In a wet winter — and only in a wet winter — the desert floor around Borrego erupts in colour from late February to early April. Sand verbena turns whole flats purple; desert lily, dune evening primrose and brown-eyed evening primrose pick out the washes in yellow and white; ocotillo flares scarlet at the tips. The bloom is unpredictable: many years are quiet, but a true super bloom (last seen in 2017 and 2019) draws crowds from across California.
Henderson Canyon Road, Coyote Canyon Road and DiGiorgio Road are the easiest places to see it. The state park hotline at the visitor centre tracks current conditions. Stay on roads and trails — the soil crust takes years to recover from a footprint.