At Hellhole Palms for the Superbloom
Anza Borrego before its sizzles: Week in Photos
Hellhole Palms is a hike in Anza Borrego State Park, southern California. I saw that irresistible name on a map and simply had to go check it out. The palms are California fan palms, and they appear as oases in the crease of canyons, surviving through a combination of snowmelt, natural springs, and shade.
Anza Borrego is the largest state park in California and was named for Juan Bautista de Anza, a Spanish explorer. “Borrego” comes from “sheep,” apparently the desert bighorn sheep. The small town of Borrego Springs is located centrally.
We encountered the black-tailed jackrabbit and the notorious roadrunner, which tends to scurry across the road, not down it. I looked hard for the burrowing owl, but these small, ground-dwelling owls are rare and difficult to spot. Most of the wildlife we saw was of the metal variety, courtesy of sculptor Ricardo Breceda. Arrayed in the open of sprawling Galleta Meadows are more than 130 metal sculptures of elephants, dinosaurs, horses, camels, tortoises, and raptors.
