Desert Tower

The Desert Tower is a bizarre rock structure overlooking Interstate 8 at Jacumba. It was built by Bert Vaughn, former owner of the town of Jacumba back in 1922 to commemorate the pioneers who traveled that way to San Diego. I guess he had a warm spot for those people.

When you consider the extreme deserts that surround San Diego County you can appreciate the hardship these people went through. Those who traveled by way of Jacumba had to ascend a mountain range completely covered in house sized boulders with no water and high temperatures. They would be coming from southern most path through the Imperial Valley. But these pioneers still had it better than those taking the Immigrant Trail or Anza Trail through the Anza-Borrego Desert.

I've only been here once though I've passed it many times. Only after reading about it several times in the newspaper over the years did I get it into my head to pay it a visit. We were passing it at the tail end of a long day trip around the county when I decided to stop. I guessed and took the In-ko-pah Park Road and hung a hard right. After about a half mile there it was.

The entrance fee is nominal at a couple bucks each. On the ground floor is the front desk, a pack of wandering dogs and a mish mash of curios for sale. On the walls and in display cases are odd artifacts which I guess is someone’s idea of a museum. Up the middle is a set of stairs leading up three levels to the viewing platform with open windows for a 360-degree view of the incredible backcountry of San Diego.

The area surrounding the tower has trails into the hills and rock carvings. Talk about rock art. Back in the 1930's a man named W.T. Ratcliff carved granite stones into the image of animal creatures. The kids loved running around the hillside and making discoveries.