See Death Valley covered in an ethereal blanket of wildflowers

Death Valley doesn’t look so dead after all in these stunning new photos of the desert in bloom

By Jackie Flynn Mogensen edited by Claire Cameron

Death Valley is called that for a reason. Incredibly hot and largely devoid of water, it is practically inhospitable to life. But right now, parts of the desert are transformed, blanketed in a thick blanket of golden and violet flora. The valley is teeming with wildflowers in what the US National Park Service (NPS) says is the best blooming event the site has seen since 2016.

Every year wildflowers bloom in this Californian valley. Among the most common are the bright yellow desert gold, wave leaf desert brush, grape soda lupine and desert star. And periodically, there’s a “superbloom,” a massive show of riotous color that occurs about once every 10 years on average. The last one was in 2016; Death Valley also experienced superblooms in 2005 and 1998.

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A superbloom occurs in years where annual rainfall has been “well distributed,” according to the NPS, and manifests as winter gives way to spring and warmer weather. Flower buds are able to grow to maturity when there is an absence of strong winds that would be able to tear down the budding flora. Last year, high temperatures and little rainfall resulted in a particularly weak wildflower bloom.

At low elevations of the valley, the flowers are expected to be on display through mid- to late March, according to the NPS, while at higher elevations, flowering is set to begin in earnest in April. As beautiful as the flowers are, the NPS encourages visitors not to pick them – that way we can all enjoy the exhibit.

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