Welcome to Borrego Springs, San Diego County's Closest Desert
The pictures on this page are from an interactive field trip to Borrego Springs taken on the day after Thanksgiving, November 25, 2005. The purpose of the trip was to capture the various examples of desert plant life fabulously displayed at the Anza-Borrego Park Visitor Center. On this page are general shots of the surrounding area; subsequent pages feature groups of plants.
A typical November day in the high desert, blustery winds, evidenced by the dust in the air (left) and the tilted direction in which the palm trees lining the main entrance into town are leaning (right). Bordered by mountains on three sides, Borrego Springs is a textbook example of a rain shadow.
Despite the increase in "seasonal residents" in November through March, the desert floor is still sparsely populated with trailers and buildings (the white blips in the photo above).
Palm trees, the most obvious example of desert vegetation, line most of the main avenues through town. Normally, clear blue skies prevail at this time of year, but when high winds whip through the area, sand and dirt are sent into the air in large quantities. With limited vegetation to hold soil in place, the desert is prime for wind erosion (demonstrated in both the photos above and below).
From the Visitor's Center at the Anza-Borrego State Park Headquarters, the stark silhouette of Font's Point looms in the distance, just beyond the town of Borrego Springs, signaling the beginning of the Borrego Badlands leading eastward to the Salton Sea. A popular hiking and primitive camping site, Font's Point continues to move both closer to the town of Borrego Springs and upward towards the sky with each new seismic event.
Click Here to See the First Group of Desert Plant Life
Back to the California Interactive Field Trip Page