Bloom report out of the Anza-Borrego Desert

Anza-Borrego Desert Wildflowers: Bloom report

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Data are collected following the hiked path shown below and includes the immediate area.
One fertile flower (male or female), is all it takes to count a species in bloom.

We try to visit a lot of different areas, but areas with a better bloom may be visited more often.
It makes a huge difference if the bloom count is from a very dry badlands area, or from a place with a good rainfall or along a creek.

The data in the graph are averaged out over a couple of days, to show the actual daily bloom count in the graph, click on the legend on the right until only one is active (black).
With only one selected bars will pop up representing the daily bloom count.

Tom Chester made a couple of great pages with more specific data: Tom Chester bloom reports

The 2024-2025 bloom report:

December 22 2024 Bloom prediction

In general, the bloom is extremely low, best in the Badlands.
Fish Creek is slightly better, with the best bloom we have recorded between Diablo Canyon and Fish Creek Wash (early December).
Another bright spot is Rainbow Canyon all the way to Blair Valley, but it is fading fast.

More info on Tom Chester 2025 bloom report.
December/7/2024 First Crossing loop
It seems that this deep canyon attracts more visitors as we found many footprints in the wash.
Still surprising to see so many Fouquieria splendens splendens | Ocotillo in bloom and in bud, we estimate 25% bloom in the lower part of our loop, dropping to single digits in the upper part.
Even the Condea emoryi | Desert Lavender is blooming, indicating that the plants are happier here than in many other places.

We think the Pilostyles thurberi | Thurber's Pilostyles are in bloom or very recently blooming, it's sometimes hard to see.
Another attractive plant at the moment is Ericameria paniculata, which will probably bloom for another week or two.

Unusual along the trail: Two happy young Krameria bicolor | White rhatany plants.

No happy plants along the dry Coyote Canyon creek.

Temperature: 63-76, Sunny, no wind.

Bloom: Low, 14+ different plants in bloom.

Hike details, click on the photo's above

All our plants from this date on iNaturalist
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iNat observations may be posted later-on, as our time is limited.
December/6/2024 17 Palms Loop
Even without much recent rain, a number of seeps and groundwater are keeping the plants a little happier.
A few Larrea tridentata | Creosote bush, Xylorhiza orcuttii | Orcutt's woody aster are in bloom.
Many more Lycium brevipes brevipes are in sparse bloom.

It's nice to hike in an area with some flowering plants and interesting plant skeletons.

Temperature: 64-81, Sunny, no wind.

Bloom: Low, 10+ different plants in bloom.

Hike details, click on the photo's above

All our plants from this date on iNaturalist
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iNat observations may be posted later-on, as our time is limited.
December/4/2024 North of Clark dry lake loop
We are back on the skeleton hunt and have found all the target plants from spring 2024.
The most common plant by far is Sisymbrium irio | London rocket (all dead now) in huge fields.
Add another nasty plant to the list of Clark Dry Lake: Oncosiphon pilulifer | Globe chamomile, a few plants.

Interesting skeletons we found: Monolepis nuttalliana | Nuttall's poverty weed, Phacelia ivesiana | Ives phacelia, Eriastrum harwoodii | Harwood's woolly star and Dithyrea californica | Spectacle pod.
Temperature: 42-78, Sunny, no wind.

Bloom: Extremely low, 1+ different plants in bloom.

Hike details, click on the photo's above

All our plants from this date on iNaturalist
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iNat observations may be posted later-on, as our time is limited.
December/3/2024 Oak Grove Loop
We checked out a couple of plants close by and made this new loop to check out the area.
Temperature: 65-69, Mostly sunny, a light breeze.

Bloom: Low, 10+ different plants in bloom.

Hike details, click on the photo's above

All our plants from this date on iNaturalist
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iNat observations may be posted later-on, as our time is limited.
December/2/2024 Tapiado Seco del Diablo loop
After finding two Asclepias albicans × subulata in bloom, we decided to look for more.
We found more Asclepias subulata | Rush milkweed in bloom than we ever remembered seeing.
And as a bonus, we found a single Asclepias albicans × subulata.
Taking a detour to the much happier plant from our previous visit here to take a voucher, this may be the first record in San Diego County.
This makes a total of 3 confirmed Asclepias albicans × subulata in the area.

This is a mostly wash road hike, with tire tracks going into every possible wash.
We hiked clockwise and the first wash looked like a high flow wash with not too many plants in it.
The next smaller wash is filled with more plants, but is also a tire track wash.
All in all a good bloom for the time of year and this seems to be the middle of a summer thunderstorm as we found Pectis papposa papposa | chinch weed out of the wash.

The drive up to the trailhead is long with over 40 minutes in the wash, the wash road itself is surprisingly good.
All along the way the washes are filled with countless blooming Ericameria paniculata | Blackbanded rabbitbrush, the most beautiful bloomer at the end of the year.

We made a detour to shorten this longer hike and still ended up with a hike of over 4 hours.

Temperature: 53-76, Mostly sunny, no wind.

Bloom: Low, scattered 25+ different plants in bloom.

