Anza-Borrego Desert SP

WILDFLOWERS

The quality and extent of flower displays are governed by a variety of environmental factors that are not only beyond our control but hard to predict. Rainfall this season has been much lower than average, so we have not had eye-popping displays of carpets of annual wildflowers. A few cactus are still blooming at the Visitor Center, along with some shrubs (notably the sweet-smelling indigo bush and desert senna) and trees (palo verdes and desert willow are covered with bright yellow and soft lavender blossoms, respectively).

Scroll down to see photos of wildflowers from previous seasons. Stop in at the State Park Store or the Visitor Center in Borrego Springs for a color wildflower brochure ($1).

If you would like to receive updates next year as different wildflowers start coming into bloom, we suggest that you join the email list of our nonprofit partner, Anza-Borrego Foundation.

About us - Location - Directions

Anza-Borrego Desert State Park is the largest state park in California. Five hundred miles of dirt roads, 12 wilderness areas and many miles of hiking trails provide visitors with an unparalleled opportunity to experience the wonders of the California Desert. The park is named for Spanish explorer Juan Bautista de Anza and the Spanish word borrego, or bighorn sheep. The park features washes, wildflowers, palm groves, cacti and sweeping vistas. Visitors may also have the chance to see roadrunners, golden eagles, kit foxes, mule deer and bighorn sheep as well as iguanas, chuckwallas and the red diamond rattlesnake. Listening devices for the hearing impaired are available in the visitor center.

The Park is located on the eastern side of San Diego County, with portions extending east into Imperial County and north into Riverside County. It is about a two-hour drive from San Diego, Riverside, and Palm Springs.

Many visitors approach from the east or west via Highways S22 and 78. From the coast, these highways descend from the heights of the Peninsular range of mountains with spectacular views of the great bowl of the Colorado Desert. Highway S2 enters the park from the south off of Interstate 8.


                                                     

Swainson's Hawks

Borrego Springs was a major stopover on the Swainson's Hawks' 6,000-mile spring migration from Argentina to their breeding grounds far north of us. Find out more here or read a summary on the Borrego Valley Hawkwatch Blog.

WILDFLOWERS


Blossoms and Buds: Beavertail Cactus at the Visitor Center (S Theriault)

The pictures below are from previous years' wildflower seasons. 

Orcutt Aster by Park Volunteer Mike Bigelow


Fishhook Cactus (Mammillaria)
photo by Park Volunteer Mike Bigelow


Desert Woolstar by Park Volunteer Mike Bigelow


Apricot Mallow by Park Volunteer Mike Bigelow

Phacelia (Wild Heliotrope)
photo by Park Volunteer Grace Clark


Pink-blooming Cheesebush
photo by Park Volunteer Grace Clark
 

     Barrel Cactus

Seven New Cultural Preserves

California State Parks is pursuing classifying seven areas of outstanding historic and cultural interest in Anza Borrego Desert State Park as Cultural Preserves. The proposed classifications were recommended in the approved 2005 A.B.D.S.P. General Plan.

For more information, please visit the link below:

Anza-Borrego Desert SP General Plan and Cultural Preserves Web page: http://www.parks.ca.gov/default.asp?page_id=21314

More about the Park

Most visitors approach from the east via Highways S22, S2, or 78. Visitors from San Diego via Highways 79 and 78 have the added pleasure of driving through the mountainous Cuyamaca Rancho State Park--quite a different experience from Anza-Borrego. The highways from the east climb to 2,400 feet or so and then descend about 2,000 feet to the valley. Where the highway breaks out of the high-country vegetation, it reveals the great bowl of the Anza-Borrego desert. The valley spreads below, and there are mountains all around. The highest are to the north--the Santa Rosa Mountains. The mountains are a wilderness, with no paved roads in or out or through. They have the only all-year-flowing watercourse in the park. They are the home of the peninsular bighorn sheep, often called desert bighorn. Few park visitors ever see them; the sheep are justly wary. A patient few observers each year see and count them, to learn how this endangered species is coping with human encroachment.

CALIFORNIA OVERLAND!

Click on the link below to start your excursion through the wildlands of Anza-Borrego Desert State Park:

California Overland Home Page