How big is Anza-Borrego Desert State Park?

More than 600,000 acres, or roughly 1,000 square miles. It is the largest state park in California and the third largest in the United States, spanning parts of San Diego, Riverside and Imperial counties.

How much does it cost to enter Anza-Borrego?

Day use is $10 per vehicle, collected at the Visitor Center, developed campgrounds and several popular trailheads including The Slot and Hellhole Canyon. The park has no entrance gates and much of it can be accessed without a fee.

When is wildflower season at Anza-Borrego?

Annual wildflowers can appear from January through mid-April, with peak bloom most often between late February and early April. Timing varies year to year based on rainfall and temperature.

Is Anza-Borrego a Dark Sky Park?

Yes. The park was designated an International Dark Sky Park in 2018 at Silver tier. Borrego Springs, the town at its center, has been an International Dark Sky Community since 2009, the first in California.

Do I need four-wheel drive at Anza-Borrego?

Not for the paved roads, the Visitor Center or the main campgrounds. The vast majority of the park's roughly 500 miles of dirt roads do require a high-clearance four-wheel-drive vehicle.

Is Anza-Borrego Desert State Park open at night?

Yes, the park is open 24 hours a day, year-round. The Visitor Center is open daily 9am to 5pm October through May, and weekends and holidays only June through September.

Andrea McKenna • September 16, 2026

Cherie Bianco Brings Monthly Women’s Community Fire Ceremony to Borrego Springs

New gathering begins Oct. 21 at Yellow Woman Ranch

Borrego Springs practitioner and author Cherie Salma Bianco will lead a new monthly Women’s Community Fire Ceremony beginning Wednesday, Oct. 21, at 6 p.m. at Yellow Woman Ranch, 302 Palm Canyon Drive.

Bianco brings more than four decades of experience in somatic practices, Kundalini Yoga, movement, meditation, sound and spiritual traditions. She is the founder of Kundalini Bianco – Center for Nervous System and Soul Integration and creator of the Root to Rise™ Method, which integrates nervous-system regulation with somatic awareness, breathwork, movement and sound.

She is also the author of Root to Rise: From Survival to Sovereignty in a Dysregulated World and 365 Daily Return: 365 Days of Somatic Wisdom.

The Borrego Springs ceremony is centered on three themes: Release, Receive and Remember.

Participants will gather around the fire for reflection and an intention-setting ritual. Each person is provided a small wooden Spirit Arrow, which can represent an issue, belief, relationship, habit, hurt or something else they are ready to acknowledge and release. The arrow is then offered to the fire.

The gathering will continue on the third Wednesday of every month at 6 p.m. Participants are invited to bring rattles, drums or other sound makers if they have them.

The ceremony is free and open to all, with donations accepted. Special thanks are given to Rossy at Yellow Woman Ranch for hosting the gathering.

For information, contact Cherie Bianco at 312-925-0468.