Deserts

WELCOME, DESERT DENIZENS!

Our deserts section covers the Anza Borrego Desert State Park and the communities of Borrego Springs, Ocotillo, Ocotillo Wells and Jacumba.


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BEAUTIFUL BORREGO BLOOMS: OUR GUIDE TO WILDFLOWER VIEWING

Story and photos by Miriam Raftery

March 16,  2024 (Borrego Springs) – Those heavy winter rains have resulted in one of the most beautiful bloom seasons in recent memory in the Anza-Borrego Desert.  I visited earlier this month, finding the desert floor along Henderson Canyon Road bursting with colorful purple verbena, white primroses and yellow sunflowers.

Many of the most spectacular wildflower fields are not in the Anza-Borrego State Park, but just outside it on the outskirts of Borrego Springs.

Tips for your visit:


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CANDLEWOOD ARTS FESTIVAL MARCH 23 HIGHLIGHTS PUBLIC ART IN BORREGO SPRINGS

4th annual event showcases commissioned public art by Karla Diaz, Jake Freilich, Pearl C. Hsiung, Debra Scacco, and student artists from Borrego Springs High School
 
March 14, 2024 (Borrego Springs) -- The Candlewood Arts Festival returns to the Anza Borrego Desert on March 23 with commissioned public art works as well as a gallery exhibition of art by local youth. The Festival, sponsored by Under The Sun Foundation, will include a performance, workshops, an artists’ talk, and an opening party for visitors and residents to experience contemporary art together in the unique desert community of Borrego Springs. Events will take place from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. 

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RURAL RESIDENTS OPPOSE AT&T PROPOSAL TO PULL PLUG ON LAND LINES, SAY ACTION COULD COST LIVES: HEARING MARCH 19

By Miriam Raftery

Image: CC via Bing

February 8, 2024 (San Diego’s East County) – AT&T has filed an application asking the California Public Utilities Commission to end AT&T’s obligation to serve as a carrier of last resort (COLR) and cease maintaining land line telephone service. A map indicates this would include the entire San Diego region. If the CPUC approves the request,  land line service could end as early as six months later.

There are no in-person hearings in San Diego County, but you can voice your opinion in a virtual hearing March 19 at 2 p.m. and 6 p.m. or post online comments here.  

"If approved by the CPUC, over 580,000 affected AT&T customers would be left with fewer options in terms of choice, quality, and affordability," warns the Rural County Representatives of California. "Alternative services, such as VoIP and wireless, have no obligation to serve a customer or to provide equivalent services to AT&T landline customers, including no obligation to provide reliable access to 911 or Lifeline program discounts."

The proposal has drawn strong opposition from rural residents in East County and elsewhere in California, as well as consumer advocates who warn that ending land lines would leave many in rural or remote locations with no reliable phone service at all, since Internet VOIP phone service is not widely available in many places and some areas also lack cell phone connectivity. Even for those with cell service, land lines have proven life-saving options when cell towers have burned down during wildfires in places such as rural Potrero.


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RECENT RAINS SHOULD MAKE 18TH ANNUAL PLEIN AIR INVITATIONAL ONE OF THE MOST COLORFUL

By Jonathan Goetz

 

February 5, 2024 (Borrego Springs) -- The 18th Annual Plein Air Invitational in Borrego Springs, California promises to be a captivating celebration of art and nature. The event runs from March 4 to April 14, 2024.

 

While wildflowers typically start popping up halfway through February, the peak blooming usually occurs in March and continues through April. Given all this winter's rain this year's floral blooms in the Anza Borrego should be early and quite exceptional.


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FULL MOON DESERT WALK SET FOR JANUARY 24

January 21, 2024 (Borrego Springs) -- The Anza Borrego Desert Natural History Association’s Education Director Mike McElhatton will lead a full moon nighttime walk in South Palm Wash on January 24 from 5 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.  The moonlight walk is a tradition of the organization, now in its 13th year.

Experience the unique and serene beauty of moonlight on the canyon walls along this a free 1.5- mile walk through South Palm Wash. Meet at ABDNHA to carpool. A flashlight, water, and good hiking shoes are required. Activity cancels with cloud cover or high wind. Call the Nature Center at 760-767-3098 to reserve. This walk is fairly easy with short moderate sections.


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JACUMBA ARTIST FEATURED AT GALLERY GRAND OPENING IN OCOTILLO JANUARY 14

By Rebecca Person 

 

January 10, 2024 (Jacumba) -- Kirk Gilliam, an electrician by trade, is one of ten talented artists represented at the new Gateway Gallery in Ocotillo at 1173 Imperial Highway, which celebrates its grand opening on January 14 from 2 p.m. to 9 p.m. 

