The Sonoran Desert is a beautiful desert stretching throughout sections of Arizona, California, and Baja California, spanning a total area of more than 100,000 square miles. The desert, which is North America's hottest desert, showcases a high biological diversity of unique flora and fauna, including beautiful cacti and West Coast annual flowers like lupines and poppies. 775 square miles of the desert are protected by the Sonoran Desert National Monument, protected in 2001. Visitors can embark on half-day guided tours from Phoenix or Scottsdale, including Jeep tours and cowboy-led hiking tours. Hiking trails include the six-mile Brittlebush Trail, which spans the North Maricopa Mountains Wilderness. Visitors can also learn about the desert's native animals and habitats at the Arizona-Sonoran Desert Museum.