Desert Highways and Roads Anza-Borrego Desert South Region Dos Cabezas Road

ANZA-BORREGO SOUTH : ROADS Dos Cabezas Road

Photo of the water tank at the old Dos Cabezas Station of the San Diego and Arizona Railway
Dos Cabezas Road

Dos Cabezas was a station on the route of the San Diego-Arizona and Eastern Railway. Its water tower remains today. The name, which means Two Heads, comes from two head-shaped boulders in the Jacumba Mountains about two and a quarter miles across a valley to the southwest. There is a spring at the base of the mountains below these boulders, and it and a nearby campsite both bear the Dos Cabezas name. The mountains, the valley, palm groves, Native American sites, wildflowers, birds, old mines, and the tracks of the old railroad make the area popular with motorists and hikers.

Dos Cabezas Road is one of two roads commonly used to access the area. Deep sand can make the other, Mortero Canyon Road off County Road S-2, difficult for vehicles lacking 4WD. We prefer Dos Cabezas Road, especially in spring when the Wolf's Cholla is in flower. It starts at S-2, four miles north of Ocotillo and four miles south of the San Diego-Imperial county line. For the first mile, it runs south and is also known as EC 119. It then turns into EC 158 which heads westward across Palm Canyon Wash, past the railroad tracks, and many side roads which were once used for railroad maintenance but which can be explored today.

State Park signs greet you at the Imperial-San Diego county line which marks the end of the Yuha Desert and the beginning of Anza-Borrego Desert State Park. A mile later you come to a fork in the road where you have the following options:

1. Follow Dos Cabezas road to the right and continue north beside the tracks. Points of interest include Indian Hill, an abandoned railroad construction camp, and Carrizo Palms.

2. Turn south (left) on a 4WD road. This is a tough drive but a nice hike two miles south to where the railroad tracks curve at some sand dunes and go two miles northeast.

3. Cross the tracks by driving straight ahead over a graded crossing. Among points of interest are Piedras Grandes, Mortero Palms (which can be hiked to Goat Canyon trestle), and Dos Cabezas Spring and campsite.