I was visiting family in Los Angeles when someone said
“super bloom.” Turns out that the
expression refers to an intense flowering in Death Valley. In November of 2015
heavy rainfall in the desert set the stage for an eruption of flowers in the
National Park. Los Angeles news
sources featured nearly daily accounts that described this year’s flowering as
a once-in-a-generation event. Even
though it meant a five-hour drive through dense traffic, we decided not to miss
it.
Demand for viewing the super bloom had exhausted the supply
of rooms in the Park’s three hotels, but we were able to reserve two nights at
the Shoshone Inn just outside the southeast entrance. Shoshone, population 31, is a remnant of what was once a
mining area. The town features the
Inn, a general store and Post Office, the Crowbar Restaurant & Saloon, an
RV park, and a thermal spring.
Maps of the area show access to the eastern side of the National Park
via California Highway 178, but the November rains that set off the super bloom
also washed out sections of the road, requiring an hour’s detour north to Death
Valley Junction.
We stopped first at Zabriskie Point, a spot named for a
mining administrator in the early 20th century, now best know for
the 1970 film directed by Michelangelo Antonioni. Even sharing the view with a large group of Road Scholar
tourists could not diminish its beauty.
The “point” itself is a sharp upcropping of blonde schist framed by
dark-colored deposits of volcanic lava and backdropped by the blue silhouettes
of the Panamint Mountains. No flowers yet, though.
At Furnace Creek a Park Service Ranger offered us advice based
on where the most intense colors had been reported and directed us south on
California 178, passable as far as the Badwater salt flats. As we drove, the eastern side of the rocky
surface of the valley floor softened with an overlay of yellow flowers. Closer inspection revealed that the
carpet-like appearance was loosely woven, intermittent plants rising above the
desert floor. A wildflower guide
purchased at Furnace Creek helped us identify the yellow flowers as Desert
Gold, a plant that displays bright petals and seeds on a spindly, brown
stem. We also saw the violet-cupped
Desert Five-Spot and Purple Mat, with its tiny, star-figured blossoms.
At Badwater a Ranger led a walking tour of the salt flats
that fan out from the highway.
Many of the questions she fielded concerned the flowers rather than the
salt formation. From her
explanation we learned that a super bloom actually has two stages. The heavy fall rains rinse away a thick
seed covering, setting the stage for the flowers that we saw in February. But
this initial gambit must be followed up by subsequent moisture that allows the
early flowers to survive and for other species to erupt. The Ranger expressed concern that
without a rain before the first of March, the “super bloom” would not fully
develop.
Wonder what happened.
