The average rainfall in Death Valley is about 1.9" around Furnace Creek, but this year was a particularly dry one, so the wildflowers are even more difficult than normal to find. I managed to photograph 15 species and to show my workshop customers some fairly dense patches, but doing so required going up one of the park's 400 miles of unpaved roads.
It's not uncommon in Death Valley National Park to have to go off paved roads to see the best sights, since the majority of the park's 700 miles of roads are unpaved. The Racetrack, Titus Canyon and Leadfield, Devil's Golf Course, Agueberry Point and Agueberry Camp, Mosaic Canyon, Salt Creek, the charcoal kilns, Stovepipe Wells (the actual wells, not the resort), Darwin Falls, Skidoo, Saline Valley, Mustard Canyon, Chloride Cliffs… so much you stand to miss if you can't go on the more adventurous roads.
You do can into some awkward situations… we saw one rental car way up a high clearance road (about to enter a difficult 4WD section), and encountered another one coming out of Titus Canyon Road the wrong way on that one-way road after they reached a section they couldn't continue past!
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My favorite place on earth. Jeff gotta stay at the Furnace Creek Inn if you have not already. Been going to Death Valley since 1979. Pull the car over and shut it off and just stand outside and hear……silence.
gorgeous picture..Jeff
very buti place like it
Beautiful. For some reason these wild flowers are concentrated at both sides of the road in some places in Death Valley and they create such a magnificent view while looking down at the far off road from a hillock/ height.
The water running off the paved roads increases the water available to plants within a few feet of the road +Ravi Shastry, so seeds and plants there tend to do a little better than plants even a few yards away.
+JP Myers I've had lunch there (best food available in the park), but I'll have to look into lodging as well.
People seem to think of Death Valley as a desolate place ,but the opposite is true ,at certain times of the year it is a beautiful place to see
Divno….:-)
hmmm, I would have loved to see these desert beauties.
They are there every spring about this time +Paul Porter
Nice Jeff. I'm surprised DV even gets 1.9 inches of rain.
ciekawy widok
I want to do all those 700 miles 😉
I'll be there in 24 hours, very excited. The road to Darwin Falls isn't too rough is it? Hoping to drive that one in a rental.
I LOVE DEATH VALLEY. IT HAS AN UNEARTHLY BEAUTY…AS THOUGH FROM SOME OTHER PLANET! 😉
+Charles Schnake the road to Darwin Falls is not to bad at all. Just did it last weekend. Quite a few cars and vans back to that part of the road.
Beautiful picture. Thanks.
Superbe
اني هوايتي التصوير صورة هذي نتمني انكون فيها
Que lindo.
Good job … its so stunning ! 🙂
Great capture of the wild flowers!!!!!!
nicely captured.
ilike the picture
Me too +Marc Briggs. I need a Jeep.
Did you go this year +Paul Porter?
I still have hopes for the area around the Antelope Poppy Preserve next month…
+Charles Schnake The road to Darwin Falls used to be paved, but it has so many potholes and torn-up areas that it's hard a times to recognize that now. You can make it in though in sedans and minivans with careful driving around the obstacles.
Love…
+Jeff Sullivan , I haven't been able to muster the resources for a wildflower trip this year. I've long wanted to get down to Carizzo or Antelope, but will hope for next year.
It came very good. I like the rough texture of the boulders most and the contrast of the flowers.
Es precioso!!
This is really a beautiful seanery…