Borrego Springs' 130 giant metal sculptures: where to find the serpent, the mammoths and the rest
About 130 steel sculptures by artist Ricardo Breceda stand in the open desert around Borrego Springs, free to see at any hour. The biggest clusters are 3 to 4 miles north and about 4 miles south of Christmas Circle along Borrego Springs Road; pick up a free map at the Desert Nature Center, 652 Palm Canyon Drive.
- Sculptures
- ~130
- Cost
- Free
- First installed
- 2008
- Longest
- ~350 ft
Count keeps growing
Open land, day or night
Galleta Meadows
The serpent
The short version
- The Anza-Borrego Desert Natural History Association counts roughly 130 Breceda sculptures in the Borrego Valley, and says the number keeps creeping up.
- Philanthropist Dennis Avery put them on his Galleta Meadows land as an outdoor gallery; the first ones went up in 2008.
- The serpent, about 350 feet long, appears to dive under Borrego Springs Road north of town.
- Many depict animals whose fossils were found nearby: Columbian mammoths, gomphotheres, sabertooth cats and the giant bird Aiolornis.
- The Desert Nature Center at 652 Palm Canyon Drive gives out a free sculpture map.
Drive into Borrego Springs and you'll start seeing them in the creosote: a rearing horse, a sabertooth cat mid-pounce, a scorpion squaring off with a grasshopper the size of a car. They're the work of Ricardo Breceda, a self-taught welder originally from Durango, Mexico. He made his first dinosaur for his daughter. The late Dennis Avery, owner of Galleta Meadows, decided his desert land should be an outdoor gallery for Breceda's work.
How the sculptures spread out from town
Christmas Circle
Center of Borrego Springs
North on Borrego Springs Rd
3–4 miles
The serpent
Crosses the road
Jeep, padre, chief, tortoises at Henderson Canyon Rd
East on Big Horn Rd
Detour off the north route
Grasshopper vs. scorpion
Plus the grape workers
South on Borrego Springs Rd
About 4 miles
Horses and dinosaurs
Horses near the road
Dinosaurs set back on the south side
Source: Anza-Borrego Desert Natural History Association sculpture guide. Distances are approximate. Checked November 6, 2026.
A plan for a half day
- 01
Get the map
Stop at the Desert Nature Center, 652 Palm Canyon Drive, for the free sculpture map. Juan Bautista de Anza stands outside the Chamber of Commerce and Welcome Center at 786 Palm Canyon Drive.
- 02
Go north first
Head north on Borrego Springs Road from Christmas Circle. Detour east on Big Horn Road for the grasshopper and scorpion, then continue north to the serpent.
- 03
Turn at Henderson Canyon Road
At the corner: the Willys jeep, the padre, the chief and the tortoises. East on Henderson Canyon, a dirt road across from the Vern Whitaker Horse Camp road leads to the bighorn sheep.
- 04
Finish south
Back through town and about 4 miles south for the horses and the dinosaurs.
When to go
October to April. Summer afternoons in Borrego regularly pass 100°F, and there's no shade around the sculptures. Golden hour is the best light, and the sculptures stand on open land with no closing time, so some photographers shoot them at night. In a wet year, pair the trip with the Anza-Borrego wildflowers. Plan on about two hours each way from downtown San Diego, and see more day trips from San Diego.
Is this still right?
We last checked this tip against its sources on November 6, 2026, and we re-research every tip on a schedule. Things in San Diego change, sometimes overnight.
This is general information, not legal, financial, tax, medical or safety advice.
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SOURCES
Everything above traces back to one of these. Follow them — if one has changed and we haven't, that's our mistake, not yours.
Anza-Borrego Desert Natural History Association · Checked November 6, 2026
~130 sculptures; Avery; where to find them; free map at the Desert Nature Center; 2WD access
East County Magazine · Checked November 6, 2026
First 60 placed April–November 2008; 350-foot serpent
Los Alamos Daily Post · Checked November 6, 2026
Open to the public at no charge, day or night