Natural History Wanderings

Two more wildflower reports from the Anza-Borrego Desert Natural History Association

Big Spring is an easy – moderate 1.6 mile hike across the Culp Valley area up around mile marker 11.3 on the Montezuma Grade to Big Spring.  The directions for this hike can be found in Robin Halford’s “Hiking in Anza-Borrego Desert (over 100 Half-Day Hikes), her first book.

We saw flowers from the roadway all the way in to Big Spring and spotted some different ones on the way back. We saw: blue dick, blue witch, wishbone bush (white and pink), ground cherry, blue phacelia and desert phacelia, desert tobacco, lupine, lotus, sun cup, pale primrose, desert dandelion, fillaree, desert rock pea, CA primrose, checker fiddleneck, fiesta flower, fish hook cactus, whispering bells, goldenbush, brittlebush, Mojave yucca, goldfields, woolly daisy, rattlesnake weed and chia. It was a beautiful day.

Canyon Sin Nombre.Very pretty slot-canyons, with hiking trails on the top and excellent views. The desert dandelions, lupines and sand-verbena’s are doing well, and we believe it is one of the best places for ocotillo’s this year. It is also a very good place to see blooming cactus. The barrels are here at there peak, dozens of them are blooming.

The beavertail is also doing very well here, about a dozen in bloom. We saw one golden cholla with an open flower.

To see photos and all reports go to: Anza-Borrego Wildflowers Spring – Fall 2013.