Longboarding Yaqui Pass - The Lost Longboarder

Spending the winter season in the desert has plenty of benefits like great weather, sunshine, no snow, and plenty of time to longboard! While we were in Anza Borrego State Park I had the opportunity to longboard all over the desert.

Before longboarding down Yaqui Pass, the first hill that I longboarded in Anza was a part of the S-22 road. It was close to Arroyo Salado Campground. To read about that hill and see some of the pictures click right HERE.

This was a fun hill to start my desert longboarding on, but the other hills are more exciting.

Longboarding Yaqui Pass Road

The largest hill that I skated in Anza Borrego State Park was on the S-3 near Yaqui Pass Campground. The S-3 road is also called Yaqui Pass Road. This road probably has the largest hill in the park. And from the pass you can head north downhill or south downhill.

I boarded down the north side of the hill. This is a 16 mile downhill run with some long stretches of straightaway. The beginning of the run is more exciting with a couple soft blind curves followed by some more soft gradual curves.

The long sections of uninterrupted straightaways are great for practicing power slides and longboard dance moves. I really enjoy carving a lot when I ride, so there were plenty of opportunities to carve over the entire road.

It is easier to board at high speeds if you know you can slow down, or stop if you need. To do this, I like using my slide gloves. With my slide gloves I have the confidence to go faster because I know I can slow down if I need. I wore my slide gloves going down this hill and had plenty of opportunities to use them.

A Quick Run Down On Slide Gloves

There are many options, brands, styles of slide gloves. If you’re not familiar with slide gloves it can be easy to get overwhelmed with all the options. Each rider has their own personal preferences. Since you’re reading my blog, I’ll tell you what I like and why.

The main feature in slide gloves is the ‘puck’ which is a piece of plastic attached to the palm of the glove. This puck is usually attached with velcro, so you can remove or replace the puck when it gets worn out. When your hands make contact with the ground during a slide, this is what touches the ground. The hard plastic allows you to slide across the pavement.

From my experiences with sliding, it is inevitable that your fingers will scrape across the pavement as well. Because of this, I prefer slide gloves that have finger pucks too. When it comes to buying anything, I try to save money. And I won’t buy something just because of the brand name. So, here is my recommendation for slide gloves.

These gloves have the palm and the finger pucks, as well as some added knuckle protection, and most importantly, they are a good price.

Andux Land Slide Gloves $23.99

Finishing Up the Yaqui Pass Run

When I boarded Yaqui Pass in Anza Borrego the traffic was pretty minimal. I saw maybe only 1 or 2 cars which surprised me because this run was over 15 miles. The road is pretty smooth, and with a run this long, there is plenty of beauty to see. While skating this hill I was surrounded by the vast desert and mountains. If you get the opportunity to skate here, be sure to appreciate your surroundings.

The last mile of this run got pretty rough. Once I got to the stop sign at Borrego Springs Road, I turned left. Here the road gets a bit bumpy and levels out so there’s a lot of kicking involved to get to town.

From here the road eventually starts to go slightly downhill again and you can cruise all the way to Christmas Circle which is a little grassy park with free wifi in the middle of the town. While you skate to town, you can see some of the animal sculptures that are scattered around Borrego Springs. Here is one of the sculptures.. I’m not totally sure what it is.. it’s kind of a fuzzy T-rex, but I think it might be a giant ground sloth. Anyway, there are a bunch of these cool sculptures around town, so keep your eye out!

Like I said earlier, I skated downhill going north from the pass but you can also go downhill south from the pass. The south side of the run is much more extreme with very steep grades and sharp blind curves. I would recommend this run only to someone who is very skilled at longboarding. Here are a few pictures of the road going south.

Yaqui Wells Primitive Campground

If you’re staying in the park and are interested in cruising this hill, I would recommend staying at Yaqui Wells Primitive Campground. This campground is just a short drive away from the top of the hill, or Yaqui Pass. The road into the campground is sandy and some spots are deep soft sand but there are numerous pull offs with sand that is more hard packed and of varying sizes for camping. There is also a vault toilet available here.

One of the main things we liked about staying at Yaqui Wells Campground was the proximity to a few trails such as the informative and beautiful Cactus Loop Trail and the Yaqui Well Nature Trail. Both of these are interpretive trails and you don’t even need to drive to get to the trailheads! Also, Quartz Vein Wash and Narrows Earth Trail are nearby as well, about 5 miles. And of course, the proximity to this great longboarding hill.

Another perk for us during our stay at Yaqui Well Campground was that it was not too busy and we had plenty of space and privacy at the spot that we chose. Most people tended to congregate near the restroom. You could hear some traffic on the road here though.

Thanks for Reading!

If you’d like to see the first hill that we skated in Anza Borrego State Park, click HERE. If you enjoy hiking, climbing, and adventure, Anza Borrego is a great place to do that and explore the desert. We explored the Calcite Mine and climbed in the Palm Canyons. We also found a bunch of Bighorn Sheep on the side of a cliff in the Quartz Vein Wash. You can see cool pictures of them HERE.

For more information on planning an Anza Borrego Camping trip check out this article! And if you have any questions or comments about longboarding or hiking in Anza Borrego State Park please leave them in the comment section below. Thanks for your support of The Lost Longboarder! If you’d like to support us a bit more, please feel free to pick up some handcrafted longboarding gear at our Lost Coast Longboarding Shop!