Pedro Fages Trail

The bronze says Fages discovered the Colorado Desert and the San Joaquin Valley. He was looking for army deserters. On October 29, 1772 he rode east out of San Diego after men who had run from their posts, went up Oriflamme Canyon, through Cajon Pass, around the Mojave and the Central Valley, and fetched up at Mission San Luis Obispo. The route was new to Spain and to nobody else. Every part of it already had people living on it.

What the plaque says

Pedro Fages Trail On October 29, 1772, Colonel Pedro Fages headed east from San Diego searching for army deserters. It was the first entry by Europeans into Oriflamme Canyon. From there, Fages and his men travelled on through Cajon Pass, around the Mojave and the Central Valley, and eventually reached Mission San Luis Obispo. As a result, he discovered the Colorado Desert and the San Joaquin Valley. California Registered Historical Landmark No. 858 Plaque placed by the State Department of Parks and Recreation in cooperation with the San Diego Historical Society, Congress of History and the Native Sons of the Golden West, March 18, 1973.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Anza-Borrego Desert State Park — 16 mi
  Six hundred thousand acres of badlands, slot canyons, and palm oases, and the biggest state park in California.
• Borrego Springs — 21 mi
  A dark-sky town ringed by state park, with 130 metal beasts loose in the desert around it.

More markers nearby

• Box Canyon — 5.9 mi
• San Felipe Valley and Stage Station — 8.2 mi
• Vallecito Stage Depot (Station) — 11 mi
• Chapel of Santa Ysabel (Site of) — 12 mi