Anza-Borrego Desert State Park

Dad is always looking for places to take me near our RV parks. One place that we went, not too far from Silent Valley and Ramona Canyon RV Park, is Anza Borrego Desert State Park. It’s in the desert where humans are few and animals hide from the sun to stay cool. Unfortunately, it’s another place where I mostly have to be on-leash and can’t go on most trails. Darn!

But, as usual, it’s a great time to get away and be alone with Dad for a while, smell new smells and see new sights. If you go the right time of the year you can see the wildflowers (if you can see all those colors, which I can’t), but Dad assures me that humans can. And they are worth seeing. I can smell them and they are nice smelling (for a flower that is.)

On the way to the Desert Dad and I saw these California Poppy wildflowers. They were popping up all over the place.

We drove down from the mountain where Silent Valley Club is into a large valley with lots of mountains above us. On the way, Dad stopped to photograph the large groups of orange flowers he calls Poppies. They pop up all over this area (that’s probably why they call them poppies) and Dad says they make beautiful carpets of colorful flowers. You couldn’t convince me. But Dad says I’m kind of color blind. I am sure I can see just fine, but he thinks I am color blind. Who you gonna believe?

On the way to the desert we stopped and played near the rocks. That's my kind of trip!

Red cliffs like these were around us with lots of flowers to see.

A desert is an unusual place. There are a lot of rocks, dirt without plants, sand, red cliffs, streams without water, and plenty of animals, though they are hard to find. With my nose, it’s easier to find them, but Dad won’t always go where I ask. This is also a place where Big Horn sheep are found, but we didn’t see any either. Dad said I’d love to chase one until they turned around and tried to chase me with their big horns.

Dad says there are Big Horn Sheep, but I don't like the looks of those big horns.

There are also rattlesnakes. Dad says I can’t play with them even though they look like the ropes I love to pull with Dad. They also have very inviting rattles, just like some of my toys, but he says they will hurt me, so I’ll be on the lookout. I once played with a small black snake in Florida and Mom almost went berserk! We also saw lots of harmless little lizards scurrying about the desert floor, but not the large lizard Dad calls the Chuckwallas. They are shy and you have to walk along trails to see them (darn, I can’t go along trails in this State Park.)

Barrel Cactus are full of water. I just don't want to be the one to get the water out. Ouch!

I guess the most important plant in the desert is the cactus. Dad says they are designed to keep dogs from running away or playing with them. They aren’t very friendly are they? They have needles that make your mouth and feet very sore if you try to take one away with you. So, I look very carefully where I step and what sticks and plants that I take to play with. Dad saw some Barrel cactus here. They look like big barrels and they store a lot of water inside to be sure they have enough during the summer when it never rains. Dad says if I’m ever lost in the desert that’s a good thing to know. I hope the human that tries to get the water out of this cactus knows about the really sharp needles on the outside.

These cholla cactus look like deer from far away. Don't try to chase them!

We also saw some really strange looking cactus. I thought it was a deer until I got close and knew I’d be picking needles out of my skin if I attacked it. I think it was a cholla cactus. We saw some in the Joshua Tree National Park too. We also saw some really tall and spindly plants called Ocotillo plants. They have red flowery tips and bloom after it rains.

Dad said that this desert used to be a big salty sea or ocean and there were fish all around. You’d have to be pretty dumb to believe that after you’ve seen this place! It was so dry, and not a fish in sight. I wasn’t born yesterday!

After a good run in the desert, its fun to rest on the top of a hill.

In the desert there is lots of white and red sand. (Dad said the sand came from the beaches when it was a sea. Come on Dad.. I’m not stupid!) But, it’s fun to run around in the sand, but I can’t run as fast as on regular dirt or a street. My feet sink in and the sand gets in my mouth. Yuck! I always like to drink water after I run in the sand. It helps to wash the sand out of my mouth. After running for a while, I like to rest on the top of a hill where I can see everything around me. It’s cooler too when wind can come to you from all directions. It makes me feel safe to see everything around me. That way a rattlesnake or a cactus can’t sneak up on me.

Desert Sunflowers at Anza Borrego are very sweet smelling and Dad says their colorful too!

Desert sunflower

On the desert floor there were large fields of Desert Sunflowers for Dad to photograph. He let me walk around near him and smell the small desert animals that hide in the holes between the flowers. I never caught one, but I knew they were there. I liked the sweet smell of the sunflowers too.

There are purple and white and gold flowers all over in the early springtime at Borrego Desert.

Dad says it takes more than one day to explore this desert. It has over 500 miles of dirt trails to explore and we didn’t have enough time. I guess we will come back some other time to see those trails. Today was just a time to look (and smell) the beautiful wildflowers.

The desert if a very flat place with mountains all around it.

Maybe someday we will bring our motorhome down here and stay in the state park RV park. That would give us a lot of time to explore, and maybe I can find one of those Big Horn Sheep to look at.

Hope you can come to California and see the desert at the Anza-Borrego Desert. It’s really cool, er, hot!

Arf

Reggie