If you ever dreamed of dancing and frolicking through a desert flower field, now is the time to go to Anza Borrego Desert State Park. When I heard about the Super bloom in Anza Borrego, I knew an impromptu road trip was a must do. I imagined fields of golden wildflowers with beautiful mountain tops as a backdrop. The reality was better than my imagination because the wildflowers were golden, orange, white, purple, and pink. Plan to visit soon since the wildflowers may not last long. Wind, blazing sun and caterpillars are its worst enemies.
I was lucky to snatch the only available tent space at Borrego Palm Canyon Campground (thanks to whoever was nice enough to cancel their reservation in advance!! xoxo). We arrived into Anza Borrego Desert State Park in pitch darkness but found our campground without much trouble. We took precautions for rattlesnake activity by using headlamps and making a lot of footsteps noise. Pretty nerve-wracking! Then silence…..I love sleeping out in nature.
Waking up at the crack of dawn to see this view was worth all that night drive and sleep deprivation. Since we only had the morning to explore Anza Borrego Desert State Park – had to work in the afternoon plus desert gets super hot after midday – we decided to only see the highlights.
Borrego Palm Canyon
Practically where we camped! How lucky!!! I’m not a botany expert but a park ranger told us there are Canterbury Bells, Poppies, Monkeyflower, and Phacelia are blooming here. What’s more impressive, this is all against a super green backdrop! There is also a trail that will lead you to a herd of bighorn sheep and huge cacti with buds of flowers on them (or so I’ve been told).
Coyote Canyon
Impressive array of purple and white wildflowers growing on sand!!
I have never seen such things before. The power of rainwater is undoubtedly one of the most amazing forces of nature. Here you can see Desert Lilies, Dune Evening Primrose, Lupine, Desert Chicory, and patches of Sand Verbena.
Henderson Canyon Road
Undoubtedly, the quintessential desert wildflower frolick destination of Anza Borrego Desert State Park. Massive desert flat with impressive number of desert Sunflowers. If you look closely, there are Sand Verbena, Lupine and Dune Evening Primrose. We spent a long time here just sitting, frolicking and repeat!
Good to Know:
- Try to book a site at Borrego Palm Canyon Campground. Keep checking and if you are lucky, you might get a spot. When we were there, the park ranger didn’t allow people without camp tag or reservation to get into the state park.
- Park is “open” 24 hours. But at night, no park ranger service so be mindful of the dangerous animals.
- Come with full tank of gas. We had a somewhat stressful “red indicator” gas episode.
Pro Tips:
To avoid crowds at Anza Borrego Desert State Park, consider the following:
- Go on weekdays if you can and stay overnight in the area
- Go super early to the wildflower areas to beat the crowd and heat. A park volunteer told us that the flowers close up during the hot part of the day.
- Due to the sheer number of crowd, cell phone data (also GPS) doesn’t work. Be sure to print out directions ahead of time. This totally saved us time (no waiting for visitor center to open). We only got a little lost but didn’t miss out on good wildflower viewing spots.
On the drive back to Los Angeles, we stopped by Lake Elsinore for the amazing Poppy flower fields that were growing wildly on lush green hills. Amazing!!
Our impromptu road trip to Anza Borrego Desert State Park was a success. I really liked the fact that the park and wildflower areas are expansive. So not hard to get patches of areas all to myself. Oh! don’t forget to hum your favorite song while frolicking!
Amazing pictures. Really liked the write up and the helpful tips.