Anza-Borrego Desert State Park

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Anza-Borrego Desert State Park
View over the Anza-Borrego desert

View over the Anza-Borrego desert

location San Diego County in California (USA)
surface 2428 km²
WDPA ID 11115416
Geographical location 33 ° 6 ′  N , 116 ° 18 ′  W Coordinates: 33 ° 6 ′ 13 "  N , 116 ° 18 ′ 2"  W
Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, California
Anza-Borrego Desert State Park
Setup date National Natural Landmark since 1974
administration California Dept. of Parks and Recreation
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The Anza-Borrego Desert State Park in Colorado Desert is the largest state park in California and the second largest in the United States, according to the Adirondack Park in New York. It preserves a large desert ecosystem that is almost unaffected by human interference. The park is located in eastern San Diego County ; Parts also extend east into Imperial County and north into Riverside County . It's about a two-hour drive from each of the cities of San Diego , Riverside, and Palm Springs . The park is named after the Spanish explorer Juan Bautista de Anza and the Spanish word for the native bighorn sheep , borrego .

With 804 kilometers of unpaved roads, twelve unspoiled areas, and long hiking trails, Anza-Borrego Desert State Park offers the opportunity to experience the wonders of the Colorado Desert. The park has wild plants, cacti and ocotillo (genus Fouquieria ). Visitors also sometimes have the chance to spot cuckoos , golden eagles , kit foxes , mule deer , and sheep, as well as iguanas , chuckwallas and red diamond rattlesnakes .

Most visitors come from the east on California's highways S22, S2, or 78. Visitors from San Diego on California State Routes 79 and  78 drive through Cuyamaca Rancho State Park . The highways from the east rise to about 731 meters and then drop to about 609 meters in the valley. When the road leaves the high vegetation , the Anza-Borrego desert follows . The valley spreads out there and there are many mountains, like the Santa Rosa Mountains in the north. The mountains are natural and have no roads. They have the only year-round running water. Many sheep live here, often referred to as Desert Bighorn Sheeps. Few visitors see them because the animals are very shy.

The park has a total of around 180 kilometers of bicycle or hiking trails.

The Anza-Borrego Desert State Park is one of the 55 California state parks with wireless -Access in parts of the area.

In the middle of the park - but excluded from the reserve - is the municipality of Borrego Springs . This has been recognized as a light protection area by the International Dark Sky Association . Here is the Clark Lake Radio Observatory and an astronomy park .

  • Font's Point

  • View of the mountains

  • View over Agua Caliente Springs

literature

  • Robin Halford: Hiking in Anza-Borrego Desert: Over 100 Half-Day Hikes , Borrego Springs 2005.
  • Diana Lindsay: Anza-Borrego A to Z: People, Places, and Things , San Diego 2001.
  • Lowell Lindsay and Diana Lindsay: The Anza-Borrego Desert Region: A Guide to the State Park and Adjacent Areas of the Western Colorado Desert. Fifth Edition , Berkeley 2006

Web links

Commons : Anza-Borrego Desert State Park  - Collection of Images, Videos, and Audio Files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Clark Lake Radio Observatory: A Pictorial History , photos on remsci.com; Clark Lake Telescope
  2. ↑ Borrego Springs Dark Sky Coalition