Hike details, click on the photo's above

All our plants from this date on iNaturalist
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iNat observations may be posted later-on, as our time is limited.
November/30/2024 Espinosa Pine Valley Creek Loop
After noticing Ericameria palmeri palmeri | Palmer's goldenbush in bloom here, we had to go.
We made a detour (route A1) to look for Tetradymia comosa | Hairy Horsebrush and added two new plants to our list.

Surprised by the flowering, which was a bit better than on our last visit, we even found a flowering Xanthisma junceum | Rush like Bristleweed.
And we didn't expect, but hoped to find Jepsonia parryi | Parry's Jepsonia, and we did find a single flowering plant in the shade.

The detour made our walk a little longer, just under 4 hours.

Temperature: 62-75, Clear blue sky, sunny, no wind.

Bloom: Low, 15+ different plants in bloom.

Hike details, click on the photo's above

All our plants from this date on iNaturalist
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iNat observations may be posted later-on, as our time is limited.
November/29/2024 Mine Wash Loop 2
This time we wanted to have a sure and recent locations of Chaenactis fremontii | Fremont's pincushion and we found several recognizable plants.
We were able to find most of our target plants, which was a good check to see if our GPS points were indeed accurate.
We even found the single Rafinesquia californica | California Chicory intact.

It's not visible in the dry area, but there must have been some summer rain because we found a recognizable, still yellow Lasthenia gracilis | Common goldfields flower.

Good blooming at the top of the hike Ericameria brachylepis , Boundary goldenbush and scattered around the hike blooming Fouquieria splendens splendens | Ocotillo.
Once again an area with a good recent bloom of Fouquieria splendens splendens.

Temperature: 50-67, Thin cloud cover, a light breeze at the highest point.

Bloom: Very low, 4+ different plants in bloom.

Hike details, click on the photo's above

All our plants from this date on iNaturalist
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iNat observations may be posted later-on, as our time is limited.
November/27/2024 Sweeney Pass South Canyon loop
We smelled creosote in Borrego Springs, there is a lot of moisture in the air, so it feels warmer.
Looking for plant skeletons. Some plants persist for half a year or more.
We found no trace of the giant spring 2023 Mentzelia involucrata | Sand blazing star and others.

The main plants we found were Antirrhinum confertiflorum, Phacelia pedicellata and Phacelia distans.
Both canyon washes are filled with hundreds of Horsfordia newberryi, many of them quite large.

There are many more tire tracks in the canyon just past the big "No Vehicle" sign, this and the many footprints made the hike much more difficult than usual.

Temperature: 71-77 , veil cloud cover, no wind.

Bloom: Low, 11+ different plants in bloom.

Hike details, click on the photo's above

All our plants from this date on iNaturalist
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iNat observations may be posted later-on, as our time is limited.
November/26/2024 Ella Wash East Loop
The goal today was to find the remains of Cleomella obtusifolia | Mojave cleomella and we found several larger plants.
We looked at a desolate Psorothamnus emoryi | Emory's indigo bush with Pilostyles thurberi | Thurber's pilostyles.
Pilostyles thurberi are supposed to bloom in January, but we took a closer look and wow, they were in bloom, we found a total of two host plants, with blooming Pilostyles thurberi.

Temperature: 64-74, mostly sunny -> sunny, almost no wind.

Bloom: Low, 5+ different plants in bloom.

Hike details, click on the photo's above

All our plants from this date on iNaturalist
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November/25/2024 Fish Creek Diablo dropoff Loop
We switch from beautiful flowering Isocoma acradenia eremophila | Toothed leaved alkali goldenbush to even more spectacular flowering Ericameria paniculata | Blackbanded rabbitbrush.
There are many Ericameria paniculata in bloom here, probably all over the Anza Borrego Desert.

It's very unusual for us not to be able to identify Asclepias subulata | Rush milkweed and Asclepias albicans | White stemmed milkweed from a distance.
Looks like we have hybrids here that may be poor flowerers.

Finding two Encelia farinosa X frutescens | Hybrid Brittlebush in bloom in two different washes made our day complete.
In the wide Diablo Canyon most of the Psorothamnus spinosus | Smoketree are in bloom, but not the more spectacular spring bloom.

There are several more Fouquieria splendens splendens | Ocotillo in bloom, and from the looks of it, the bloom was good a few weeks ago.
Some of the smaller Fouquieria splendens splendens are clearly rabbit food, looking at the bite marks they resemble the ones we see in our yard on our water hose.

Although the bloom is low, it is probably as good as it gets this time of year.
Temperature: 51-76, mostly sunny -> sunny, almost no wind.

Bloom: Low, 21+ different plants in bloom.

Hike details, click on the photo's above

All our plants from this date on iNaturalist
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November/23/2024 Lizard Wash Chuckwalla Wash Loop
The first part is shady, perfect for these higher temperatures.

We hiked the Cuckwalla Wash this spring, but not the actual loop.
The goal was to track some plants that would be dead by now and a small Fouquieria splendens splendens | Ocotillo.
The top segments of the small Fouquieria splendens splendens are often eaten, so they won't grow until they get big enough, and then they should grow rapidly.

