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.

Supervisor Jim Desmond • October 9, 2026

County Launches AED Voucher Program for Youth Sports

San Diego County offers up to $1,100 to help youth sports organizations purchase lifesaving defibrillators.

San Diego County District 5 Supervisor Jim Desmond shares news of a new County program designed to make youth sports safer. With applications now open, the AED Voucher Program helps local leagues and organizations purchase lifesaving equipment and prepare for upcoming state requirements.

The following message is from Supervisor Jim Desmond.

A kid goes down at practice. No contact, no warning. Somebody calls 911 and a coach starts CPR.

What happens before the ambulance gets there decides everything.

That is why I brought this issue to the Board of Supervisors last year, and why I'm glad to tell you the County's AED Voucher Program is now up and running.

Sudden cardiac arrest is a leading cause of death in youth sports. An Automated External Defibrillator, the same device you see on the wall at the airport or the gym, can restart a heart in those first minutes. The problem is that most teams don't have one at the field.

When I first raised this, my colleagues backed it unanimously. I then asked County staff to go out and talk to the leagues themselves, because I wanted to know what was really standing in the way.

The answer was clear.

Only 23 percent of youth sports organizations in our region consistently have an AED at practices and games.

The biggest reason was cost. These are volunteer-run leagues. They are paying for fields, umpires and uniforms with snack bar money and registration fees. A defibrillator was never going to make the budget.

So we built a program around that. The Board funded it in this year's budget, and applications are open today.

Here is how it works:

Eligible youth sports organizations can receive a voucher worth up to $1,100 toward one mobile AED through County Parks and Recreation.
The same page has resources for CPR and AED training for coaches.
Apply at sdparks.org/AED.

There is also a clock on this. State law now requires coaches to be certified in CPR and AED use by January 1, 2027, and requires organizations to have an AED at every practice and game by January 1, 2028. I didn't want Sacramento handing our local leagues a mandate and leaving them to figure out the bill on their own.

If you coach, sit on a league board, or just spend your Saturdays in a folding chair on the sideline, please pass this along to whoever runs your team. It takes a few minutes to apply, and it could be the reason a kid goes home that night.

I hope nobody ever has to open the case. But if that day comes, I want it sitting on the bench.

San Diego County District 5 Supervisor Jim Desmond
https://www.supervisorjimdesmond.com/

Learn More About Borrego Springs

The Gallery at The Palms Presents ARTTALK with The Outliers Artists – Saturday, October 17

By Elizabeth Rodriquez • September 20, 2026

Join us in celebration of Borrego Days and, And now there's this: The Outliers exhibition. Artists will talk about their work and its relationship to "outsider art", the outer boundaries of art production and challenging conventions of mainstream art culture. Refreshments, artists and ARTTALK! - Elizabeth Rodriguez, Curator The Gallery at The Palms at Indian Head 2220 Hoberg Road, Borrego Springs, CA 92004