Painted Gorge (Outside of Ocotillo), Imperial County

Playing Bocce out in the desert is what got me wanting to start this project. This is my personal happy place. I find freedom in being with my group and few if any other interactions. Truly my dream setting.

I found a whole scallop shaped sea shell in the dirt. Geology is wild.

We played a few rounds through this crazy topology. We eventually played a version we dubbed ‘Long Bocce’. We placed the polino by hand far off, then as a group decided what the ‘par’ of the course was.

Each ‘par’ round, the person furthest away from the target threw both of their balls. We then selected the best throw of that round, throwing again from that that throw’s landing spot. So for a par 3, we would all throw our two. Pick the best of the two, throw again. Pick the best of the two, throw again. Whoever was closest at the end of the 3rd round wins.

This space lent itself to this sort of play. We muscled it as far as we could and still needed to go further!

I really dug the ‘climbing up a mountain’ vibes that we got when we could find a good perch to land on.

I do not recommend this location for those without experience off roading. And even then, I’d reccomend downloading the maps before you’re out there.

I and a few friends of mine use Backcountry Navigator Pro

32.813613,-115.971732 on OpenStreetMap