sandwiches under the palm oasis, it was an amazing Day!

What a perfect way to see the inland trails of Borrego desert. Exciting to drive up the washes and stop for the flowers and views. Charlie our driver knew what he was talking about. Good driver and great naturalist

Joe set everything up last minute was prompt and great with advise on what options for our 2.5 hour excursion would be best given the time. Charlie was amazing at driving, and gave great information that ranged from history to geology to wildlife. We would definitely book again! Who knew this little area In The desert was so rich in history! Thank you Charlie for a great time!

While I didn't get to go on the tour, thank you to Joe for helping to get my jeep Cherokee off the rock that it was high ended on in the dirt road. I might have been there for hours and didn't have a jack. With a group effort from him and his patient guests we were able to get me on my way. Next time I return I will surely go on the tour, which is safer and well worth it from what I hear. I'll be bringing a group in April.

This is our second trip, so my second review. This time we did an overnight camping trip and asked for the astronomy session. We had a great time. Dinner was amazing, and Joe took great care of us. Highly recommend and we will be back for more desert adventures.

If you love adventure, wanna try something new and don't know what else to do in Borrego. This is a must! Joe the owner drove us around. We had our 2yrs old son and he loved it. No problem off roading and hitting bumps. Thanks Joe!

OMG!! You honestly have to come here, if you don't you won't live the full dessert experience!!! My husband and I spent a couple of days in Borrego Springs to celebrate my birthday, we went on a couple of hikes but we have a 2DW vehicle so we weren't able to go to a lot of cool places so we decided to call "California Overland" and they scheduled a private excursion for us. 5 hours in a 4x4 vehicle driving off-road with Michael, who is an amazing person full of energy, knowledge, good vibes and love for the adventure, and he took us to some mind-blowing places. I couldn't have asked for a better birthday present than this! At the end of the day we even got to see the moon rise at Font's Point that was incredibly spectacular that night!

Michael gave us a great introduction to the geography and natural history of ABDSP with a fun jeep tour. We plan to come back for the celestial over night camping trip.

My wife and I had a great tour with Joe on our 2-1/2 hour CJ-7 excursion. I let Jenny ride shotgun as it was her first time off road and I knew it would be more comfortable. I'm 5'11", 180 lbs and was comfortable in the back seat. Joe took us on a very informative and interesting tour to Clark Dry Lake, the Badlands, a small mud cave, an overlook of the Badlands and a fun off road trail (Tumbleweed?) back to our hotel. Joe has spent a few decades in the park and has wide knowledge of the flora, fauna and geology of the park. Being a bit of a wildlife, plant and geology nerd, I really enjoyed learning about the formation of the defining features of the park. We had a great morning and we'd love to take a longer excursion with more off road excitement. I highly recommend this tour to anyone looking to explore Anza Borrego State Park in an off road excursion.

Phenomenal tour led by Mike. We opted to do the 5-hour private desert experience. The entire tour was great. Mike is extremely knowledgeable as well as fun. He added great insight to the things we saw and experienced. I highly recommend this tour and tour company to anyone visiting Anza-Borrego Desert State Park.

What a great tour! Spent three hours seeing the beautiful Anza-Borrego Desert with our expert guide Tony. Learned so much about the geology, wildlife, vegetation, and activities around the area. The views of the mountains and canyons were breathtaking. Our guide was very personable and knowledgeable. I highly recommend doing a tour with these guys to get a good overview before exploring on your own.

We had an amazing 5 hour tour with our guide, Joe. He explained how the terrain developed, the plant and animal life in the area and so much more. We traversed some fun, rugged terrain, hiked to a beautiful river and ate lunch at a beautiful oasis. The tour far exceeded our expectations. Would definitely go again!!

My sister and my niece and I got a great 2 1/2 hour tour of the wildflowers, the badlands, and the mud caves today from Charlie. It was a great experience. We saw things we never expected to see. Charlie was interesting and informative and took great care of us. I highly recommend this tour to anyone interested in seeing what's off the main roads.

Joe, owner of California Overland Desert Excursions, took my boys and I out in his old Kaiser Jeep (our choice over the van with AC) for a five hour tour. We traveled to a dry lake bed, slot canyon for a hike, cave visit, ate provided lunch with palm trees and finished with a view of all. We traveled over all terrain from rocky roads to smooth sand. This is a great way to see this corner of the large state park.

We were there last Thursday and Joe the owner took us for the 2.5 hr tour. We had a super nice walk in a tiny canyon and a great tour with the jeep. This group is super organised with plenty of water, snaks and a satelite phone and a radio so any emergency if ever happens can be faced properly. The knowledge of Joe on the desert is incredible and made us enjoy all the time there. We are planning to be back next year a bit earlier (end of June is low season because really hot 108-110F) and do a one night out sleeping in the desert ( I would not trust another group and less do it alone) and the 5 hr tour with more hiking. Thanks again for the experience.

