Took a quick daytrip out to the Anza Borrego desert last Friday (2 April) to check out the desert wildflower bloom. The park’s website claimed that the bloom was still going strong (a 7/10 on their scale). That being said, I think the only way I’d go back is if it were a 9 or 10/10. Most of what we saw was typical San Diego desert – rocky and boring. The one exception was a couple of acres of wildflowers blooming on the north side of Henderson Canyon Rd. in Borrego Springs. Maybe I was expecting too much? In any event, we saw plenty of Desert Sunflowers, Sand Verbena, Dune and Brown-Eyed Primrose, Desert Pincushion and Desert Dandelion. There was also lots of Purple Lupine on the drive out.

We also went on a short hike (which turned in to a long hike when I took a wrong turn) out to a palm oasis in the middle of the desert. Saw these reeds and immediately thought “new computer wallpaper”. I think it came out pretty well: