Slot Canyon in Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, California.
Janine has updated our website with new photos of Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, California from our travels last winter. Anza-Borrego definitely isn’t the most popular of destinations, but we sure enjoy spending time there, especially in the winter!
It is interesting, the three places that I have the most in depth coverage of include Anza-Borrego, Kenai Fjords National Park, and the Chugach National Forest are all fairly unknown, with relatively few visitors. I bet the combined annual visitation numbers of all three parks doesn’t total the number of people who visit a moderately popular Lower 48 Park like Bryce in just an average summer month.
The businessman in me says I should be concentrating on more popular destinations, but we decided long ago that maximizing personal satisfaction was far more important then maximizing profits. I suppose if maximizing profits was the goal, I wouldn’t choose to be an outdoor photographer.
Dry Lake Bed, Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, California.
I have been a long time user of Singh-Ray filters, particularly their graduated neutral density filters. So I must say I was honored when they approached me recently and asked me to contribute to their blog. In fact, I already had the first post written in my head, as it was a tip I thought I would post here. Instead, I shared my discovery of the usefulness of using live-view in the positioning of graduated neutral density filters. Well I don’t want to spoil the whole post, you can check out the whole story at the Singh-Ray blog.
As far as my own blog goes, I still may do some fine tuning of the header, photo size etc., so if things look a bit funky from time to time, you will understand.
A park in Borrego Springs, California.
It seems a bit strange to be inside adjusting sunny warm looking desert photos from our last trip – then taking a break to shovel snow out of the driveway. At least the cross-country skiing has been awesome!
Here are more Borrego photos.
by Ron on February 13, 2009
A closeup of a Dune Evening Primrose, Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, California.
When it comes to macro close-ups of flowers, I’m no Michael Brown, but it is still a lot of fun – one could get lost for hours experimenting with the different lines, colors and textures found in just a single flower. Add to that, the different combinations of focal length and depth of field and the composition possibilities are nearly endless. I tend to prefer the broad landscapes, but it is kind of fun to enter the little macro world found at your feet.
by Ron on February 12, 2009
Desert Sand Verbena, Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, California.
This was captured at sunset last night.
To follow up on my Anza-Borrego wildflower forecast post from yesterday – the more I hike around, the more convinced I am that it will be an excellent wildflower year here. I found numerous desert lily plants and big patches of lupine plants both of which should be blooming within the next few weeks.
by Ron on February 11, 2009
Desert Sand Verbena, Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, California.
Well between Los Angeles, Orange County, San Diego and Vancouver – our last month has involved a lot of city photography. The final couple of weeks of this trip will be based in Las Vegas – with all this city time, we had to make a few days and return to our favorite quiet little desert location; Anza-Borrego Desert State Park.
This did give us a good chance to see how the wildflowers are progressing, and to share my finding here. In a word, it is shaping up to be a very good year for wildflowers! I guess that is more then a word, but you get the idea. If I had to pick one word, with due respect to Tony the Tiger, I would say they are going to be great!
We spent a month here last year beginning just about now, and it turned out to be a pretty good year. This year, most places are much greener then even last year, and as you can see by the above photo from this morning, there are areas already beginning to bloom. But don’t take my word for it, according to the Borrego Sun, naturalist Paul Johnson is predicting this years bloom to be better then last with the peak hitting around the end of the month of February. In addition, the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park website is predicting a “good to excellent bloom in the near future”.
We arrived here on Sunday just in time for another inch of rain – this most recent storm should help extend the season. We have commitments in Vegas, but I gotta admit, it is going to be really tough to not be here for this years peak. I may have to grab my tent and sneak back over here for a night!
The above photo was captured with a 100 mm macro lens. I added a 25 mm extension tube which allowed me to focus and move even closer to the small flowers. I then parked my truck in such a way to shade the flowers, and used a gold reflector to add a touch of warm light – not unlike what you might find at sunrise, although this was a couple hours after first light.
by Ron on January 10, 2009
Anza-Borrego Slot Canyon, California.
