Anza-Borrego: True Desert tranquility

chezdubois
Feb 17, 2023
2 min read

We were lucky to learn about Anza-Borrego Desert State Park when researching places to visit in S. California and decided to spend some time there. Soon after that we had confirmation from a couple of fellow campers at Joshua Tree NP that the choice was the correct one and we were not disappointed! Anza-Borrego is the largest state park in the lower 48 and feels a lot like a national park with varied geography and elevations (desert floor, valleys, protected California Palm groves, mountains that sometimes get snow), multiple campgrounds, rangers, a visitor center and gift shop 😊 and lots of hiking trails. Liz enjoyed two nice hikes and we both added many new plant species sightings to our Seek iNaturalist catalogs. The Ocatillo plant is one of our favorites! (The tall spiky one in the photo below).

The Borrego Palm Canyon campground was quiet, small and beautiful. Our sites were located near the trail to the visitors center and Skye was very happy for it. He really couldn't go off trail as the thorns here are vicious, there are rattlesnakes, and the rules are in place. Both sunsets and sunrises were to die for. Need to allow enough time to not rush and enjoy the flora of the spring.

The spring wildflowers were starting 4-6 weeks early because of the recent rainstorms so we got some good previews of what it would look like during full bloom. We are very fortunate that they greeted us during our stay and it's on our travel list to come back in March next time.

The days and nights were amazingly calm with very comfortable temperatures-up to low 70s one day! We were lucky with the weather, and also wouldn't want to come in the summer when temps can be similar to Death Valley's. There was lots of history in this area about how the water was foolishly depleted for short term agriculture and development projects that are now abandoned. Last year there was less than 3" of rain.