We were in DV on Tuesday. The flowers on the valley floor are almost all gone. The bloom was limited to the most southern end of DV. We drove up Echo canyon and saw what was left of the flowers. About 50% had died but there were some gravel ghosts, 5 spots and a few desert gold. The creosote brush is in full bloom and the cactus are starting to pop. Check desertusa.com for updates.
It was kinda fun seeing it, although it didn't seem very DEATH Valleyish. Never seen so many people there, including tons who drove up for just the day. There was bumper to bumper traffic in Trona.
Down near Badwater was best, but that was just for fields of desert gold. Lotsa stuff popping up in a more discreet way, including in southern Panamint Valley. Not much as of early March in eastern Kern Co.
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2001 Ford E250 Sportsmobile with Salem-Kroger 4x4 conversion
Just back from Death Valley. Came in via Goler Canyon, camped near the top for the night and went in over Mengel Pass the next morning. Road was fine and didn't meet any humans but did find a family of burros. Beautiful full moon and perfect temperature! Next night we drove up Johnson Canyon. Road was a bit rocky towards the end so we camped short of the spring and hiked the last bit. The last night we spent at Gold Canyon. The wildflowers were plentiful and the road, again, pretty good. Except for Furnace Creek where we resupplied and got lunch, we rarely ran into anybody. Fun times!
We left Vegas on Thursday and spent the night several miles west of Scotty's Juncton. There were enough flowers to create a carpet bloom of 2-60 acres. What was interesting was the literally millions of new plants that were sprouting underneath the flowers that had bloomed. We would have stayed but there was no forecast for rain and if there was no rain the plants would die without blooming. Then comes a storm on Sunday and it looks like it dropped enough rain to sustain a regional bloom from Goldfield south to Amargosa Valley. We are on our way north but if anyone has the time to check the area in the next 5-9 days you might be surprised with the colors that have emerged. No guarantees but it should be an exceptional year for flowers in the desert between 1000' and 3000'.