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Anza-Borrego Desert State Park is a state protected land located in Southern California primarily within eastern San Diego County, with portions within Imperial and Riverside counties. At 600,000 acres, 935 square miles (2,420 km²) and one fifth of San Diego County within its borders, Anza-Borrego Desert is the largest state park in California and the second largest within the continental United States after Adirondack Park in New York. The park is two-hours away from the cities of San Diego, Riverside and Palm Springs. The park is named after Spanish explorer Juan Bautista de Anza and the Spanish word borrego, or bighorn sheep.
Panoramic image looking west from Font's Point. ©2006 Andrew McDaniel
Bighorn Sheep at Palm Canyon. ©2006 Greg Bulla
The park includes 500 miles (804 km) of dirt roads, 12 wilderness areas and 110 miles of hiking trails provide visitors with an opportunity to experience the wonders of the Colorado Desert. The park features washes, wildflowers, palm groves, cacti, ocotillo and sweeping vistas. Visitors may also have the chance to see greater roadrunner, 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.
Most visitors approach from the east via California 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 (731 m) or so and then descend about 2,000 feet (609 m) 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 the 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.
Anza-Borrego Desert State Park is one of 55 California State Parks with wi-fi access in one or more areas.
Footage shot in this area was used in the feature film Serenity (2005)
[edit] External links
[edit] Bibliography
- Halford, Robin (2005). Hiking in Anza-Borrego Desert: Over 100 Half-Day Hikes (Anza Borrego Desert Natural History Association, Borrego Springs). ISBN 09180513X .
- Lindsay, Diana (2001). Anza-Borrego A to Z: People, Places, and Things (Sunbelt Publications, San Diego). ISBN 0932653421.
- Lindsay, Lowell and Lindsay, Diana (2006). The Anza-Borrego Desert Region: A Guide to the State Park and Adjacent Areas of the Western Colorado Desert. Fifth Edition (Wilderness Press, Berkeley). ISBN 0899974007.
Flora and Fauna of Anza-Borrego Desert Park
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An Ocotillo plant common in Anza-Borrego. ©2006 David Corby.
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A lone Desert Marigold pushes its way through the cracked, sun hardened desert after a rare and substantial rainfall (Spring 2004). © 2004 Dean Syrengelas.
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Common Chuckwalla, Sauromalus ater. Observed during a hike up Palm Canyon.
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Protected Areas of California |
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| National Park System |
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| National Forests |
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| State Forests |
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Antioch Dunes • Bitter Creek • Blue Ridge • Butte Sink • Castle Rock • Clear Lake • Coachella Valley • Colusa • Delevan • Don Edwards San Francisco Bay • Ellicott Slough • Farallon • Guadalupe-Nipomo Dunes • Hopper Mountain • Humboldt Bay • Kern • Lower Klamath • Marin Islands • Merced • Modoc • Pixley • Sacramento • Sacramento River • Salinas River • San Diego Bay • San Diego • San Joaquin River • San Luis • San Pablo Bay • Seal Beach • Sonny Bono Salton Sea • Stone Lakes • Sutter • Tijuana Slough • Tule Lake
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| State Wildlife Areas |
Wildlife Areas: Antelope Valley • Ash Creek • Bass Hill • Battle Creek • Big Lagoon • Big Sandy • Biscar • Butte Valley • Buttermilk Country • Cache Creek • Camp Cady • Cantara/Ney Springs • Cedar Roughs • Cinder Flats • Collins Eddy • Colusa Bypass • Coon Hollow • Cottonwood Creek • Crescent City Marsh • Crocker Meadows • Daugherty Hill • Decker Island • Doyle • Dutch Flat • Eastlker River • Eel River • Elk Creek Wetlands • Elk River • Fay Slough • Feather River • Fitzhugh Creek • Fremont Weir • Grass Lake • Gray Lodge • Green Creek • Grizzly Island • Hallelujah Junction • Heenan Lake • Hill Slough • Hollenbeck Canyon • Honey Lake • Hope Valley • Horseshoe Ranch • Imperial • Indian Valley • Kelso Peak and Old Dad Mountains • Kinsman Flat • Knoxville • Laguna • Lake Berryessa • Lake Earl • Lake Sonoma • Little Panoche Reservoir • Los Banos • Lower Sherman Island • Mad River Slough • Marble Mountains • Mendota • Merrill's Landing • Miner Slough • Monache Meadows • Morro Bay • Moss Landing • Mouth of Cottonwood Creek • Napa-Sonoma Marshes • North Grasslands • O'Neill Forebay • Oroville • Petaluma Marsh • Pickel Meadow • Pine Creek • Point Edith • Putah Creek • Rector Reservoir • Red Lake • Rhode Island • Sacramento River • San Felipe Valley • San Jacinto • San Luis Obispo • San Luis Reservoir • San Pablo Bay • Santa Rosa • Shasta Valley • Silver Creek • Slinkard/Little Antelope • Smithneck Creek • South Fork • Spenceville • Surprise Valley • Sutter Bypass • Tehama • Truckee River • Upper Butte Basin • Volta • Warner Valley • Waukell Creek • West Hilmar • Westlker River • White Slough • Willow Creek • Yolo Bypass
