See it to believe it: Dinosaurs and Elephants Grazing in a Desert

When you visit Anza Borrego Desert State Park within the Colorado Desert in southern California, I suggest you go looking for some well-known animals of the area, most of them, creatures you are not likely to see in a desert landscape. I’m talking about elephants, dinosaurs and even a dragon. I’m talking about the metal sculptures of Galleta Meadows in Borrego Springs.

Now, Borrego Springs is a small town out in California’s Desert Region; the place you will be — most probably — staying in if you were to visit Anza Borrego. It’s situated around 90 miles northeast of San Diego, CA.

Spread over some parts of this desert town are some large brown figures of birds and animals, and even some insects. Crafted out of metal, these sculptures are some wonderful creations. It is the enormity of of some of these piece of art that you might marvel at. Then there is the number of sculptures, here. There are around 130 of these structures scattered all over Galleta Meadows. One more thing for you to marvel at is the fur on many of these sculptures; this too created entirely of metal.

The Metal Sculptures of Galleta Meadows

Ricardo Breceda, The sculptor

These marvelous metal sculptures are creations of sculptor Ricardo Breceda, a Mexican-born Californian artist. His gigantic pieces of art in Galleta Meadows include figures of creatures large and small, from mammoths and dinosaurs, horses and camels to tortoises. There’s even a 350-meter-long dragon that stretches over a road.

The self-taught artist has an interesting story too. You can read about how he came to be the metal-sculptor he is today, here on his official site.

Galleta Meadows

Galleta Meadows sits on some privately owned land in the town of Borrego Springs. The sculptures here began to take form in 2008, when its then-owner Dennis Avery wished to see some sculptures spread out over the expanse of his desert estate, which had been purchased for the sake of conservation.

How to see the metal sculptures of Galleta Meadows

• Even though it is on private land, this meadow of metal sculptures in Borrego Springs, CA is free to visit.
• The metal sculptures are distributed over an area of 3 sq. miles, some of which can be seen from the road as you drive around town. For the rest, you can drive off the paved roads and into the Meadows. This way you can get a closer look at them, take better photographs, and pose with some of these metal creatures for a selfie or two.
• You may not be able to see each and every one of these sculptures. You can pick your favorites or the ones you’d like to see up close, look for them on the map, and drive to them.
• The best part is that you can do this tour through the desert even on a hot day as you can literally drive up to each of these rust-colored creations.

You might also want to visit:
Anza Borrego Desert and its Crude Allure
The Desert Wildflowers that Color the Colorado Desert

Linking to —
My Corner of the World