To continue on yesterday’s post on the Kiboko Bag - this was our final destination. This slot canyon is off of Butte Pass Road in the central portion of the park, and is listed in most visitor guides. It may not have the rich reds of a Utah or Arizona slot canyon, but it still has interesting geographic formations, and wonderful indirect reflected light.
by Ron on January 9, 2009
A self portrait of me in a slot canyon sporting my Kiboko camera bag by Gura Gear, Anza-Borrego State Park, California.
I have been using this new bag since the beginning of this trip. I wanted to give it a complete workout in many conditions before I commented on it, but I can’t wait any longer because I love this bag! It rocks! I never thought I would be excited about a camera bag, but I am.
[click to continue…]
by Ron on December 29, 2008
American Kestrel
I think this is a beautiful falcon. He has been hunting around our campsite in Borrego at least once a day since we arrived here. Friday, I was finally able to photograph him! I noticed he often returned to this specific cactus, so Friday I set up on it and waited. It worked! I also have some full frame closeups, but kind of prefer this version which shows more cactus.
I have seen these guys in Denali on numerous occasions, but have been unable to get close enough for a descent image. It is fun to watch a bird like this up close.
by Ron on December 24, 2008
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from the Californian desert!
by Ron on December 18, 2008
It was pretty amazing to see snow down this low into Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, California. There was snow on the ground, and branches broken off the trees at the Tamarisk Grove Campground, just a bit over 1,500 feet above sea-level! It was beautiful!
We tried to drive up to Julian to get photos of this popular tourist destination in snow, but the CHP had the road closed. If they closed roads in Alaska every time a foot of snow feel on the ground, we wouldn’t get much done. I was a bit frustrated at first, but then after seeing people (at least some) driving like maniacs, in vehicles totally unprepared for snow - I realized that it was a good thing the state government made decisions for people down here, otherwise it would be chaos! We will try to get to Jullian again tomorrow – I would like to get there before the snow melts off the trees.
For those familiar with this area, this was a mile or two up the Plum Canyon Trail.
by Ron on December 16, 2008
Snow on the mountains rising above Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, California.
Between a multi hour road closure leaving Seward, below zero temperatures in Alaska, snow and ice in Seattle, and almost an inch of rain in Palm Springs – our travels were interesting, but all in all, went very smoothly.
It seems strange to see palm trees and snow in the mountains surrounding the desert, and it sounds like much more is in store for this area tomorrow.
Font’s Point, Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, California.
We have been working our way through the adjusting, key-wording and finally adding our photos from our last trip to our website. We just updated our section of Anza-Borrego photos from our time spent there this spring.
We now have a lot of coverage of this beautiful desert, too bad few people outside of Southern California have heard of the place. Heck, I come across people in So Cal who haven’t heard of it – but then again, the relatively low visitors numbers is one of the things I like about the place.
This plant seems to have many names and uses. Some call it Thorn-Apple, or Sacred Datura, or even Jimson Weed. The entire plant is poisonous, but portions of the plant are used in modern pharmaceuticals for things like motion sickness medication and to counteract muscle spasms. Not surprisingly, Native Americans were also aware of the many medicinal benefits of this plant.
It is about the only thing blooming in Anza-Borrego right now, this plant will bloom most the summer. We should be back in Alaska Saturday night, it will be a little while before flowers begin blooming there. [click to continue…]
Actually this is a jackrabbit, so maybe I should have titled this Silly Wack-wabbit. 
Seems like at the end of a trip we start evaluating our travel plans and methods. Our trips outside Alaska to the Lower 48 have typically been fairly long trips for a couple of reasons. [click to continue…]
These cool elephant looking animals are actually metal sculptures of gomphotherium. These guys actually used to roam in the Anza-Borrego area 3.7 million yeas ago - the gomphotherium, not the sculptures. [click to continue…]
Borrego Palm Canyon, Anza-Borrego.