On the loop it's the driest we've seen this fall, but surprisingly there are 3 Fouquieria splendens splendens | Ocotillo in bloom.
Lower in the desert we find more skeletons, like hundreds of Nemacladus | Threadplant.
We were even able to relocate some dried but recognizable Eriophyllum wallacei rubellum.
On our way back to the car, we suddenly saw a few happily blooming Justicia californica | Chuparosa.

Temperature: 68-78, sunny, a breeze.

Bloom: Very low, 7+ different plants in bloom.

Hike details, click on the photo's above

All our plants from this date on iNaturalist
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November/22/2024 California - Jasper trail Loop
It's always a surprise, it was 54 degrees in town and you would think it would be colder up in the mountains.
But as we go up the Montezuma, the temperature rises, probably because the sun gets there earlier.

The goal was to find the skeletons of the plants we found in the spring. Now we know that most plants leave no trace, the only target plant we found was Leptosyne californica | California Coreopsis, in several locations to make a solid ID.
Most common skeletons, some still alive: Eriastrum sapphirinum sapphirinum | sapphire woolly star.
An interesting find, a Phoradendron californicum | Desert Mistletoe on Simmondsia chinensis | Jojoba, we've seen this before, but it's still a rare find.

Of the hundreds of dry-looking Bahiopsis parishii | Parish's goldeneye, we found only one flower, and one that barely made it, no energy left to make a ray flower.

There's a lot of Monardella linoides linoides along this loop, but we've never seen one in bloom here, now we've found a single flower.

In spring we found a strange Cylindropuntia ganderi ganderi | Gander's cholla that is a bit larger, we think this plant has been damaged by rodents.

Temperature: 59-73, sunny, a light breeze.

Bloom: Very low, 10+ different plants in bloom.

Hike details, click on the photo's above

All our plants from this date on iNaturalist
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November/20/2024 No Return Canyon
It's been over 10 years since we've hiked this particular route, so it's long overdue.
It is like entering a forest with some of the largest Olneya tesota | Ironwood trees in the Anza Borrego Desert.
Along with Psorothamnus spinosus | Smoketree and Senegalia greggii | Catclaw Acacia.

This is confusing, no annuals like Pectis papposa papposa | Chinchweed or others, but hundreds if not thousands of Boerhavia wrightii | Wright's spiderling, many still in bloom.
Only the Justicia californica | Chuparosa plants are in good bloom, the other plants show some bloom now and then.

All in all a pleasant and much easier hike than the Alma Wash next door.

Temperature: 53-65, sunny, almost no wind.

Bloom: Low, 17+ different plants in bloom.

Hike details, click on the photo's above

All our plants from this date on iNaturalist
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November/18/2024 Military Wash South
The goal today was to relocate the Calycoseris wrightii, white tackstem, and Rafinesquia neomexicana, desert chicory, that we found in bloom this spring.
Wow, we were able to relocate 75% of the plants, that's pretty good with wind, rodents and insects to remove them.

Again Fouquieria splendens splendens, Ocotillo in bloom with little or no rain. Looks like they had a pretty good general bloom in this area recently.

We are on a dead plant hunt and Monoptilon bellioides | Desert Star and Chorizanthe corrugata | Wrinkled Spineflower were a nice bonus.

Temperature: 54-71, sunny,no wind.

Bloom: Low, 17+ different plants in bloom.

Hike details, click on the photo's above

All our plants from this date on iNaturalist
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November/16/2024 North of Clark dry lake loop2
We had some rain last night, heavy but too short to be measurable.

Another third hike, now looking for dead plants, this time taking the loop further north.
One of the targets was a huge Baileya pauciradiata | Laxflower, not much is left, but what is there is very recognizable, another dead plant that stays hairy after the summer heat.
We had to check the Ambrosia Xplatyspina | Hybrid Ambrosia found in the spring of 2024, which was still very much alive. We checked for others, but found none.

Last time we had problems with Abronia villosa villosa | Desert Sand Verbena, the dried inflorescence looks strange.

The first 3/4 hour we found zero flowering plants, but we picked up more and more with even a Fouquieria splendens splendens | Ocotillo and Justicia californica | Chuparosa in bloom.
It's nice to make IDs on dead plants, but we long for plants that are more alive early next year.

Temperature: 55-64, mostly sunny, a light breeze.

Bloom: Low, 13+ different plants in bloom.

Hike details, click on the photo's above

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November/15/2024 Ella Wash Loop
The rain today was not measurable, just a few drops during the morning.
There was a big cloud of dust at the base of the Fish Creek Mountains, so this is the dustiest road in the area.

This was an accidental last minute choice, it was colored blue as fairly easy, but the description mentioned dangerous parts.
It was, quite steep and slippery, we will not repeat this loop.

The bloom was as expected quite low, but the Fouquieria splendens splendens, Ocotillo had and still have some bloom, even with little or no rain.

The hike was sunny, but there was plenty of shade in the deep canyons.
Temperature: 57-64, sunny, some wind.

Bloom: Very low, 6+ different plants in bloom.

Hike details, click on the photo's above

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November/13/2024 Fish Creek Mud Hills Loop
Another record breaking loop, this was the third time this year.

