Centuries of history are hidden in plain sight along California’s dramatic landscape. Case in point: The Juan Bautista de Anza National Historic Trail, which stretches from the Southern California desert to San Francisco. This landmark trail commemorates a Spanish expedition that shaped the course of both California and U.S. history.
A Journey That Changed California
In 1775, Spanish military officer Juan Bautista de Anza set out from northern Mexico, bound for the territory known as Alta California. With plans to establish a settlement in San Francisco, Anza traveled with 240 colonists and entered what is today’s California after fording the Colorado River. Anza had scouted the region the previous year, and the California of the late 18th century was not some empty frontier but home to roughly 300,000 Native people.
California Before Anza
The lands that make up modern-day California were a remarkably diverse place before the arrival of Anza, with as many as 200 distinct tribes whose cultures, lifeways, and languages were as varied as the state’s incomparable landscapes. Descended from ancestors who arrived at least 12,000 years ago, these Californians spoke more than 60 languages—and by some estimates almost 100. That made California the second-most linguistically diverse place in the world for its size.
The Juan Bautista de Anza National Historic Trail commemorates that expedition, even as Spanish settlement led to the disruption and even destruction of the traditional lives of the state’s Indigenous people. But by exploring the trail, you’ll get glimpses of both historic and contemporary Indigenous life in the state.
The Expedition North
Anza followed established trade routes and footpaths that had long been used by California’s Native population. He traveled from the low desert of southeastern California, through today’s Los Angeles metropolitan area, then up the Central Coast into the San Francisco Bay Area.
Over those several hundred miles, Anza passed through the lands of numerous Indigenous peoples, among them the Kumeyaay, Cahuilla, Tongva, Chumash, Salinan, Ohlone, and Miwok.
Exploring the Juan Bautista de Anza National Historic Trail Today
These days, traveling the Anza Trail is both a geographical journey and one of the imagination. Much has changed, of course, over the past 250 years, and the auto route marked by signs—along freeways, interstates, and urban streets—traces Anza’s actual trail as closely as possible.
In places, the Anza Trail heads into landscapes that still let you escape into the natural world where California’s Indigenous people thrived from time immemorial. There are also destinations for immersing yourself in the history and cultures of the state’s Native American tribes, and that celebrate their enduring and vital presence in modern California.
Planning Tips and Resources
For helpful resources, the National Park Service’s trail website offers granular county-by-county details about the expedition, all the way down to specific locations where the Anza party camped, as well as information about hiking routes and other activities.
The American Indigenous Travel Association’s 96-page online Travel Guide to Tribes Along the Juan Bautista de Anza National Historic Trail has extensive information about destinations on the route. The guide also spotlights the many tribally operated resorts, restaurants, and cultural attractions easily reached via side trips from the auto route.
For a unique carless experience, try the Trails & Rails program, which operates on summer Saturdays and features docents discussing Indigenous history and other aspects of Anza Trail. You’ll ride in the Sightseer Lounge Car on Amtrak’s Coast Starlight and can choose from two routes: the stretch between San Jose and Paso Robles, or the section between Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo.
Top Southern California Stops Along the Anza Trail
Anza-Borrego Desert State Park
Combining Anza’s name and the Spanish word for bighorn sheep, Anza-Borrego Desert State Park east of San Diego is the largest state park in the Lower 48. At the park’s Little Blair Valley Cultural Preserve, trails lead to small rock depressions known as morteros, where the Kumeyaay ground seeds for food, and native rock art.
Palm Springs: Agua Caliente Cultural Museum
Detour into Palm Springs to see the spectacular Agua Caliente Cultural Museum, which tells the story of the Cahuilla people through displays of artifacts and exhibits that trace tribal history from the 19th century and into contemporary times.
Griffith Park and the Autry Museum of the American West
On traditional Tongva land, Griffith Park preserves nearly 4,210 acres of natural California in the heart of Los Angeles. Trails wind through stands of ancient oaks and sycamores, but the park is also home to an excellent museum, the Autry Museum of the American West. Its exhibit Human Nature uses indigenous crafts, videos, and photography to portray the unbreakable bonds between California’s Indigenous people and the natural world.
Santa Monica Mountains and Satwiwa Cultural Center
Anza passed through the Santa Monica Mountains, where the Tongva and Chumash cultures met, and today these mountains have one of the highest densities of ancient sites among the world’s ranges. At Rancho Sierra Vista/Satwiwa you can hike the historic trade route through Big Sycamore Canyon and attend cultural events at the Satwiwa Native American Indian Cultural Center.
Top Central and Northern California Stops Along the Anza Trail
Santa Ynez Chumash Museum and Cultural Center
The Santa Ynez Chumash Museum and Cultural Center, located in northern Santa Barbara County, features dramatic contemporary architecture inspired by Chumash traditions and movingly tells the tribe’s 8,000-year story.
Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary
A 116-mile coastal stretch that encompasses such unspoiled areas as the Guadalupe-Nipomo Dunes is now part of the Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary. It’s the country’s first tribally nominated marine sanctuary and will be cooperatively managed with members of the Chumash and Salinan tribes.
Pinnacles National Park
Southeast of Salinas, Pinnacles National Park is one of the best places to scan the skies for California condors. These rare and majestic birds are revered by the North Coast’s Yurok Tribe and the Central Coast’s Amah Mutsun Tribal Band.
Golden Gate Park and the de Young Museum
Anza passed through what is now San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park. Today, the Arts of Indigenous America exhibit at the de Young museum includes Rooted in Place: California Native Art, a gallery that displays both historic and contemporary works.