Colorado Desert

Much of the Colorado Desert sits below sea level, and its lowest floor, 275 feet (84 m) below sea level at the Salton Sea, makes it one of the hottest and lowest corners of the country. This subdivision of the Sonoran Desert covers about 7 million acres (28,000 km²) of southeastern California, spilling into Baja California. It is named not for the state but for the Colorado River, which built the region's deltaic plain and periodically filled its basin with ancient Lake Cahuilla. The Peninsular Ranges to the west block Pacific storms, leaving the desert two brief rainy seasons, in winter and late summer.

Water redrew the desert in the 20th century. In 1905 the Colorado River broke through irrigation works and for nearly two years poured into the Salton Sink, creating the Salton Sea. Canals, including the All-American Canal, later turned the Imperial and Coachella valleys into major farming districts. Wild country remains. Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, the largest state park in California, protects palm oases, slot canyons and spring wildflower blooms, and the southern half of Joshua Tree National Park also lies within the Colorado Desert.

• The Mojave Desert
  The driest desert in North America borders
• Joshua Tree National Park
  Where two deserts meet in Southern California contains
• The Salton Sea
  California's largest lake, created by accident and shrinking contains
• California
  The most populous U.S. state, admitted 1850 located in
• The Colorado River
  The river that carved the Grand Canyon named for
• The Sonoran Desert
  The lush desert of the saguaro cactus part of