There is a report of 5" rain in August, we doubt it was 5", we found some germination in the main wash, but not as much as you would expect after so much rain.
On the hike we found no germination at all, we have now explored most of the area around Whale Peak, the direction of the rain, but are puzzled by the fact that we haven't found the source.
The rain must have fallen on a fairly small area, the guess now is close to the Mud Palisades, but almost certainly not very much.
What we know so far is that the runoff was only from the Fish Creek Wash, not the Carrizo Wash, and only a little on the Canebrake side, which also drains into the Carrizo Wash.

Our goal today was to find dead Geraea canescens | Desert Sunflower and Eriogonum ordii | Fort Mohave Wild Buckwheat.
Geraea canescens was easy because the plants are everywhere and still very recognizable, it was to make sure that our ID in the Ant Hills was indeed Helianthus petiolaris canescens.

Eriogonum ordii was just as easy as we first entered an area with only Eriogonum ordii.
Eriogonum ordii was easy to recognize, but this is much harder to see from a photo.
We had a 100% score with the following key: Not inflated, appressed hairy on lower stem, we were surprised to be able to identify them so easily.

Temperature: 46-74, sunny, no wind.

Bloom: Low, 15+ different plants in bloom.

Hike details, click on the photo's above

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November/12/2024 Ant hill loop
Our record-breaking loop, this is the third time this year
This time we wanted to collect some photos of dead plants.
This is the highest concentration of Helianthus petiolaris canescens | Gray Desert Sunflower that we know of, so we needed good photos of dead plants.
Next on our list were Chaenactis | Pincushion and Lupinus shockleyi | Desert Lupine.

We easily found all except the Lupinus shockleyi in the dense fields of Brassica tournefortii | Sahara Mustard; Asian Mustard.
Towards the end we couldn't identify any of them even though we knew we had walked over hundreds of plants, but suddenly a few plants with the ultimate proof of persistent cotyledons.

A nice bonus was a larger Stipa hymenoides in fruit.

Another reason for the lack of plants are the countless hungry rodents that build tunnels all over the desert, they are certainly a hiking hazard that can sink quite deep.

While there is no sign of recent water, we find large green Dicoria canescens | Desert twinbugs everywhere.
An Eriogonum deflexum deflexum was in exceptional bloom.
We certainly have the right time of year for blooming Asclepias subulata | Rush Milkweed; we found most of them in bloom on our hikes.
Isocoma acradenia eremophila is a very consistent bloomer, rain or none.

Temperature: 55-72, sunny, hardly any wind.

Bloom: Very low, 10+ different plants in bloom.

Hike details, click on the photo's above

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November/11/2024 Marty Minshall - Los Vaqueros loop
Wow this looks dry and after 1 hour we still had no flowers.
Finally, near the furthest point of the walk, we started to get some flowers, in individual plants and only occasionally.

The aim was to check the spike rushes, but there was hardly any water, so we will try again next year.

Temperature: 50-61, sunny, no wind.

Bloom: Very low, 11+ different plants in bloom.

Hike details, click on the photo's above

All our plants from this date on iNaturalist
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iNat observations may be posted later-on, as our time is limited.
November/9/2024 Rainbow Canyon Loop
In August we noticed a Facebook movie of a well flowing stream in Box Canyon.
We noticed Pectis papposa papposa along the road.

Tom Chester hiked the western part of the loop we did, breaking the loop in two by hiking over a saddle.
Tom's plants looked better than in other parts of the desert, so we wanted to check it out and record the shortcut for our hiking page.

We did indeed find thousands of Pectis papposa papposa | chinch weed in large fields that were in full bloom a few months ago, now only a fraction are in bloom.
There are lots of nice smelling Porophyllum gracile | Odora and the desert smell of Adenophyllum porophylloides | San Felipe dogweed.
The bloom is low, but this is still one of the better places to find plants in bloom right now.

Temperature: 43-68, sunny, no wind.

Bloom: Low, 25+ different plants in bloom.

Hike details, click on the photo's above

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November/8/2024 Arroyo salado loop2
The wash road is sometimes rocky, but good for a park road.
It looks very dry.

It was good that we were interested in dry plants.
We found an unusually high number of good looking dry plants, like hundreds of brown Chorizanthe rigida | Devil's spineflower from last spring, unusual to see them with so many leaves and brown instead of black.
And Langloisia setosissima setosissima with recognizable flowers.

We also found our target plants in large numbers: Eriogonum thomasii and Eriogonum trichopes, mostly in the washes.
Temperature: 56-70, sunny, no wind.

Bloom: Very low, 4+ different plants in bloom.

Hike details, click on the photo's above

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November/6/2024 Hawi Vallecito loop
The plants along the road look very happy, one reason to hike here.

It was quite foggy in Borrego Springs and on the hike it was still foggy but sunny.
We walked along the Cylindropuntia fosbergii | Mason valley cholla to map the outline, in this part of their habitat they migrate unusually far south and upstream.
Cylindropuntia fosbergii looks very good, this must be close to the perfect habitat.

