I was in Anza Borrego on Sunday. The bloom is coming along nicely; not quite there yet, but there are still a lot of flowers out there right now. The area on the north side of Henderson Canyon is really green right now, and should pop in maybe a week (hard to say, I'm certainly no expert). There are already a lot of sand verbena, desert lillies and lupine blooming right now.
We also wandered through those washes along Arroyo Salado area to the south of S-3, out to 17 Palms, the Pumpkin Patch, then back down Ella Wash to Arroyo Salado and Short Wash (same route we took with the club in November). Lots of flowers out that way. The Ocotillo Wells OHVRA rangers that were set up at the Pumpkin Patch (doing an informative thing about the "pumpkins") said that they have a pretty nice bloom going in their area as well.
This coming weekend should be really nice, but as Paul mentioned, Tierra del Sol adds a lot of people to the area, and if the newspapers run their ususal flower articles, that will add to crowds. Henderson Canyon Road can be packed. Coyote Canyon was quite chaotic last time there was a big bloom, with lots of people who don't understand the dynamics of meeting another vehicle on a one-lane trail. If you want some quiet time with the flowers I would suggest either the washes south of S-3 or the Buttes Pass / Hawk Canyon area. Once you get far enough off the pavement to where the mini-van drivers start getting scared it gets a lot better.
