VISITORS CENTER AND PARK FACILITIES

Visitor Centers

Main: Two miles west of downtown Borrego Springs (which is surrounded by the park) at the east end of Palm Canyon Road, just off County Road S-22. More on the Visitor Center.

Other Visitor's Centers

Tamarisk Campground: Located at California Route 78 and County Road S-3.

Bow Valley: Located at County Road S-2 ,15 miles north of Interstate 8.

Seasons / Hours

Anza-Borrego Desert State Park is open year-round. Visitor Center hours vary by Center and season.

Main Visitor's Center is open October through May daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. During the summers the Visitor's Center is only open on weekends and holidays.

Facilities/Features

Stores/Museums
The main Visitor Center provides a well-stocked bookstore as well as a museum presentation of the park's history.

Programs & Events
A slide show is provided on an hourly basis at the Main Visitor Center. Numerous events occur on a seasonal basis. Check at the Visitor Center seasonal programs and events.

Ranger Nature Tours
Ranger-guided tours, lectures and campfire events are scheduled on a daily basis throughout the winter and spring. Check at the Visitor Centers or this Web site for schedules. Park Interpretive Activities

Food/Supplies
The town of Borrego Springs, which the park surrounds, has all types of food, supplies, gasoline, service stations and gear.

Accessibility
Most of the park's facilities are wheel-chair accessible, including the main Palm Canyon campground.

Wi-Fi Service
Anza-Borrego Desert State Park now offers AT&T Wi-Fi Service. This service enables park visitors with wireless enabled laptop computers or personal digital assistants (PDAs) to access the Internet. You can access this service if you are within a 150 foot range base of the Ranger's Office.

In October of 2005 the The Grand Re-Opening of the Anza Borrego Desert State Park Visitor Center. You are greeted by a colorful new information counter that provides staff and volunteers with lots of room to answer your questions.

At the entrance to the center is an excellent map of the park, above which sits a model of a full-sized Aiolornis incredibilis, "the incredible bird god of the winds." This extinct bird stood four feet tall and probably had a wing span of between 16 and 17 feet. Fossils from the giant avian have been found in Nevada and in Murrieta, in Riverside County, California and in the Anza-Borrego Desert in San Diego County, California. It was the largest bird ever to soar the skies of the northern hemisphere. One wonders what it would have been like to see Aiolornis as it stalked its prey on the ground, as it is thought to have done.

The Visitor's Center exhibits show how geological forces shaped the landscape, life forms and human stories of the Anza-Borrego Desert region, and feature a small slot canyon entrance. Here is a quick look at the exhibits.

There are other exhibits at the Anza-Borrego Desert State park Visitors Center than shown here. A well-stocked bookstore where you can buy books and maps about the local flora, fauna in addition to guide books. You can buy many of the same items right here in DesertUSA's online store. Look up as you leave the exhibit area to see the mountain lion that has been watching you.

Here is another view of the front counter.