As in many places, Isocoma acradenia eremophila | Toothed leaved alkali goldenbush is in late flower.
Krameria bicolor | White rhatany at the end of what looks like a good bloom.
This time of year we have an unusually high number of flowering Agave deserti deserti | Desert agave, most of them at the end of flowering.
Along with a rather good end of year bloom of Fouquieria splendens splendens | Ocotillo, some still in bloom throughout the park.
In contrast, Ferocactus cylindraceus | California barrel cactus show the lack of water.

Temperature: 56-64, a bit hazy, sunny, some wind.

Bloom: Low, 10+ different plants in bloom.

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November/5/2024 Imperial County north of Brawley
A car tour to find new plants and we found 8 plants new to us in Imperial County.
Dusty and salty everywhere.

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November/4/2024 Mountain Palm Spring Loop
On iNaturalist we noticed a blooming Datura discolor | Desert thorn apple, indicating summer rain.

This is an interesting, scenic short loop hike that never gets boring.
We found several Asclepias albicans in bloom.

Lots of monsoon follower Pectis papposa papposa | Chinch weed and even a single Amaranthus fimbriatus | Fringed amaranth.
The monsoon plants are concentrated along and in washes, so the water probably came from further upstream.

We found the Lycium fremontii | Fremont's desert thorn in bloom and took a lot of photos and on each one the flower looks a little different.

Finally at the parking lot a single blooming Psathyrotes ramosissima | Turtleback made our day.

Note parking is no longer free, the parking fee is $10.
Temperature: 65-73, sunny, some wind.

Bloom: Low, 15+ different plants in bloom.

Hike details, click on the photo's above

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November/2/2024 Glorietta Canyon loop 3
Today the forecast was for a slight chance of rain and wind. We got no rain and almost no wind, although the wind picked up later in the day.

From the start things don't look too bad, we got a couple of plants in bloom, but as we entered the Glorietta trail, thing got a lot worse.
It looked very dry on the rest of the hike.

Wildlife was a bit desperate eating parts of the Cylindropuntia ganderi ganderi | Gander's cholla.
As well as Justicia californica | Chuparosa that's very low on the to eat list, we rarely seen it eaten.

It was interesting to see the rudimentary leaves on Encelia farinosa | Brittlebush, the leaves are ready to go as soon as the plant gets enough water.
There are probably several plants that make leaves in advance, Fouquieria splendens splendens | Ocotillo already has leaves for the next rain.

We finished the hike in an unusual 2 hours, leaving us time to check out the plants at the water treatment plant.
What we found was a spectacular bloom of a large number of larger Wislizenia refracta palmeri.
Mixed with very good blooming large Isocoma acradenia eremophila | Toothed leaved alkali goldenbush and a Lycium brevipes brevipes | Common desert thorn in full bloom.
It looks like the water diverted from Rams Hill ends up here, confined by dikes on either side.

Temperature: 54-65, mostly sunny, some wind.

Bloom: Low, 7+ different plants in bloom.

Hike details, click on the photo's above

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November/1/2024 Lower Fish Creek Wash Loop
We wanted to continue on the Fish Creek Wash "road" that we left on October 21, 2024.
The goal was to see what happened after the torrential flow of the wash after the August 11, 2024 thunderstorm.

As expected, we found many Euphorbia abramsiana | Abrams' spurge, expanding our mapped range.
After the right summer or spring rain, Euphorbia abramsiana is one of the most abundant Euphorbias.
Much more common is Pectis papposa papposa | Chinchweed and in this area Tribulus terrestris | Puncture Vine is quite common.

The deep wash ends in a flat area, and here the wash flows over a flat area that is miles wide.
On the return hike, there are hardly any visible washes as the water spreads out over a large area.

We were early enough to miss the off-roaders in the Fish Creek Wash.

Temperature: 46-74, sunny.

Bloom: Low, 10+ different plants in bloom.

Hike details, click on the photo's above

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October/30/2024 Blow Sand Canyon Loop
Wow, it looks dry, except for a blooming Fouquieria splendens splendens | Ocotillo on our drive to the hike.
We estimate that at least 1/3 of the Fouquieria splendens splendens has recently flowered, with a handful still in bloom.

This is certainly a general flowering of Asclepias subulata | Rush Milkweed, we found several, almost all in good bloom.
They are also food for rabbits, which can't resist such green plants.
This all points to a summer rain, but too long ago, too little and too warm.

This was a short hike, so we explored some drainages towards the East Butte, making it a 3 hour+ hike.

Temperature: 55-72, sunny.

Bloom: Low, 10+ different plants in bloom.

Hike details, click on the photo's above

All our plants from this date on iNaturalist
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October/29/2024 June Wash Zig Zag
From extreme heat to extreme cold in a short time, it's finally cooler, but not extreme.

June Wash is much sandier than usual and much greener than most of the desert.
But we had no problem driving through the wash.

We wanted to explore some forks we'd never been to before.
It has certainly rained during the summer and the plants near the washes are very green.

What's unusual is the large number of flowering Asclepias subulata | rush milkweed.

The flowers are not bad, but sometimes only a single plant like a Justicia californica | Chuparosa.

