How big is Anza-Borrego Desert State Park?

More than 600,000 acres, or roughly 1,000 square miles. It is the largest state park in California and the third largest in the United States, spanning parts of San Diego, Riverside and Imperial counties.

How much does it cost to enter Anza-Borrego?

Day use is $10 per vehicle, collected at the Visitor Center, developed campgrounds and several popular trailheads including The Slot and Hellhole Canyon. The park has no entrance gates and much of it can be accessed without a fee.

When is wildflower season at Anza-Borrego?

Annual wildflowers can appear from January through mid-April, with peak bloom most often between late February and early April. Timing varies year to year based on rainfall and temperature.

Is Anza-Borrego a Dark Sky Park?

Yes. The park was designated an International Dark Sky Park in 2018 at Silver tier. Borrego Springs, the town at its center, has been an International Dark Sky Community since 2009, the first in California.

Do I need four-wheel drive at Anza-Borrego?

Not for the paved roads, the Visitor Center or the main campgrounds. The vast majority of the park's roughly 500 miles of dirt roads do require a high-clearance four-wheel-drive vehicle.

Is Anza-Borrego Desert State Park open at night?

Yes, the park is open 24 hours a day, year-round. The Visitor Center is open daily 9am to 5pm October through May, and weekends and holidays only June through September.

Shandel Sutherland • October 6, 2022

That’s My Story and I’m Stickin’ To It: Denny DuVall

Denny DuVall: A Borrego Springs Legacy

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Learn more

New True Crime Book Explores Murders With Anza Desert Connection

By Andrea McKenna • September 17, 2026

Los Angeles in the 1950s drew young women with promises of work, independence, and a chance at something bigger. Harvey Glatman saw an opportunity of another kind.

Salton Sea Tales: A Potentially True Adventure

By Andrea McKenna • July 19, 2026

Speculative Fiction Grounded in Science Salton Sea Tales, a novel by Gabriel Wisdom A New Novel Rooted in Science and Imagination Author and broadcaster Gabriel Wisdom explores a timely environmental and geological premise in his latest novel, Salton Sea Tales. The book merges speculative storytelling with scientific research, weaving fact-based creative non-fiction into a “what if” scenario inspired by real evidence. From the Author Salton Sea Tales is a fast-paced adventure story which combines both the ‘what if’ elements of speculative fiction with more fact-based creative non-fiction, based upon verifiable geological evidence. An inland desert sea is drying up, causing an unlikely group of outlaws, stakeholders, and secretive Native Americans to join forces. The story imagines what would happen if geothermal and lithium mining operations at California’s Salton Sea were to accidentally set off the San Andreas Fault, which spans the 330 square mile lake perimeter. Half of the world’s lakes are less resilient to disturbance than they used to be (Advancing Earth and Space Sciences, 2024), impacting an estimated one in three people. Salton Sea Tales is a plot-driven fictional adventure based in part upon real events with a wildly plausible ending that hasn’t happened… yet. ALL PROCEEDS BENEFIT THE RAM MEDIA FOUNDATION Salton Sea Tales Giving Back Salton Sea Tales is a creative, story-driven look at California’s inland sea. Net proceeds from all sales—paperback, Kindle, and Audible—are donated to Ram Media Foundation, supporting awareness of the ecological crisis at the Salton Sea.