Anza-Borrego Desert State Park includes a hugh area, close to the size of Rhode Island. The Park contains mountains over 6000 feet, colorful badlands, and shady palm oases, but it is most famous for its incredible wildflower displays in a wet year.
2007 is not a wet year, so only a botanist can appreciate the wide variety of plants that are adapted to the extreme aridity and temperatures to 125°F. In the middle of the Park is the old Butterfield Stagecoach stop on its route from St Louis to San Francisco in the 1860s, now called Borrego Springs, Borrego Springs has all the amenities you could want from a supermarket and TruValue hardware to luxury resorts with golf courses.
We camped at the main campground near the subterranean visitors center. An early morning hike up Palm Canyon led us up a grove of native California fan palms—see trail picture. Jean did not find much flora, but rather some of the local fauna: some hanky-panky in the frog pond and a beautiful California quail posing for Jean's 420 mm lens.
The Tamarisk CG with its trees and higher elevation was our next stop. Here Jean was a little more successful with the plants capturing the red Ocotillo blossoms and a delicate Desert Willow.
