Santa Catarina

Anza named this spring on March 14, 1774, opening the trail, and came back with the colonists twenty-one months later. The distinction matters because the two trips were different animals. In 1774 he was proving a route with a light party. In December 1775 he had 240 people and more than 800 head of stock behind him, and they had just crossed a desert where the wells ran dry. Coyote Creek runs here, in Ivilyuqaletem country, and that is the whole reason for the camp.

What the plaque says

Santa Catarina This spring area was named by Captain Juan Bautista de Anza when his overland exploration party camped here on March 14, 1774, during the opening of the Anza Trail from Sonora into Alta California. Anza's colonizing expedition of 1775, consisting of 240 persons and over 800 head of livestock, camped here the night of December 23. California Registered Historical Landmark No. 785 Plaque placed by the California State Park Commission in cooperation with the Squibob Chapter, E Clampus Vitus, April 20, 1963.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Borrego Springs — 9.4 mi
  A dark-sky town ringed by state park, with 130 metal beasts loose in the desert around it.
• Anza-Borrego Desert State Park — 21 mi
  Six hundred thousand acres of badlands, slot canyons, and palm oases, and the biggest state park in California.

More markers nearby

• Peg Leg Smith Monument — 9.8 mi
• Site of De Anza Camp, March 1774 — 13 mi
• San Gregorio — 14 mi
• Warner's Ranch — 16 mi