Death Valley Super Bloom, cross one more off the bucket list.

Death Valley, the hottest place in North America is a unforgiving environment which has earned its name for good reason, it has not only the lowest point in North America at 284 below sea level, and holds the highest reliable recorded temperature ever recorded anywhere in the world at a rubber melting 134F!

I have been fascinated by this National Park for some time now. The myth of the sliding rocks of course always fascinated me, however the naturalist within me was beyond attracted to what is known as the "Super Bloom". I First heard of the Super Bloom over a decade ago during its last event. Scientists and visitors all over the world scramble to the valley to see this colorful event, when a normal dry unforgiving climate yields to the rains and up from the terra comes flowers where they simply do not belong. Given it is likely a once in a lifetime event for a person, I would have to go.

Two years ago I was fortunate enough to spend a couple of days riding my motorcycle through this incredible valley and I had a magnificent time.
This time around I would be lucky enough to be visiting the Vegas area during the superbloom, nothing could keep me from seeing this magnificent event.

Recently I loaded up the familia for our quick trip through the valley. I would not be spending a lengthy stay, it would simply be a quick visceral for the senses to see something which we would have maybe a half dozen chances at best in our adult lifetime.

As we enter the park we are greeted by a mixture of yellow, green, purple and orange mostly along the side of the road.

Unfortunately I did not stop initially as I was hoping for even a greater explosion of colors as I entered the park.

There were waves of yellow, mixtures of orange within with a hint of purple here and there. Honestly had I not seen the park when absolutely no green, except that at the spring in Furnace Springs, I would probably not have thought much of it. However since I had seen it when seemingly nothing existed, I knew the splender I was indeed seeing.

We Traveled to Dantes Peak and saw hints of life here and there, but little as we climbed, with one exception, there was green, green should not exist in this environment, with the exception of the cacti that seems to thrive in often incredibly harsh places.
As always the View from the top was absolutely magnificent, and I may be mistaken, but it seemed as if the salt flats in BadWater basin were brighter than normal, perhaps not.
We would be told by an older gentleman that a trip to Beatty, would yield rows of flowers we so craved.

We would take his advice and follow the winding road down, stopping here and there to grab a quick picture.

We took the turn to Beatty, and wow were we greeted with splendor. As promised fields of yellow abounded, being past the peak of the bloom, I could only Imagine the grandeur of days already past.

From this point on, I stopped what seemed like every few feet to snap some photos, like a small child I ran here and there trying to catch the perfect photo. The bright sunlight made it hard to see the viewfinder, but I was confident I had grabbed photos to last a lifetime. I would discover as I came home the disappointment which too often came in the flim days, my pictures were less than fabulous, but would still be a reminder in years to come, of yet another chance of a lifetime grabbed.