Desert ride to see the metal giants

[SoCal250]

Yesterday I jumped on the trusty FZ and headed out at 8am to meet up with my friend John on his BMW R9T Racer in Fountain Valley for a day-ride adventure to the desert.


We headed south on the 405 through morning rush hour traffic, then merged onto the 5-South and crossed into San Diego County. Just after Camp Pendleton we headed east on the 76 from Oceanside toward the town of Pala. Highway 76 was just recently paved and the winding country road is smooth as glass and a total blast to ride. Traffic was light since it was Thursday.
After passing Lake Henshaw we turned north on the 79 and then hung a right onto San Felipe Road and then Montezuma Valley Road over the mountains and down into the valley and the town of Borrego Springs. That whole section of the ride was awesome riding (from 76 all the way through Montezuma Valley Rd) with lots of twists and turns and great scenery.

Montezuma Valley Rd. between Ranchita and Borrego Springs




Our reason for the trek was to see the large metal sculptures (there are 130 in total) that are scattered around the area. Prior to the trip I made of list of the best ones to see and easiest to access so we could get in as many as possible in our limited time out there. The Galleta Meadows sculptures, known as Sky Art, were created by artist Ricardo Breceda. They were commissioned by Dennis Avery (heir to the Avery label fortune, who died in 2012) on land he owned in the area.

We decided to split our visit in two parts. Before grabbing lunch we visited a few of the sculptures south of town. Most of them are fairly close to the road but we had to do a little off-roading on our street bikes to get to them.

Aiolornis with peccary.


The detail in these things is incredible!




The Saberwolf




After a delicious lunch at a place called Red Ocotillo, we headed north of town to see some of the others we had on our list. If you're ever in the area I highly recommend Red Ocotillo, which is right in the center of town on the traffic circle. The food was great.





And the best one of the collection (and the most famous) is the serpent, which is actually in several pieces and stretches on both sides of Borrego Springs Rd, making it appear as if it's diving under the pavement. It's 350 feet long!




It was an awesome day! The round trip ended up being exactly 300 miles and a very long day. The last couple hours was in the dark, and I arrived back home about 7:30pm.  (Note to self: next time don't wear a dark tinted shield for an all-day trip or at least pack a second clear one.)

[RDryan]

Wow where to begin?...That's an amazing day trip and those sculptures and that area. Just awesome. I would love to ride my Superduke 1290GT out there, I bet it would feel right at home on those roads. Looks kinda surreal, nothing like that where I live and that kinda depresses me. I know I would be pretty bummed if I got stuck in the dark with a tinted windscreen. I actually stick with the clear one and wear sun glasses. Be safe riding. 

[85RZwade]

looks like a great day

[BlueR32]

I rode that Montezuma Valley Road to Borrego Springs last January! A friend of mine & I decided on a last-minute first ride of 2025 and flew into SD. We rented a pair of bikes on Rider's Share, he got a Triumph Tiger 900 and I got an Aprilia Tuono 660. We rode from SD north toward Escondido then east to Mt Palomar and overnighted in Borrego Springs. Next day we continued to Salton Sea then north up through Joshua Tree NP and back west to Palm Desert. The last day we rode from Palm Desert over the mountains to Idyllwild (where it snowed!), north to Banning then back down to Julian for lunch and last night in SD. A memorable ride through stunning scenery!

[Simmons1]

Those sculptures are magnificent. Thanks for sharing.

[paul1478]

I have never heard about these. Super cool. thanks for sharing.