The Adventure Life With Steve Casimiro: Into the Wild Flowers

Text and photographs by West Coast Editor Steve Casimiro

The desert in bloom is a terrestrial Milky Way, the bright blossoms standing in sharp contrast to the dry vacuum surrounding them. Across the Southwest, last winter’s consistent rains have created one of the best wild flower seasons in years. And while flower sniffing has always seemed a soft pursuit to me, it makes one heck of a good reason to throw on a backpack and get out there. So, last weekend, we did. I picked the spot (Anza-Borrego Desert State Park in eastern San Diego County), my son, Jackson, picked the date, and we aimed for Sheep Canyon at the northern end of the lower 48’s largest state park.
We missed the peak of the bloom at the lower elevations, where the afternoon heat already had chased away most everything except for hardy ocotillo flowers, but Collins Valley and Sheep Canyon were ablaze with neon yellow brittlebrush. Hiking up from Coyote Creek, where we parked the truck, we left behind the ocotillos (which, in the steady wind, seemed to wave goodbye wind with mango-colored handkerchiefs grasped by skeletal arms) and soon found beavertail cactus and its gaudy fuschia come-on. Blues, purples, reds, yellows, greens … if the color spectrum wasn’t quite the full box of 64 Crayolas, it was close. Anza-Borrego is just one wildflower destination among dozens, of course, and some of the best are still going off. And while we’re right in the middle of it, the season will soon be over. So don’t wait. Get out there and breathe deep.

WHERE TO GO

ARIZONA

1- Lost Dutchman State Park

Marigolds, poppies, and chuparosa are fading fast, but lupine, wishbone bush, chicory, and brittlebush are hitting their stride. Cactus should come into play in the next two to six weeks. Rangers regularly post fresh wildflower photos here. Also, the state park’s wildflower hotline is +1 602 542 4988.

2 – Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument

Ocotillo is coming out, brittlebush is peaking, buckhorn and hedgehog cactus are just starting, palo verde trees should be gorgeous within the next week. Key spots: Alamo Canyon, Ajo Mountain Drive

3- Saguaro National Park

These are good times for brittlebush: Saguaro National Parks’s Jeff Wallner says there’s “literally yellow everywhere.” Shrubs are starting to pop and the cactus and trees will start showing off in the next two weeks. Saguaros won’t blossom until early May.

CALIFORNIA

4- Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve

Go now! This reserve is the home to the Golden State’s most golden and populous poppy fields, and the hills are absolutely stunning. Mostly, the south slopes are blooming, so the peak lies ahead in the next week or so.

5- Anza-Borrego Desert State Park

Lower elevations are drooping in Anza-Borrego, leaving the ocotillos and cactus to carry the show. Head higher for yellows or brittlebush and purple lupine. Blair Valley has phacelia, dandelion, and fiddlehead.

6- Joshua Tree National Park

It’s been the best wildflower season in three years at Joshua Tree, according the park’s Cindy Von Halle, and there’s lots left to see, especially for hikers. You’ll see dramatic desert lillies, poppies, Canterbury bells, even the desert five-spot, which are rare in this part of the Mojave. Head out to Pinto Basin, 49 Palms Oasis Trail, Mastodon Peak Trail. And if you’re a cactus lover, the next four weeks will be prime.

7- Mojave National Preserve

The peak has yet to come, and with elevations up to 7,939 feet, the Mojave has lots of Technicolor left, but that doesn’t mean you should wait. The fields of evening primrose and sand verbena have turned the Kelso Dunes lush purple. The flashiest section is in the Devil’s Playground (high-clearance rig needed). Also, park anywhere along Kelbaker Road and just start walking. “Every bit of sand seems to have something beautiful,” says MNP’s Linda Slater.