Death Valley: Wildflowers appear, despite drought

By Mary Forgione

April 10, 2014 8 AM PT

Daily Deal and Travel Blogger

Drought? What drought? Southern California’s sporadic rainfall (and lack of it) this season seems to have been just enough for wildflowers to put on a decent show at Death Valley National Park.

The park, about 300 miles inland from Los Angeles, reports the late spring bloom should continue as temperatures rise.

“Much to our surprise, wildflowers are turning out to having a pretty decent bloom this spring after all,” says a note on the park’s website and Facebook page. “Rainfall in the higher elevations--especially in the Panamint Mountains--are allowing a late spring bloom, and it may only get better and higher as the temperatures warm.”

The March 31 flower report (which still holds) notes:

--Carpets of desert dandelion, woolly daisy and gold poppies south of Badwater.
--Blazing star, orange globemallow and pale purple and yellow Mojave aster along Highway 190 between Emigrant Campground and Towne Pass.
--Indian paintbrush, indigo bush, desert larkspur and princes plume popping up in the high desert.

In the back country, the east side of the Panamint Mountains that flooded last summer are covered with yellow brittlebush. In this area, dirt roads in the washes are still ruined, but visitors can walk in from the beginning of the canyons to see the wildflower show.

Closer to home, the Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve in Lancaster reports “rivers of orange around the park” as of April 5. “The bloom is much better than the last two years, and with the periodic rains we’ve had in March, we should have a good bloom spread through all of April,” the park’s website says.

Aside from golden poppies, visitors also may see purple lupine, lacy phacelia, goldfields and fiddleneck as well during the spring bloom.

Info: Death Valley National Park, (760) 786-3200(760) 786-3200; Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve, (661) 946-6092(661) 946-6092