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Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, California

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Location

The park lies in part of the Colorado Desert which in turn forms part of the Sonoran Desert.

Size

For comparison, the area of the English country of Northamptonshire is 915 square miles.

Description

The park consists mainly very arid, rocky terrain. It forms a fascinating contrast to the coast road between Los Angeles and San Diego and is well worth a drive through if you are in the area. Descriptions indicate that the park has a number of places of interest for visitors - if you can find them. Because of the apparent total lack of any signposting it can be frustratingly difficult to find its visitor facilities if you don't know where they are located. For example, when we visited we never did find the visitor centre or any other visitor facilities despite making quite a considerable effort. This lack of signposting probably deters many potential visitors to the park, which is a great pity.

According to descriptions, the main visitor centre is apparently located a short distance west of the town of Borrego Springs at the east end of Palm Canyon Road (or according to another source, the west end), just off County Road S-22. According to one source of information this distance is one mile; according to another source it is two miles; a third source quotes a distance of five miles. A map indicates that you should drive west from Borrego Springs for about four miles to a fork in the road where you should keep right, so as to continue west and then follow this road northwest for about a mile to the visitor centre. S-22 heads southwest (or according to another map, initially south then after a very short distance, southwest) from the fork.

Descriptions state that this main visitor centre is underground and nearly hidden beneath a desert garden. According to two independent sources of information the visitor centre is open seven days a week from October to May but only at weekends and on public holidays from June to September.

According to one description there is also another visitor centre at Bow Valley, located on County Road S-2, 15 miles north of I-8.

There are no tolls for the public roads which cross the park. However, a $5 per vehicle per day usage fee (as at Dec-97) is payable if you make any use of any park facilities. Since there are no payment booths on the road as you enter the park, presumably this fee is payable at the visitor centre.

This area is often extremely hot in summer with temperatures well in excess of 100 degrees Fahrenheit.

Two other places are often mentioned in descriptions of this park and it might be worth describing their locations here:

• Tamarisk Grove: From Borrego Springs head south. At the fork take the right hand road, heading southwest. (It seems that both roads are numbered S-3). Tamarisk Grove is at the junction of this fork of S-3 and California State Highway 78.

• Scissors Crossing: From Borrego Springs head south, take the right (southwest) fork of S-3 and join California State Highway 78 heading west. Scissors Crossing is the junction of California State Highway 78 with County Road S-2. According to a map, the actual junction lies just outside the park. Many descriptions of places in the park give directions from Scissors Crossing.

In the Area

• Imperial Valley

• Joshua Tree National Park

• Pacific Coast Highway

• Salton Sea

External Links

• Anza-Borrego Desert State Park - Virtual Visitor Centre On the DesertUSA web site. Checked Dec-97.

• Borrego Springs Chamber of Commerce Checked Dec-99.

• Borrego Springs Visitor Information and Publications Checked Dec-99.

• Loyola Marrymount University Biology Department - Southern California Natural History - an excellent source of information on the plants and animals of the region, together with a large number of high quality photographs. Checked Sep-98.

Desert Southwest

Deserts

Pacific Coast Highway

State and Provincial Parks

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Most recently modified 6-Mar-01