Glorietta Canyon on a Soft Spring Day

A Last Opportunity to Travel to a First Opportunity—to see the early spring in the Anza-Borrego Desert before the park closure

Spring is my favorite time to travel to Anza-Borrego, especially if it is a good year for wildflowers.  This year, however, traveling has been curtailed due to COVID-19 and the resulting stay at home orders in California issued on March 19.  I made one last spring trip to Anza-Borrego on March 22, 2020, a park where in most areas it is easy to practice social distancing.

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Many of the ephemeral wildflowers were gone from the Borrego Springs area but the cacti and shrubs were starting to bloom.  The rains came early but the long pause before the spring rains resulted in a mediocre wildflower season.  It was a warm day with a baby blue sky. A small wave of Painted Lady butterflies passed through and the birds were quite active.

I drove into the park from Montezuma Grade (County Road S-22), where I stopped a couple times to enjoy the flowers and check out the red-tailed hawk perched on the top of a dead agave flower spike.  There are a number of pull-outs on the south side of the grade, where you can enjoy the view to the east overlooking the desert and see the Salton Sea shining in the distance.  On certain late afternoons, looking east, you can catch the shadow of the earth racing across the desert floor toward the distant Chocolate Mountains and Chuckwalla Mountains.  Another phenomenon—were you to be facing the opposite direction in the late afternoon from the Borrego Valley floor and looking along the crest of the boulder-packed mountains through which Montezuma Grade cuts—is the often seen, however briefly, green ray precisely at the just-set upper limb of the sun, the effect being due to the refraction of the sunlight through the band of heated air just above the rock surface.

My first stop was the Anza-Borrego State Park Visitor Center.  There were only a few cars there when I arrived and I left once more people showed up.  The area right around the visitor center is landscaped with many of the iconic desert plants found in the park so it is a great overview of the local plant community.  As there is a small pond for desert pup-fish, wildlife is attracted to the area.  The visitor center was closed due to COVID-19.

The area was active with birds, including verdin building a nest in a cactus.  When I was getting ready to leave, a cactus wren started singing high up in a blooming ocotillo.  As I was photographing it, another photographer walked over and started getting so close to me I had to stop photographing and move away from him to maintain social distancing.  After he was done, he motioned to me and said that he was leaving, and perhaps I wanted to move to where he was as it was the best spot?  In any case, having to move away worked out for me, as my cactus wren photo was featured on the home page of the eBird website in April 2020! 

My most memorable experiences of the day came from the Brewer’s sparrows.  I had never seen nor heard these birds before but I will not soon forget them.  At the visitor center I first heard them and was fortunate to be able to find one bird that posed for me.  I had no idea what species he was at the time but was amazed at the varied sounds that he and his friends made.  My next stop was Glorietta Wash, on the south side of Borrego Springs, where there were so many folks camping in their RV’s that I only drove part way in to eat my picnic lunch.  I saw and heard little wildlife until the last area that I explored, where I suddenly heard a whole symphony of sound.  The birds were very shy so I barely saw them and have no idea how many white-crowned sparrows and Brewer’s sparrows were in the mixed flock, but I just stood and listened for about 15 minutes as the birds sang what I fancifully imagined to be a very complex fugue.  It was a glorious experience.

I stopped at Yaqui Wells in late afternoon when the sun was warm but the westerly winds were becoming chilly.  There were scattered birds and flowers as I walked on the rocky trail but the most noteworthy sighting was a large rattlesnake, sunning itself in the small wash I was following to get back down to my car.  Fortunately we both saw each other in plenty of time, and it continued to bask in the sun while I took a few photos before moving on.  I left the park while there was still plenty of daylight as a storm was coming in and I wanted to be through the mountains on my way home before it arrived.

TRAVEL INFORMATION AND RECOMMENDATIONS:  If you decide to go to Anza-Borrego or any other desert, it is important to be prepared.  There are only a few services in Borrego Springs and scattered cell reception within the park.  Hotels are limited in Borrego Springs and they get booked up in winter and especially March.  Check the weather forecast, as wind is common in the afternoon and can be unpleasant for being outdoors, and flash floods are dangerous.  Be sure to check the weather forecast for your route; sometimes it is warm and sunny in the desert but snow or heavy rain in the nearby mountains.  I bring several gallons of water, plenty of food and snacks and layers of clothing as the temperature can change quickly especially around dawn and dusk.  Sturdy closed-toed shoes are advised since there are cacti in most areas.  I also know the off-pavement capability of my car and it is good to bring a shovel and carpet remnants to put under your tires if you should get stuck in the sand.  I’ve seen vehicles get stuck in the shoulder of paved roads around town, especially after heavy rains, so be careful.

Click on any image in the gallery below for full size images in a manual slide show format.  All photos this post and gallery by Barbara Swanson.

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A map below shows a typical arrival destination in Glorietta Canyon. Popup is activated by default; click X in popup pane to close.  Access is from the north via Borrego Springs Road.

Popular access to Glorietta Canyon is via a north-south running dirt road from Borrego Springs Road, located about 1/4 mile west of the access road to the huge metal bird sculpture north of Borrego Springs Road. The north-south road is used to access some of the many iron sculptures in the area. (BTW, the “Photos” section of Google Earth contains some great images of these sculptures, but they’re not always georeferenced properly by the contributors.)

The driving distance from Borrego Springs Road to the mouth of Glorietta Canyon is 2.5 miles.  Questions about the use of this road may be obtained from the Anza-Borrego Foundation 760 767-0446; the foundations has a large presence in Borrego Valley, including the fascinating Desert Nature Center (with a nice selection of books) at 652 Palm Canyon Drive in the heart of town.  Their website to check out is https://www.abdnha.org/.