Temperature: 60-68, sunny, a cool breeze.

Bloom: Low, 25+ different plants in bloom.

Hike details, click on the photo's above

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October/28/2024 Third Crossing Wash Loop
It is unusual that there is no water at all at Second Crossing.
But there is a good amount of water at the closed gate. We expect the gate to remain closed for a long time, as the road is difficult to rebuild and almost every year the damage to the road is severe and most likely costly.

Since the creek has moved east, many plants are dying where the creek used to be and new plants are growing where the creek is now.
It's unusual to see Lythrum californicum | California Loosestrife out in the open and not hidden in dense vegetation and in such good bloom.

What's unusual this year are the huge, very green Dicoria canescens | Desert twinbugs, like at the dry zero crossing.

The summer rains were enough to trigger the flowering of many perennials, like the dozens of Fouquieria splendens splendens | Ocotillo near the end of flowering.
Most, if not all of the Chilopsis linearis arcuata | Desert willow along the mostly dry creek are in bloom.
This is the first time we have seen Atriplex lentiformis in bloom.

Along our route the bloom was extremely sparse, with only about 3 different plants.

Strange that in this otherwise dry place we recorded the record bloom of the season.

Temperature: 73-80, 50% sunny, a pleasant breeze.

Bloom: Very low, not that bad around the creek at third crossing, 30+ different plants in bloom.

Hike details, click on the photo's above

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October/26/2024 Doane Valley loop
On our last visit we didn't have the time or energy to check out the rest of the loop.
One of the goals was to visit a Carex patch where we found many Carex senta | swamp sedge.
We added some new dead plants to our list of new plants.

One of the most abundant plants was Toxicodendron diversilobum | Poison Oak, large small, green, reddish, leafless.

Maybe we will get used to the insects and go into automatic waving mode, they were not that bad and now and then they were gone.

Temperature: 59-75, mostly sunny.

Bloom: Low, 15+ different plants in bloom.

Hike details, click on the photo's above

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October/25/2024 Twin Lakes
This is a scenic hike along 2 tiny "lakes", one dry, the other filled with water.
Prime Adenostoma sparsifolium | Red shank terrain, with very old and perhaps young plants.
Maybe because Adenostoma sparsifolium can grow back from it's root and looks like a young plant.
At the beginning a number of planted Pyrus calleryana | Callery Pear.

Except for the lake, there are signs that it's been wet at some point in the year, right now the whole area is at it's driest.
This is also prime Opuntia chlorotica | Pancake Prickly Pear terrain, growing happily in large numbers, not sure if we know a place with so many plants.

Really amazing that we still found so many flowering plants and even a few Adenostoma sparsifolium a bit in bloom.
Temperature: 52-80, sunny.

Bloom: Low, 25+ different plants in bloom.

Hike details, click on the photo's above

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October/23/2024 Doane Valley loop
We parked at the pound and made a loop further north than indicated on the map.
The goal for the day was to get a better ID of the Carex senta | swamp sedge we found last time, we found more plants and made a positive ID.
The next goal was to check the Phleum pratense | Timothy grass.

It's less wet and there are fewer flowering plants compared to last year.
At the beginning we didn't see any small insects, but unfortunately they were present on some parts of the hike.
The insects were not as bad as last year, lets say slightly annoying but not stinging.

On our way back the road was closed due to a downed power line, as we came in we wondered about the wires dangling lower than usual.
It would take hours to fix, so the road stayed closed, probably for the rest of the day or more.
The only option was an extra 1 1/2 hour drive on the dusty dirt road, in itself a good thing because we added a couple of new plants.
All in all we added 6 or 7 new plants to our list, none of them in bloom.

Temperature: 56-73, sunny.

Bloom: Low, 15+ different plants in bloom.

Hike details, click on the photo's above

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October/22/2024 West Side - East Side loop
A loop along the West and East Side Trails to check 2 iNaturalist observations, Agrimonia gryposepala | Common Agrimony, which we've never seen before, and Helenium puberulum | Rosilla, which we've never seen in the park.
Surprisingly, we found both plants.

Sweetwater River is a small stream, more like a creek at our northernmost crossing.

Unusual, hundreds of Verbascum thapsus, great mullein, on the flat banks next to Sweetwater River.

Temperature: 45-75, sunny.

Bloom: Low, 20+ different plants in bloom.

Hike details, click on the photo's above

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October/21/2024 Tarantula wash San Felipe creek loop
The maybe 5" of rain from Fish Creek ends up in San Felipe Creek, so we went there.
This is always one of our favorites and it's very dry except for the creek and some of the drainages.
At first it looked desolate, but we found more and more blooming plants left and right and even many blooming Euphorbia abramsiana | Abrams' spurge.

We noticed what was probably a 3 meter + flash flood.
An unexpected bloomer was Cucurbita palmata | Coyote melon, all in all a record bloom this season.

It's probably worth exploring the wash further upstream.

Temperature: 55-84, sunny.

Bloom: Normal, 28+ different plants in bloom.

