Volunteers and Partners Retrace 250 Years of History on the Anza Trail

On June 6, a group of adventurers joined BLM for a full-day journey through the Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains National Monument — 34 miles of trail, history, and public lands all in one celebration of America's 250th anniversary.

Participants traveled from Palm Desert to Anza, tracing a stretch of the historic Juan Bautista de Anza expedition — a 1,200-mile route from Sonora, Mexico to San Francisco completed 250 years ago. The group even drove through a portion of the Bautista Creek Wild & Scenic River, where Anza himself once passed. Along the way, four trails were covered in a single outing: the Ed Hastey Garden Trail, Wilderness Loop Trail, Pacific Crest National Scenic Trail, and Juan Bautista de Anza National Historic Trail.

The day also honored National Trails Day, the Anza 250 and Forests 250 commemorations, and the Monument's own 25th anniversary year — a fitting reminder of how much history lives on our public lands.

A big thank you to our partners at the U.S. Forest Service and Friends of the Desert Mountains, whose staff and volunteers made this collaboration possible. Each participant received a Forests 250 challenge coin as a pledge to get involved and give back to the public lands they love.

 

Learn more about the Juan Bautista de Anza National Historic Trail.