Made my day-week-year- and my 75 Birthday!! Being a native Californian I had no idea what I had missed for the past 75 years. I know the back country in the Mammoth area-Anza Borrego far surpassed our expectations due to Joe and Company knowledge of the area including where to have great food and ambiance after the tour. I wish I had a "job" like Joe's - people pay you to have fun. If you do not take this tour you are "nuts"!! In fact we took two. My wife learned to love the ladder. We'll be back

We had a marvelous adventure on 4/5/19, a 2-1/2 hour private tour to Coyote Canyon in Anza-Borrego, bouncing along in a Jeep CJ7 with Michael, a most excellent guide and person. We saw rugged landscapes, wildflowers, blooming cacti, Ocotillo, and dramatic weather - and forded a couple of creeks. Would love to go again.

Awesome, knowledgeable guide to match the astounding beauty of Anza Borrego. The wife and I trekked out with Joe for a five-hour private tour. Really enjoyed the pristine beauty of the sites such as Clark Dry Lake, Truckhaven trail with stop at palm oasis for lunch, Malpais Del vista, and the Slot Canyon. Without giving too much away, the view of the Badlands from Malpais is breath taking. Our guide Joe and his knowledgeable commentary really brought to life the secrets of this natural environment. He didn't over do it on the talking, just added enough info for appreciation but allowed us to take in our surroundings in silence.

Wonderful tour and exciting adventures seeing areas of the dessert we never knew existed. Highly recommend!

We took an air conditioned van for 2 couples and 2 doggies on a 1/2 day guided tour of Anza Borrego state park. We absolutely loved our guide, Mark Thompson, who's a retired science teacher, friendly, and fun and a great driver over the very rugged desert landscape. Can't recommend this tour enough to get a solid overview of the park's natural wonders.

Ok, part 2 of our 1st trip to Anza Borrego; our evening tag along with the overnight campers. WOW! I don't think my husband and I have ever camped together in 30 years and I wanted to do the overnight but he didn't. This was the next best thing. Joe and his team takes care of everything, the tents, tables, food, bathroom arrangements , astronomer, and more. Thank you Joe, you are a gracious, kind and entertaining host! We loved it all, even the bug hunt. We will come back and definitely recommend CODE! We may even get to spend the night. Thank Al, the food was great. You guys really do a nice job. Joe, thank you for working us in for Sunday night, we really enjoyed everything. This will be a special memory for us. You guys are awesome and very nice too!

What a great time we all had on this tour of an amazing place. We went thru the slot canyon and fish creek wash and then finally a short fun hike to the wind caves and an amazing view of the elephant knee shaped canyon walls in the distant. Joe stopped occasionally to give us interesting facts on vegetation and the geology. Sure you can do this on your own but you will miss so much of the knowledge of the location. Let Joe be your ultimate guide. Thanks Joe! A real blast!

Joe was awesome! We booked the 2.5 hour tour and definitely got our money's worth. He was flexible, knowledgeable, kind and our 4 families loved the adventure!

Big shout it to the guys of California Overland Desert Excursions Mike Joseph and Dave they were life savers on Saturday when our truck got stuck in the mud they pulled us out no questions ask amazing human being thank you so much can't wait to go on a tour with them and thank you again Geno+Stephanie

I took the 5 hour trip with a group of friends. Joe was our guide. There's not one bad thing to say. He was more than accommodating, he listened to our check list and showed us all that we hoped for. He was a true delight to spend those 5 hours with. He showed us so much beauty and was a wealth of knowledge about the area. The lunch that was provided was perfect and eating it in the area WE chose was just awesome. Don't hesitate to book this tour.

My wife and I joined our guide Joe and 8 other guests for a 2 1/2 hour off road excursion last Wednesday, 3/22/17. This trip was to view the amazing super bloom of flowers. We stopped twice for short hikes (easy). Joe knew the name of every flower we found - and some useful background about each. The off road van was easy to travel in. We cannot say enough nice about this excursion! Roger/Diana

One trip with these guys and you'll never look at the desert the same way again! Michael McCormick was our guide and his enthusiasm and love of the desert is contagious. In a 2 1/2 hour private tour we took a hike in amazing canyons and saw the raw beauty of the 'bad lands'. We saw many unique desert plants and cool wildlife. At the end of our tour a peregrine falcon gave us a show of his flying skills. A tour with these guys really gives you a deep appreciation of the desert, we'll definitely be back!

Wonderful tour, I learned so much about the Anza Borrego desert. Tour is well organized and very informative on flora and geological subjects. Love the hikes, nothing strenuous.