The artists hail mostly from southernmost California towns in the border area - El Centro, Bombay Beach (Salton Sea), Anza-Borrego, Jacumba Hot Springs, San Diego, and on the Mexican side, Mexicali. Gateway Gallery is the realized dream of Mark Silva, resident of the desert hamlet of Ocotillo. Silva bought the house which was to become the future gallery last January and embarked on fulfilling his dream with the participation of fellow artists.


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COYOTE MOUNTAIN ADVENTURE HIKE JANUARY 14 IN ANZA BORREGO STATE PARK

East  County News Service

January 4, 2023 (Anza Borrego) – The Anza Borrego Foundation will lead a hike on Coyote Mountain in the Anza Borrego Desert State Park on Sunday, January 14 from 7 a.m.to approximately 4 p.m. Hikers will cljmb Coyote Mountain on an eight-mile route with an elevation gain of about 2,500 feet.


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COLD FRONT BRINGS SNOW TO LOCAL MOUNTAINS, FROST TO VALLEYS AND DESERTS

By Miriam Raftery

Photo via Mt. Laguna Lodge webcam

January 3, 2024 (San Diego’s East County) – The first snowfall of the year is blanketing Mount Laguna, with snow showers forecast through this evening.  Scattered rain showers and thunderstorms are forecast elsewhere in the region, along with gusty winds in mountain and desert areas.

Frost is forecast tonight in San Diego’s mountains and deserts.Use caution when driving, as icy roads will occur.


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SUSPECTED DUI DRIVER KILLED IN ROLLOVER CRASH IN JACUMBA

East County News Service

December 27, 2023 (Jacumba Hot Springs) – The driver of a red Ford Edge sustained fatal injuries in a solo-vehicle accident yesterday around 4:35 p.m.,  The crash also injured a passenger.  

The driver, a 52-year-old woman from  Wilmington, California, veered off I-8 westbound just east of McCain Valley Road in Jacumba Hot springs.  The vehicle rolled over multiple times, tumbling down an embankment.


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UNINCORPORATED AREA CREATES ASSOCIATION TO HAVE A VOICE AT SANDAG

By: Jessyka Heredia

December 7, 2023 (San Diego County)—Tomorrow the newly formed Association of Planning Groups-San Diego County will find out if SANDAG will allow the group, comprised of all 18 Planning Groups in the unincorporated areas, to have an advisory role on the SANDAG board. Currently there is no representation for the unincorporated communities.


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MAN ARRESTED FOR MURDERING HIS MOTHER IN BORREGO SPRINGS

East County News Service

Update November 21, 2023: The victim has been identified as Leona Guevara, 63.

November 19, 2023 (Borrego Springs) – Jacob Guevara, 41, is under arrest for the murder of his mother.

The victim’s daughter had requested a welfare check on her mother, 63, due to living conditions in  her residence, according to the Lieutenant Joseph Jarjura with the San Diego County Sheriff’s department.


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IS EAST SAN DIEGO COUNTY’S ILLEGAL MIGRANT SURGE SUBSIDING?

 

 By Rebecca Person 

A bleak landscape is what  migrants face. Photo: R. Person 

 

November 6, 2023 (Jacumba Hot Springs) -- The abandoned youth center building in Jacumba Hot Springs, which has been pressed into service as a staging area for emergency supplies going to undocumented border crossers, is crowded with bags and bags of donated clothing, sorted and marked, ready for coming waves of new migrants into the area. While a lower number of migrants seems to be arriving, there is no reason to believe it won’t increase.


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PHOTOS OF THE WEEK: BEAUTIFUL BOULEVARD

November 5, 2023 (Boulevard, CA) -- Benjamin Hayden took these scenic shots earlier this year in Boulevard, a high-desert town in San Diego's East County.

From colorful sunrises to dramatic sunbeams, the photos depict spectacular skies over mountains, rocky terrain, and ridges topped with wind turbines.


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DE ANZA COUNTRY CLUB DESTROYED BY FIRE

By Miriam Raftery

Photo, left, via Cal Fire

October 31, 2023 (Borrego Springs) – Yesterday morning’s fire destroyed the historic clubhouse at de Anza Country Club in Borrego Springs.  The club posted on Facebook, “Sad news to report. Our beautiful clubhouse at de Anza has burned…Bighorn Room,  Coyote Den, Ballroom, offices, locker rooms were all ruined.  Golf Shop is okay. We are all devastated; members, employees and friends of de Anza.”


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FIREFIGHTERS BATTLE COMMERCIAL FIRE AT DE ANZA SPRINGS COUNTRY CLUB

Correction:  An earlier version of this story stated that the fire was at DeAnza Springs Resort in Jacumba; in fact it is at De Anza Springs Country Club in Borrego Springs.

