Desert View Tower
- Admission
- $6.50 for adults, $3.50 for children
- Hours
- Daily from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM
- Duration
- 45 to 90 minutes
- Parking
- Free gravel parking lot directly in front of the tower.
- Access
- The ground floor and gift shop are accessible, but the upper floors of the tower and the boulder park are not wheelchair accessible.
Built in the 1920s, this five-story stone castle offers panoramic views spanning the Imperial Valley to Mexico. Inside, a vintage museum displays quirky desert relics, while the surrounding boulder fields hide bizarre stone creatures carved during the Great Depression. It is a wonderfully strange slice of California roadside history.
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Constructed between 1922 and 1928 by Bert Vaughn, the Desert View Tower stands as a rugged monument to the early days of desert road trips. Rising seventy feet above the rocky In-Ko-Pah Gorge, the stone structure was originally built to honor the pioneers who braved the harsh desert crossing.
Inside, visitors can climb the spiral staircase to the observation deck for breathtaking views that stretch to the Salton Sea. The lower floors house a quirky museum packed with historical artifacts, vintage photographs, and eclectic Americana.
Adjacent to the tower lies Boulder Park, a whimsical landscape of massive granite boulders. During the 1930s, an out-of-work engineer carved these rocks into a menagerie of stone monsters, lizards, and skulls that visitors can still scramble over today.
Ratings
roadside attraction◆ Visitor Tips
- ◆ Climb all the way to the top deck of the tower for the best panoramic photos.
- ◆ Allocate extra time to explore the stone carvings in Boulder Park right next door.
- ◆ Bring cash, as card readers can sometimes be finicky in this remote area.
- ◆ Check out the gift shop for unique, locally crafted souvenirs and desert kitsch.
Heads Up
- ◆ Watch your step in Boulder Park, as scrambling over the rocks can be slippery and there are steep drops.
- ◆ The area is prone to extreme desert heat in the summer, so bring plenty of water.
- ◆ The spiral staircase inside the tower is narrow and steep.