My partner and I had a wonderful time with Michael as our guide for a private 2.5 hour tour (he actually gave us 3). We went to three unusual and distinctly different places that can only be accessed with a 4-wheel-drive vehicle. We went for a hike in Smoketree Canyon, then Fonts Point (amazing view of the Badlands from there - never seen anything like it) and finally, the dry Clark's lakebed. All three were fascinating places to see. Michael was extremely accommodating and also very knowledgeable about the history and the plants etc. that we were seeing. He brought along ice lemon water, energy bars, string cheese and other snacks for us to enjoy along the way. We learned toward the end of our excursion that Michael has a B.A. and M.A. in music from USC, is a classical guitarist, and had lived as a performer in Paris for six years! All in all our experience exceeded our expectations.

Great afternoon in the desert with Michael. We're already planning to take another tour the next time we visit beautiful Borrego Springs.

We booked a private tour with Wade and it was great! Be aware the Anza Borrego State Park has NO street signs and NO cell service for most of this huge park. If you breakdown or get lost you are out of luck!!! These folks know the desert like the back of their hands, are in communication with each other, Rangers, Sheriffs so this is the only safe way to tour the desert plus they can tell you so much more than a simple map can. They only thing I wish is that we booked another couple of tours because the park is so vast booking only one was not enough

We had a totally amazing desert experience out with our tour guide, Wade! The five hour tour was not too much and we got to experience the gorgeous wildflowers, slot canyons, the badlands, and beautiful vistas around the Borrego Springs area. The landscape is incredibly breathtaking and Wade was a phenomenal storyteller detailing history of the area as well as his knowledge of the flowers and wildlife which roam these parts. Transportation is super fun, like 4 wheeling on steroids! The ride is in a hefty 1967 Vietnam open air jeep. Thank you so much for an experience of a lifetime! Me and my mom took exquisite photos of many spectacular moments. Posting some below~Highly recommend.

My daughter and I took a private Jeep tour at the end of June for her birthday and had the best time!! Our tour guide Michael worked with us to plan a course which was ideal, since it was our first visit to the Anza Borrego desert area. He was was super knowledgeable and made our trip interesting, fun and safe. And they have nice perks like iced lemon water (on a hot day) and some snacks. I highly recommend California Overland tours and be sure to ask for Michael if he's available!

If you are visiting San Diego, you need to go to Borrego Springs. It is an out of this world landscape less than 2 hours away, full of interesting wildlife and history. The one problem with Borrego Springs is it can be hard for the average person to reach a lot of it because much of the best parts are way off the beaten path, and require both equipment (a proper vehicle to handle heavy off-road traveling) and experience. Joe and California Overland Desert Excursions give you full access to the whole of Borrego Springs, and allow you to see things that almost no one else gets to see. I've now been on two of his tours (group tour and private tour), and it is a must-do experience. Not only is he a great guy, but he is extremely knowledgeable on every little detail about the area and makes even the most minor of things fun. He knows every place to take an unforgettable picture. He'll have you tasting actual desert plants. And he makes sure everything feels like an adventure. The pricing is quite reasonable, and the private tours are more than worth the extra cost. I heard that it can get a little crowded on peak season, but every other season is beautiful and has something to offer, so don't limit yourself to just one specific "best" time. Go get yourself to the desert!

A wonderful way to become familiarized with the topography and history of the Borrego Springs area! Our tour guide, Tony, was extremely knowledgeable about desert plant life and took us to a mud cave and slot canyon. So incredible! Tony was also very patient and really engaged our 13 year old son, Julian. The 2.5 hour Badlands Tour was a great intro to this magnificent area. Highly recommend to all visitors to Borrego Springs! Thanks for a memorable tour, Tony.

My husband and I had a wonderful excursion with Candace and Michael. They explained the history, plant life and identified birds we saw. The hikes (Smoketree Canyon) and vistas (The Badlands) they took us to were wonderful. The lunch at 17 Palms oasis was enjoyable. The lemon water provided for hydration and brownie for dessert were enhancing touches. We would do the excursion again because there are additional places to go and we aren't equipped with a 4 wheel drive/high clearance car nor do we feel we would be able to navigate the trails on our own. Clearly our guides knowledge of the park and their friendly and educational focus made the trip one of the best excursions we have been on. If you have never been to Anza-Borrego Desert State Park before, this will give you a great overview and understanding of the area.

