February 26, 2016 Death Valley, California

After our night with Judy on her B2B hike in Death Valley we went out to see the flowers of the superbloom. It really is spectacular. In the mid 80’s during the day and low 50’s at night. Clear and sunny.

Sunset on the playa by camp. There are vast fields of the desert golds. But intermixed we found this huge field of yellow suncups, mixed with white evening primrose,vibrant pink sand verbena and pink 5 spots.

The same yellow sun cup mix. Also fields of pink sand verbena.

These desert golds are near Ashford Mill.

We then when up on the  Warm Springs Road where there were more vast fields of desert gold.But there was a little more diversity up there. Here is waist high desert golds with knee high desert 5 spots. The 5 spots usually get to about 6 inches high. Everything  is bigger and better this year.  Loved these desert golds running down the rivelets –probably where the water ran- on this red butte.

Warm Springs come right out of the rock, and it is warm. There was a mining settlement at Warm Springs, all the miners that worked for Louise Granthem, who Judy wrote a book about. It was the best place to work, there was air conditioning in the bunk houses, a pool, better wages and treatment, better food. All around nicer. This settlement closed down in 1985. It was so cool, green and nice we sat by the pool and rested for about an hour.

One of Louise’s talc mines, this one is pretty close to Warm Springs. Sunset as we left the valley.

These are some of the flowers we saw, but by no means all. The top two suculent plants are Desert Portulaca, Portulaca halminoides, a pale desert gold and my boots covered in flower pollen. Oops, got two of the desert gold, some sand verbena and evening primroses, a pale yellow evening primrose that we don’t know if it is a pale version of the others or a different species, cracked mud with desert golds.

Pin cushion, purple phacilia with  sun cups, and gravel ghost in the lower photo, tiny false wooly daisies. Desert 5 spots, they are usually not this tall or prolific, this is just one plant, turtle back and phacilia.

Crypanthia, tiny red flowers we don’t what are, and I think I have seen the spiney thing after it dies, never seen it blooming, and no idea what it is. The last three are desert chicory and I would call the last two desert dandelion, but we are confused and not sure. So may flowers this year.