Trip Report and Guide - Borrego Springs and Wild Flower Bloom – Family Adventures

30 second review: Borrego Springs has created a fun hunt of sorts to find all of the sculptures spread through out the town. We highly recommend pairing this with wild flower season, or as a starting point to Anza Borrego State Park

Fees: There are no fees to see the sculptures or the wild flower blooms.

Camping: If you plan to stay the night in the area there are a few nearby locations.

Free Options: Yaqui Pass Primitive Campground which is 2 miles North of Tamarisk Grove on the East side of the road. This is also where you can access Bill Kenyon Overlook Trail

Yaqui Wash Primitive Campground (directly West of Tamarisk Grove off Yauqi Wells road)

Paid Options: Tamarisk Grove Campground which is to the South of Borrego Springs. It is surrounded by Tamarisk trees and also provides the option of renting cabins.

Borrego Palm Canyon Campground which is essentially “in town.”

Both of these can be reserved through the Anza Borrego State Parks website here.

Amenities: Borrego Palm Canyon campground provides potable water, restrooms, and paid shower facilities.

Tamarisk Grove provides restrooms and paid shower facilities, but NO potable water.

The primitive camp sites have no amenities like their name implies so make sure you are self sufficient.

Markets/Restaurants/Gas Stations: Borrego Springs is nearby so you should have no problem getting anything you need.

Offroad Difficulty: Most wild flower areas do not require any offroading per se (it is either paved, or maintained dirt roads). However there are a few locations located within washes that can get quite sandy. In these areas it would be good to have 4 wheel drive to help with traction, or at least traction pads, or a partner with a sling who can help with recovery.

Is Borrego Springs Good For Kids? The offloading is fairly minimal and there are areas where kids can wander around the wildflower blooms while being surrounded by butterflies. We will definitely come back again.

Maps: Here are the maps for some of the main wild flower areas, as well as the location of the campsites.

Day One: We kept our eye on the wild flower blooms on Desert USA, and tried to create a loop so we could see the most blooms.

A map is continuously updated during wild flower season that you can use to plan your own trip.

Blooms were shown near Yaqui pass so we entered Borrego Springs from the South. We also took the opportunity to stop at Bill Kenyon Overlook trail.

ava-overlander-borrego-2 — Ava stretching her legs and taking in the views.

ava-overlander-bill-kenyon-3 — Starting the hike to the Bill Kenyon outlook

ava-overlander-bill-kenyon-1 — Some of the Ocotillo along the trail

ava-overlander-bill-kenyon-2 — There is a ton of different types of cacti and plants along this short trail

ava-overlander-bill-kenyon-4 — There is a great sweeping view from the lookout point. Depending on your timing there should be blooms visible from here as well.

ava-overlander-bill-kenyon-7 — There are also some interesting rock formations on the trail which is a bit different than what you expect in then desert

The next major bloom was shown in Coyote Canyon, so we stopped off at some sculptures along the way to Di Giorgio Road which dead ends into Coyote Canyon.

ava-overlander-borrego-sculptures-1 — One of the amazing sculptures

ava-overlander-borrego-sculptures-scorpion-1 — A grasshopper and scorpion battling

ava-overlander-borrego-sculptures-scorpion-2 — The truck taking a turn

ava-overlander-borrego-sculptures-serpent — The serpent is definitely the most impressive sculpture as it is so big it even crosses the road

There was actually a bit of a line to go through Coyote Canyon since the wild flowers are a a big draw. Pulling off to the side of the road when you see a particularly good bloom can let you get a bit more privacy.