Henderson Canyon Road, Borrego Springs CA

The bloom in Death Valley is a “once in a decade” bloom this year, but Death Valley is just too far from San Diego and the San Diego Birding Festival for me to make the trip. Anzo Borrego Desert, on the other hand is just 2 hours over the mountains. I put an extra day in my trip just in case the bloom was good. Late in the week, considering rain on Sunday and Monday, I reserved a room at the Borrego Springs Resort and Spa, checked out of my hotel in San Diego a day early, and drove from San Diego to Borrego Springs through a heavy snowstorm in the high country around Julian, inching around hairpin turns. But the reward was worth it. There is not a desert wide bloom…nothing like Death Valley…but there are pockets of very impressive wildflowers. This is mostly Desert Sunflower along the valley end of Henderson Canyon Road…one of the faithful spots of wildflower production most years when there are any. You can see the storms still in the mountains…they swept out and over the valley about once every two hours all day, and I did some of my photography from under an umbrella, but all it all it was an excellent day. I will post a gallery of individual wildflower shots when I get home to Maine later this week.

Nikon P610 in Landscape mode at 125mm equivalent field of view. 1/1000th @ ISO 100 @ f5. Processed in Lightroom.