By Miriam Raftery

October 30, 2023 (Borrego Springs) – Sixty firefighters are at the scene of an early morning commercial structure fire at De Anza Springs Country Club in Borrego Springs. When Cal Fire arrived, 75% of the structure was engulfed in flames.

Firefighters are making good progress and have kept the fire from spreading to other buildings or vegetation.


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COULD MIDEAST MILITANTS CROSS BORDER IN OUR REGION?

By Miriam Raftery

Photo: Supervisor Jim Desmond at press conference calling for border closure

October 28,2023 (San Diego) – The Israel-Hamas war has inflamed anti-U.S. sentiments around the world, sparking protests outside U.S. embassies in several nations,. NBC news reports. That’s led some local conservative politicians including Supervisor Jim Desmond and Supervisorial candidate Amy Reichert to call for closure of the border to new immigrants, citing fears that militants allied with terrorist groups supporting Hamas could potentially cross the border into the U.S. with an aim to harm Americans.

How credible are those concerns?


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SUPERVISORS VOTE TO USE $3 MILLION IN FEDERAL FUNDS TO HELP NONPROFITS AIDING MIGRANTS AND ASYLUM SEEKERS

East County Supervisors, candidate for vacant seat split on views over migrant aid

By Miriam Raftery

Photo, left:  Migrants in Jacumba Hot Springs in May 2023

October 12, 2023 (San Diego) – By a 3-0 vote,  San Diego County Supervisors on Tuesday approved allocating $3 million in federal American Rescue Act funds to aid nonprofit groups that have become overwhelmed by waves of migrants in our region. Agencies through the region’s  Rapid Response Network are handling hundreds of asylum seekers daily in recent weeks. The funding will provide immediate aid with a goal of consolidating resources into a proposed migrant center in the future.

An estimated 98% of these migrants have family in the U.S., according to the proposal. But after being processed and screened by Border Patrol agents, many are being dropped off at transit stations without food, water, translation services, or any means of contacting relatives or traveling to reunite with their families. Recently, many migrants have been held temporarily in scorching desert heat in areas such as Jacumba and Boulevard without shade, water or food; community volunteers have stepped up to provide tarps, water, and sandwiches in what ECM reporter Rebecca Person termed “peanut butter diplomacy.” One immigrant called a volunteer offering food “an angel.”

An award-winning ECM report in May led the Southern Border Communities Coalition to file a federal complaint with Homeland Security over alleged mistreatment of migrants in violation of U.S. and international laws.

The use of the federal funds approved by Supervisors, intended as a three-month stopgap measure while the  County pushes for more federal money, will be used to help migrants and asylum seekers with translation help, transportation, food, water, hygiene kits, restrooms, access to Wi-Fi and equipment to reach relatives and move beyond San Diego to their destination, while asylum seekers await hearings in immigration court.


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VOLUNTEERS USE PEANUT BUTTER DIPLOMACY TO RESOLVE TOUGH BORDER SITUATION

By Rebecca Person

Photos by R. Person and Noah Miller

October 10, 2021 (San Diego’s East County) -- What began as a trickle of migrant activity at the Mexican border outside small towns in the farthest corner of east San Diego County has surged to a humanitarian crisis - a river, a deluge of hundreds of border crossings here daily. The scene has mirrored and surpassed the crisis last May, when the towns of Jacumba Hot Springs and Boulevard felt a sudden wave of migrants when Title 42 was lifted and Title 8 returned.

Those changes allowed migrants to apply for asylum.  But for those not able to qualify for asylum, crossing the border can lead to formal deportation back to one’s country of origin and possible criminal prosecution if the person makes a second entry within five years. 

Humanitarian groups such as Border Kindness have joined local resident volunteers and some church groups to bring a steady supply of donations - bottled water, blankets, jackets and tarps to migrants camped along the border fence. Also sandwiches, especially the peanut butter kind.


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57TH ANNUAL BORREGO DAYS DESERT FESTIVAL OCTOBER 21-22

East County News Service

October 10, 2023 (Borrego Springs) – The 57th annual Borrego Days Desert Festival, produced by the Borrego Chamber of Commerce, will be held Saturday, Oct. 21 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sunday, Oct. 22 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Christmas Circle Community Park on Palm Canyon Drive in Borrego Springs.


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THE MIGRANT CRISIS IN PHOTOS

By Rebecca Person

Photos by Rebecca Person and photographers who asked to be anonymous

October 1, 2023 (San Diego’s East County) -- Waves of border crossers quietly filter into the high desert towns of Jacumba Hot Springs and Boulevard in the farthest eastern corner of San Diego County.

Local residents and volunteers there respond with rounds of water and supplies. Surprisingly, many locals are unaware of the human drama unfolding all around them. Some who do encounter bands of migrants on back country roads use caution, fearing arrest for assisting illegal border crossers.