Hike details, click on the photo's above

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October/19/2024 Layer cake wash loop
There must have been a lot of summer rain, we've never seen the wash this sandy.
The plants don't look too bad after the summer heat and most of the Chilopsis linearis arcuata | Desert willow in Fish Creek Wash were in bloom.

This is always a nice hike with lots of variety even without flowers.
On our hike we noticed 1 1/2 meters of flooding from the August rains, some say 5" of rain in the area.
We found blooming Boerhavia triquetra intermedia | Fivewing spiderling and Pectis papposa papposa | Chinchweed, a clear sign of summer rains.
This is one of the few places where Xylorhiza orcuttii | Orcutt's woody aster grows well outside the washes in sand/mudstone.

After the rain, there are even fewer signs than usual, and we encountered cars that were headed for the Wind Caves but ended up near Sand Stone Canyon.
Unbelievable how unprepared some people are, at least they didn't take the Diable Dropoff exit.

On our way back it was incredibly busy with a convoy of 30+ cars heading towards the Wind Caves.

Warning:
The wash is certainly not suitable for 2 wheel drive, there was one car that got stuck early in the wash.
Even we had problems in the sand up to the trailhead. This is one of the few times I had to push the throttle all the way in first gear and still barely made it.
I thought about lowering the tire pressure, but that's a double-edged sword because we really needed the ground clearance.
There was quite a drop near the Loop Road where we really needed the clearance and there are a lot of rocks buried in the sand.

Temperature: 65-75, sunny.

Bloom: Not bad, 25 different plants in bloom.

Hike details, click on the photo's above

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October/18/2024 Love Valley Meadow
It had rained the night before just past Ranchita, so we got our shoes and pants wet, an unusual occurrence at the moment.
This time we found a better route, following a creek and looping around the pond.
The strong smell of Trichostema lanceolatum | Vinegar weed mixed with Croton setiger | Dove weed was actually nice along the whole loop.
This may be the largest population of Trichostema lanceolatum that we know of.
This certainly warrants a return trip in the spring of next year.

Second stop Lake Henshaw, where we walked along the lake, the shore is very green this year.
Here we found a new plant for us, the invasive Lotus tenuis | Narrow-leafed Bird's-foot Trefoil.

Temperature: 44-64, mostly sunny.

Bloom: Low, 21 different plants in bloom.

Hike details, click on the photo's above

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October/17/2024 Ironwood Wash Vallecito Creek loop
Things look greener from Blair Valley up to Rainbow Canyon with some Pectis papposa papposa | Chinchweed (end of bloom) and some blooming Bahiopsis parishii | Parish's goldeneye.
Opposite Rainbow Canyon another recent fire, much smaller than the 2021 fire.
Much greener again from Rainbow Canyon down Campbell Grade. Opposite Campbell Ranch lots of blooming Pectis papposa papposa and very green Fouquieria splendens splendens | Ocotillo, but the green drops off considerably towards Aqua Caliente.

We wanted to fill a gap in our hiking map and explore a drainage west of Ironwood Wash.
Things look better than expected, green and some blooming Fouquieria splendens splendens | Ocotillo and Agave deserti deserti | Desert Agave.
Higher up the wash it gets even better with some blooming Pectis papposa papposa.

On our return we were really surprised by the happy blooming Justicia californica | Chuparosa, they look very green, as good as it gets.

Temperature: 69-80, sunny, a refreshing breeze.

Bloom: Not bad, 25 different plants in bloom.

Hike details, click on the photo's above

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October/15/2024 Whale West Loop
The goal today was to check on the Pinus californiarum | California Singleleaf Pinyon.
The condition of the Pinus californiarum is good, with many happy green trees and best of all many younger trees.
The previous ID of the trees was Pinus monophylla and we wanted to confirm the new Pinus californiarum ID.

Along our route there may be one of the largest continuous stands of Coleogyne ramosissima | Blackbush.
Clear evidence of recent flowering from the 2024 summer rain: Larrea tridentata, Agave deserti deserti (almost in bloom), Fouquieria splendens splendens (in bloom), Krameria bicolor and probably more.
Probably no or hardly any annuals from the summer rain.

Temperature: 64-87, sunny, light breeze.

Bloom: Very low, 4 different plants in bloom.

Hike details, click on the photo's above

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October/14/2024 Secret Canyon Trail North
We noticed Nicotiana attenuata | Coyote Tobacco on iNaturalist and that was our goal today.
We almost missed the plant, but surprisingly it was still in good bloom, even when we returned 4 hours later.
While taking pictures Carla was stung and we backed off, it seems we were very close to a nest.

Next stop was Centaurium tenuiflorum | Slender Centaury and we found a single plant with a good flower.
We had found Juncus dubius | Mariposa Rush for the first time a few days earlier, but here was a good flowing plant that made our day.

Next stop, just past the interstate, to look for Cistus creticus | Hoary Rock-Rose, we've never seen it before, now we have to find it in bloom.

We loosely followed the Secret Canyon Trail and made many side trips along Pine Creek.
On the way back we took a dirt road back to the parking lot.

If you want to park at the official parking lot, you need a National Forest Adventure Pass.

Temperature: 44-74, sunny, almost no wind.

Bloom: Low.