Ecological Reserves: Albany Mudflats • Alkali Sink • Allensworth • Atascadero Creek Marsh • Bair Island • Baldwin Lake • Batiquitos Lagoon • Blue Sky • Boden Canyon • Boggs Lake • Bolsa Chica • Bonny Doon • Buena Vista Lagoon • Butler Slough • Butte Creek Canyon • Butte Creek House • Buttonwillow • By Day Creek • Calhoun Cut • Canebrake • Carlsbad Highlands • Carmel Bay • Carrizo Canyon • Carrizo Plains • China Point • Clover Creek • Coachella Valley • Coal Canyon • Corte Madera Marsh • Crestridge • Dairy Mart Ponds • Dales Lake • Del Mar Landing • Elkhorn Slough • Estelle Mountain • Fall River Mills • Fish Slough • Fremont Valley • Goleta Slough • Indian Joe Spring • Kaweah • Kerman • King Clone • Laguna Laurel • Loch Lomond Vernal Pool • Lokern • Magnesia Spring • Marin Islands • Mattole River • McGinty Mountain • Morro Dunes • Morro Rock • Napa River • North Table Mountain • Oasis Spring • Panoche Hills • Peytonia Slough • Piute Creek • Pleasant Valley • Point Lobos • Rancho Jamul • Redwood Shores • River Springs Lakes • Saline Valley • San Dieguito Lagoon • San Elijo Lagoon • San Felipe Creek • San Joaquin River • Santa Rosa Plateau • Springville • Stone Corral • Sycamore Canyon • Sycuan Peak • Thomes Creek • Tomales Bay • Upper Newport Bay • Watsonville Slough • West Mojave Desert • Woodbridge • Yaudanchi
Marine Protected Areas: Abalone Cove • Agua Hedionda Lagoon • Albany Mudflats • Anacapa • Anacapa • Año Nuevo • Asilomar • Atascadero Beach • Bair Island • Batiquitos Lagoon • Big Creek • Big Creek • Big Sycamore Canyon • Bodega • Bolsa Chica • Buena Vista Lagoon • Cambria • Cardiff and San Elijo • Carmel Bay • Carmel Pinnacles • Carrington Point • Catalina Marine Science Center • Corte Madera Marsh • Crystal Cove • Dana Point • Del Mar Landing • Doheny • Doheny • Duxbury Reef • Edward F. Ricketts • Elkhorn Slough • Elkhorn Slough • Encinitas • Estero de Limantour • Fagan Marsh • Farallon Islands • Farnsworth Bank • Fort Ross • Gerstle Cove • Goleta Slough • Greyhound Rock • Gull Island • Harris Point • Heisler Park • Hopkins • Irvine Coast • James V. Fitzgerald • Judith Rock • Julia Pfeiffer Burns • La Jolla • Laguna Beach • Lovers Cove (Catalina Island) • Lovers Point • MacKerricher • Manchester and Arena Rock • Marin Islands • Mia J. Tegner • Moro Cojo Slough • Morro Bay • Morro Bay • Morro Beach • Natural Bridges • Niguel • Pacific Grove Marine Gardens • Painted Cave • Peytonia Slough • Piedras Blancas • Piedras Blancas • Pismo • Pismo-Oceano Beach • Point Buchon • Point Buchon • Point Cabrillo • Point Fermin • Point Lobos • Point Reyes Headlands • Point Sur • Point Sur • Portuguese Ledge • Punta Gorda • Redwood Shores • Refugio • Richardson Rock • Robert E. Badham • Robert W. Crown • Russian Gulch • Salt Point • San Diego-Scripps • San Dieguito Lagoon • San Elijo Lagoon • Santa Barbara Island • Scorpion • Skunk Point • Sonoma Coast • Soquel Canyon • South Laguna Beach • South Point • Tomales Bay • Upper Newport Bay • Van Damme • Vandenberg • White Rock (Cambria)
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National Marine
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National Estuarine
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University of California
Natural Reserve System |
Año Nuevo Island • Bodega Marine • Box Springs • Boyd Deep Canyon Desert Research Center • Burns Piñon Ridge • Carpinteria Salt Marsh • Chickering American River • Coal Oil Point • Dawson Los Monos Canyon • Eagle Lake Field Station • Elliott Chaparral • Emerson Oaks • Fort Ord • Hastings • James San Jacinto Mountains • Jenny Pygmy Forest • Jepson Prairie • Kendall-Frost Mission Bay Marsh • Kenneth S. Norris Rancho Marino • Landels-Hill Big Creek • McLaughlin • Motte Rimrock • Quail Ridge • Sagehen Creek Field Station • San Joaquin Freshwater Marsh • Santa Cruz Island • Scripps Coastal • Sedgwick • Stebbins Cold Canyon • Stunt Ranch Santa Monica Mountains • Sweeney Granite Mountains Desert Research Center • Valentine Eastern Sierra • Younger Lagoon
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