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IN U.S. BORDER TOWN - STEADY STREAM OF MIGRANTS CONTINUES

By Rebecca Person

photos By Pete Cerep

September15,2023 (Jacumba Hot Springs) -- Just when a recent crisis of hundreds of stranded undocumented people seemed to abate, local residents of San Diego County border town Jacumba Hot Springs are reporting new waves of migrants seen on foot emerging from the rugged desert here.

In recent weeks, the numbers and frequency of sightings have increased from occasional to now several groups are observed each week. The latest group on September 13 numbered 62 people who scurried over a remote desert trail and clustered in the shade of tamarisk trees beside Old Highway 80 in Jacumba.

Photos of the travelers reveal them to be mostly young men, possibly Asian, though a few women and children were seen. By contrast, most of the May migrants said they were from Haiti, Turkey, Brazil or Guatemala, according to residents who brought them water and survival supplies.

Those pictured in photos in this article were loaded into vans late in the day on  Sept. 13 to be transported to their next destination under the apparent supervision of Border Patrol, witnesses told  ECM.


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GET INVOLVED WITH REGIONAL PLANNING - ENGRAVED INVITATION

By: Tracy Defore, County of San Diego Communications Office

Photo: Doaa Polus, seen pointing to her map, votes for 3 new parks just north of I-8 in the vicinity of First Street

September 3, 2023 (San Diego) -- The County is looking for input on projects covering a wide range of priorities that may affect you, your neighborhood or the region at large.


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FESTIVAL OF SUNFLOWERS: LABOR DAY WEEKEND EVENTS IN JACUMBA

By Rebecca Person

 

August 29, 2023 (Jacumba Hot Springs) -- Over Labor Day weekend on September 2, Jacumba Hot Springs celebrates its wild sunflowers -- cheerful survivors of a challenging high desert clime - with a friendly Pop-Up Art Show, Nature Photography Exhibit and its monthly Bathhouse Bazaar.


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EXTREME HEAT: STAY INSIDE, COUNTY ADVISES

August 29, 2023  (San Diego) -- The National Weather Service has extended the Excessive Heat Warning for the San Diego County deserts, mountains and valleys through Wednesday, August 30, at 8 p.m.. Temperatures will reach 110 to 117 degrees in the deserts, 95 to 107 in the valleys, and 90 to 100 in the mountains.

The San Diego County Department of Emergency Services advises:

  • Stay inside or shaded areas. Drink lots of water.
  • If you feel sick from the heat, call 9-1-1.
  • Never leave young children or pets alone in vehicles.

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JACUMBA HOT SPRINGS BOUTIQUE SPA REOPENS IN SAN DIEGO’S BACKCOUNTRY

By Rebecca Person
 
August 29, 2023 (Jacumba Hot Springs) -- Maybe you've been waiting for it too, the rebirth of this cultural landmark in the high desert backcountry, a historic health destination for Hollywood luminaries and international visitors. After years of planning and rebuilding, Jacumba Hot Springs Hotel is open again, and the little town of Jacumba Hot Springs is breathing a sigh of relief.

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JACUMBA BATHHOUSE BAZAAR: SAN DIEGO BACKCOUNTRY’S LIVELY STREET MARKET

If you find yourself craving a ceramic bird whistle, a new painting, zucchini plants or luffa sponges, you’re likely to find them at the Bathhouse Bazaar.

By Rebecca Person

August 28, 2023 (Jacumba Hot Springs) - High desert heat, the cold, the wind - the threat of a category 2 hurricane - the elements have not diminished interest in Jacumba’s lively backcountry street market, The Bathhouse Bazaar, now in its 3rd year. 


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VIDEO OF THE WEEK: HURRICANE FUELS LIGHTNING STORM IN JACUMBA

August 19, 2023 (Jacumba Hot Springs) -- Outer bands of Hurricane Hilary have sparked an estimated 1,000 cloud-to-cloud lighting strikes in San Diego County, the National Weather Service says.  At the Desert View Tower in Jacumba Hot Springs, overlooking Imperial Valley, Gabrielle Schultz had a birds-eye view and shot this dramatic video of a lightning storm before dawn this morning.


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EVACUATION WARNING FOR OCOTILLO DUE TO FLASH FLOODING; LIGHTNING STORM IN JACUMBA

By Miriam Raftery

August 19, 2023 (Ocotillo, CA) – An evacuation warning has been issued for the entire towns of Ocotillo as flash flooding has begun. Flooding is expected to worsen as Hurricane Hilary roars up from Mexico and is forecast to become a tropical storm when the eye hits our region late tomorrow.

Imperial County issued the warning due to heavy rain, flash flooding, high winds forecast to reach 82 miles per hour in the small desert town of Ocotillo, just over the county line. 

The Red Cross has set up an emergency shelter at the Imperial County Community Center,375 S. 1st Street, El Centro.


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