This was from a beautiful Monday morning – it was completely calm! Nice treat after the weekend storm that ironically originated in Alaska.
We had a great month in Anza-Borrego, it was fascinating watching the transformation of the desert as the wildflowers bloomed. We were very fortunate to visit during one of Borrego’s famous wildflower years.
Right now we are in Tucson, Arizona for a couple of days to take care of some business, then we are spending a month outside of Phoenix, Arizona for more photography.
Brittlebush wildflowers in Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, California.
This was from a couple of hours ago. It may not be obvious in this small size, but that is fresh snow on the tops of the mountains! Hard to believe, but just a few days ago, it was in the upper 80’s!
Here you can see additional photos of Anza Borrego Desert State Park.
I really like this small, colorful ground flower that is very thick in some areas of Anza-Borrego. For this photo, I placed an extension tube on my 17-35 lens. I set the lens at 17mm and f/22 and then laid my camera amongst the flowers and started firing away. It was fun to see what I was getting – I would check images on the back of the camera, and try again. The extension tube allows for very close focus. The flowers in focus are less than an inch away.
This was from a couple of days ago. Unfortunately, hard winds have made the last couple of days unproductive for photography, I feel bad for all the people who came out here to see the amazing bloom.
Update: It is actually raining fairly steady Saturday evening. Few things in life smell as good as a fresh rain in the desert!
Desert wildflowers in Coyote Canyon, Anza Borrego.
It is pretty cool that the Desert Sand Verbena and Dune Evening Primrose grow together, they are a perfect combination.
For more: Anza-Borrego Desert State Park photos.
About 4 miles up Coyote Canyon, Anza-Borrego State Park, California.
When the TV cameras start showing up to provide morning feeds to news shows, you know it must be a great year for wildflowers in Anza-Borrego, and very near peak. It is both!
The fields along Henderson Canyon Road, and Coyote Canyon beginning at the north end of Digiorgio Road have to be two of the best areas. Both these locations are in Borrego Springs and contain endless fields of wonderful colors. It is an amazing site to see, and unlike anything you would normally see in the desert. The photo below is from Coyote Canyon this a.m.
If I lived anywhere near this wonderful event, I would get on my horse, drive my car, or even ride the neighbor’s broken bike - whatever it took to get down here to experience this fairly rare show before it is too late. It has been three years since it last looked like this, who knows when it may happen again.
Now for the bad news. The weekends are very crowed in this little town, so bring your patience. The other bummer – it looks like a big storm might be hitting this Saturday or Sunday. During the week is the best time to visit, but it is still worth fighting the crowds and weather if you can only come on the weekends.
Southwestern Barrel Cactus.
Kinda lost in this small size is a wonderful ring of flowers on the top of this cactus. Captured with a Canon tilt / shift lens.
Desert Sunflowers or Desert Gold, along Henderson Canyon Road, Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, California. This is looking up toward Coyote Canyon at sunset.
In 2005, when I heard about the amazing desert bloom, I quickly caught a flight from Alaska and lived out of a rental car for 6 weeks as I traveled around the and photographed the Desert Southwest. The one place I was sorry to have missed seeing were the fields of Desert Sunflowers on Henderson Canyon Road – By the time I got down here in February, a rainstorm had pretty much wiped them out.
So when we arrived in Borrego 3 weeks ago, this was the first place I went. But 3 weeks ago, there wasn’t a single flower in this field, it was all green. It really has undergone an amazing transformation in the past couple of weeks, mostly in just the past week.
The best news; most of the plants have one, maybe two blooms, and about five buds ready to bloom, so I think it is going to get even better in the days to come!
It is interesting how the timing of the bloom varies from year to year. In 2005, this area was wonderful during the first couple of weeks of February, this year it will be an entire month later.
Desert Lily
The Desert Lily is a popular wildflower that can be hard to find, but not this year in Anza-Borrego, they are numerous. I have seen the flower, or at least the plant throughout the Park – there are even some growing in the Pumpkin Patch!