Hike details, click on the photo's above

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October/13/2024 Big Laguna Trail South
The aim was to find Eriogonum evanidum Vanishing Wild Buckwheat, but we knew it was probably too late.
All we found was a mostly barren area, used by rodents and overrun by campers.

The first part of the walk is chapperal, green but without flowering plants.

Crossing the road at the viewpoint we came across one of the few bright spots, with several flowering plants.
From the buckwheat site we went more or less cross-country, probably following pastures and an old dirt roads.

We found a suspicious buckwheat, but it was probably just Eriogonum gracile gracile.

Temperature: 44-75, sunny, almost no wind.

Bloom: Low.

Hike details, click on the photo's above

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October/11/2024 Coast - Mission Trails
Next on our list were a few places along the coast.
Much cooler and a bit foggy when we arrived, the plants looked a bit better.
We were pleased to find Artemisia californica | California Sagebrush in bloom, one of the flowering plants we had been looking for.

On our last visit in spring we had a hard time finding Euphorbia misera | Cliff Spurge, here we found several flowering plants that looked very different to the ones we found last time.
The whet area produced interesting plants, more related to the salty Borrego Springs areas.

We had some extra time to revisit the Mission Trails, much warmer as we climbed a hill and looking very dry.

Temperature: Seventies (coast), foggy / sunny.

Bloom: Low.

Hike details, click on the photo's above

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October/10/2024 Mission Trails
It's still hot in Borrego Springs, so it's a good time to find something cooler.
The aim was to find new plants in the Mission Trails area.
When we arrived it looked bleak, as if we would find nothing new.

But gradually we added new plants and plants we had not seen flowering before.
One of these was Helenium puberulum, which we had failed to find on several of our walks in the Laguna's.

One of our goals was to find another Tarweed, Deinandra paniculata, San Diego Tarweed, and we found a bunch in bloom at a known site.

All in all we found 10 plants that were new to us and in flower no less.
Heat warning signs on all trails, but this is considered cooler than our previous hikes.

Temperature: Eighties, sunny.

Bloom: Low.

Hike details, click on the photo's above

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October/9/2024 Indian Flats Loop
The goal was to find Deinandra mohavensis | Mojave tarplant in bloom and that turned out to be easy, the plants are blooming in most sandy washes.
As expected, it's unusually dry everwhere we go, the only water was present in the steep rocky part at the end.

This is certainly an interesting area to follow up after rain.

After the hike, we followed the rough dirt road up to Chihuahua Valley Rd.

Temperature: 66(8:30 a.m)-83(10 a.m.), sunny, almost no wind.

Bloom: Low.

Hike details, click on the photo's above

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October/7/2024 Espinosa Pine Valley Creek Loop
The goal was to find new plants before the heat toasted them.
We left Borrego Springs very early at 6:30 a.m., arrived just before 8 a.m., and hiked counterclockwise to get some shade on the last part of the hike.

The bloom was much worse than expected and a far cry from the good spring bloom.
This is certainly the year to see Erythranthe cardinalis | Scarlet Monkeyflower, here we found the largest population so far, covering the creek almost endlessly.

We were happy to record at least one new plant Xanthisma junceum | Rush like Bristleweed, with a good number of flowering plants.
Normally the creek is much too wide to cross, but now it was dry and we could hike cross country to Espinosa Creek. There was some water here, but not enough for anything new.

Temperature: 69(8am)-94, sunny, almost no wind.

Bloom: Low.

Hike details, click on the photo's above

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October/6/2024 Boiling Spring Escondido Ravine Loop
This could be the warmest day of the month, with 112 degrees predicted. So we choose early and high.

The goal today was to check out Eriogonum umbellatum munzi | Munz's sulphur flower, there is a recent observation at the voucher location.
We were worried about the timing and the heat this year, but we found several plants and some in reasonably good bloom.

For this occasion we made a new loop along the target plant. The rocky Escondido Ravine drainage is a nice place in a wetter year, we didn't find any significant water along our route.
Best flowering plant along the route: Epilobium canum latifolium | California Fuchsia.

Temperature: 70(9am)-93, sunny, almost no wind.

Bloom: Low.

Hike details, click on the photo's above

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October/5/2024 Green Valley Falls - Sweetwater Loop
It's over 110 degrees in Borrego Springs and even here it's pretty hot.
We shortened our loop and did a partial Oakzanita Peak loop at the end, totaling about 3 hours.

The plant action is along the rivers and creeks, with good numbers of flowering Euthamia occidentalis | Western Goldenrod, Erythranthe cardinalis | Scarlet Monkeyflower and Oenothera elata hirsutissima | Hooker's Evening Primrose.
The goal today was to find Helenium puberulum, we had several good GPS locations, but we did not find any.

Let's hope for cooler weather.

Temperature: 54(8am)-86, sunny, almost no wind.

Bloom: Low, probably just over 20 blooming plants.

Reports from previous seasons

Season: 2023-2024 Season: 2022-2023 Season: 2021-2022 Season: 2020-2021 Season: 2019-2020 Season: 2018-2019 Season: 2017-2018 Season: 2016-2017