Scheduled an afternoon desert excursion about 48 hours in advance. Left a message and Joe called me right back 10 mins later. It was myself and my teenage daughter and it was a great almost 5 hours with an afternoon lunch after a short hike in an off road canyon. The weather was gorgeous. Joe was super knowledgeable about everything in the desert, from bushes and shrubs to wildlife. It was a great history lesson about the area throughout the entire trip. We rode out in a converted army truck, very comfortable with natural air conditioning, there were 10 of us. We did a couple of short hikes, one a little more strenuous than the other, say a 2 rating on a 1-5 scale. Nothing even the average person can't handle. Would definitely recommend booking with this team if you are anywhere near the area

The waiting room is way funky, and the bathroom is less than basic. The snacks were very basic, tho adequate, and had some variety. It was all individually prepackaged food, likely from Costco, like grain bars crackers with some apples and oranges. We did like the tour as we got to some out of the way places and the tour leader was pretty knowledgeable about wildflowers.

if you can budget it in, California Overland Desert Excursion is a must if you're planning on visiting the desert paradise that is Anza-Borrego State Park. From a practical standpoint, it may also be one of your only options to fully experience the park since many of the park's highlights (Font's Point, Elephant Knees, Mud Caves) literally aren't accessible unless you have access to a 4 wheel drive (or higher) vehicle. California Overland Desert Excursions offer various tours of the park ranging in time span and price. They also offer customizable private tours if you arrange it enough time in advance. (As an aside, the park is HUGE. It's the largest state park in the state and one of the largest in the country so you really do need to be strategic with your time and the sites in the park that you want to see). We opted for a 3 hour tour of the badlands. We took the tour with about 10 other people in a large camouflaged military truck that you would see on a convey along the highway which had us all feeling like we had been drafted into the army in a fun way. As beautiful as the park was, (we saw formations that made you feel like you were on a different planet!!!) the reason the experience was so enjoyable was because of Joe, the owner who happened to lead our tour this day. One of the nicest guys you'll ever meet, Joe was a pleasure to deal with from the very start as he answered my initial call inquiring about the various tours and options. He was patient and friendly throughout the call and took time to explain what options might work best for us given our constraints. His pleasant nature was what sealed the deal for us in booking our tour. And his knowledge of the park once on the tour was extensive. You can tell this is a man who loves what he does! If we ever get the chance to return to Anza-Borrego Park, taking another tour with California Overland Desert Excursions is a given for us!

We seriously had the best time with Joe on our tour! He was such a gracious tour guide and was such a wealth of knowledge about Anza Borrego State Park as well as all of the surrounding areas. We loved learning and hearing about the history behind the sites we visited and how they came to be. Everything was so beautiful, from the Badlands to the slot canyon, we enjoyed every minute! It was also really nice to sit and have lunch with our entire group and just learn a little bit about each other. This is such an awesome way to explore the Anza Borrego State Park, and I would highly recommend it! My husband and I will definitely be back for the Sunset-to-Moonlight tour! Thank you so much Joe for an amazing day!

Wonderful tour! Our tour guide was Joe(owner) and he was super knowledgeable! The tour we took was the 5hr tour. Well worth the money! It would be best to bring some tennis shoes with good soles to grip on the short hike you take. On this tour you will see slot canyons, faults, rock creations, sandstone, plant life, and a dry lake bed. If you have an extra day in San Diego this is a great excursion! Even if you only have a half day Anza Borrego with Overland Tours is worth it!

We had such a great time with Joe the owner on the evening night sky tour. It was great company, very relaxing and we learned a lot about the area and heard some very entertaining stories. Amazing stargazing and got to see the Milky Way. Dinner and snacks were very good and the jeep ride was tons of fun. I would definitely recommend this off the beaten path adventure and want to say thanks to Joe for the experience, we really enjoyed ourselves, even my 15 year old loved it!

We recently worked with California Overland for a few days on a independent film shoot in Anza-Borrego, and we can't recommend Joe and his drivers more highly. The 10-Wheeler, along with their expert knowledge of the area, really made the landscape more navigable and the overall experience considerably easier. When you're shooting long days in the summer heat, you want to leave as few things as possible to chance. They helped us find interesting pockets of the state park, and their level of professionalism was always top-notch. Also, it's pretty awesome to ride through the desert on one of these trucks. Whether you're a filmmaker or a tourist, we highly recommend working with California Overland to make the most out of your time in Borrego Springs. Happy trails!

This is a great way to see some of the best and most unusual highlights of Borrego - without the worry of getting stuck in the sand. Our tour included a short walk through a small slot canyon, a walk on a dry lake bed, and a visit to Font's Point to trip out over the Badlands. Loved it - and so did the two kids! Fabulous photo ops. I only wish I had paid more attention to the stops so that I could treat visiting friends to some of the sights (in our own personal Jeep!).

We took our 3.5 year old Jr. Explorer ona trip and he loved every minute. Our little man kept up on the hikes, handled the bumpy roads, and was quiet when our guide was teaching us. I would not necessarily recommend this for ANY preschooler. Joe is a wonderful man. He remembered our names from our first trip with him and details about our life--I thought that was amazingly sweet! He worked with us to determine what we wanted to see--no cookie cutter, tour-by-number deals here.