Discover desert beauty at largest state park in Calif.

I had visited the Anza-Borrego area several years ago in the spring. After a winter with many rain showers, I found acre after acre of brightly colored wildflowers. I had stayed during that visit in the town of Borrego Springs, which is completely surrounded by the Anza-Borrego Desert. The town is in the northwest.

On this trip I wanted to explore more of the desert, so I stayed in one of the many campgrounds located throughout the area. The campgrounds are clean and well kept, with covers over picnic tables and clean restrooms nearby.

I found my spot and then headed to the Anza-Borrego Park Visitors Center. The center is unique in that you have to hunt for it. Looking around, I could see sidewalks leading through desert gardens with cacti, palm trees and a small pond. It was only after I walked down from the hill that I realized the center had been built under the hill and fits right into the scenery.

The center is almost 7,000 square feet. There are videos, books, maps, T-shirts, hats and many souvenirs in the center. Friendly and knowledgeable people are more than willing to answer questions and give you ideas of how to appreciate the desert beauty. Anza-Borrego Desert State Park is named after Spanish explorer Juan Bautista de Anza, and the history of the famous explorer is found in detail at the Visitors Center.

After leaving the center, I walked back up to the top of the hill where I could look out over the vast desert valley and see the town of Borrego Springs in the distance. The area is like a bowl, with mountains all around. The Santa Rosa Mountains are to the north, and this region is all wilderness with no paved roads through it. I could see a small body of water that is home to peninsular bighorn sheep, also called desert bighorn.

If you hike some of the mountains surrounding the desert, you might get lucky and spot one of the elusive bighorn sheep high on the rocks. Other wildlife includes mule deer, iguanas, golden eagles, kit foxes and roadrunners.

It was nearing dusk, and the sun's rays were shining on the Santa Rosa Mountains to the north. The tops of the mountains had a rosy glow as the sun kissed their peaks. It was a beautiful and serene picture that lay before me, and I was very content to just stand there and watch the glow spread down the mountain.

I headed back to camp and the quiet of the desert night. The stars just seem to twinkle brighter in the desert, and the lights of Borrego Springs are not enough to give them much competition.

I drove into town the next morning for breakfast and then went back to the desert during the afternoon to explore some of the shorter hiking trails. It always intrigues me to see the desert at first glance because it seems as if no life could survive here. But as I hiked along the trails, it only took a few moments to start noticing the cacti and bushes that cover the desert floor and to notice the creatures that live among them.

Take a trip to Anza-Borrego Desert State Park. Stay in Borrego Springs or at a campsite and enjoy the true beauty of the desert. Be sure to keep your gas tank filled, and always carry plenty of water and food when traveling in the desert.

Enjoy!