Box Canyon Historic Landmark and Hike

California Historical Landmark 472
Box Canyon
Great Southern Overland Stage Route
Anza-Borego Desert State Park

How to get there - just off Highway S2 at Mile 26.3 (approximately 8.9 mikes south of Scissors Crossing)

Box Canyon - The old road, known as the Sonora, Colorado River, or Southern Emigrant Trail and later as the Butterfield Overland Mail Route, traversed Box Canyon just east of here. On January 19, 1847, the Mormon Battalion under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Philip St. G. Cooke, using hand tools, hewed a passage through the rocky walls of the narrow gorge for their wagons and opened the first road into Southern California. Citation from California Office of Historic Preservation

The Hike - 1.5 miles, one way. Fairly easy. Follow the sign for California Riding and Hiking Trail west as it parallels S2. After .3 of a nile the trail enters the canyon. Look for paw prints I the sand, desert lizards, and birds along with juniper, catcall, creosote, yucca and cholla. The trail is not a loop. You return on the trail the same way you came.  

For additional information and photos please visit HERE.