Dumont Superbloom!

Springtime is always the time of year when Dumont blooms with vegetation and flowers. This year's bloom, however, is different. Death Valley usually only receives 2 inches or less of precipitation per year and in some years, none at all. In early October alone, there was more than 3 inches of rain. This rainfall is what prompted millions of wildflower seeds to grow creating what has now been called a rare superbloom!

Bright yellow desert gold flowers are the first to catch your eye. They can be seen mostly along the north edge of the camp area near the base of the dunes.

photos by Jodi Knight

Other species of flowers, such as the deep purple phacelia and desert primrose, can be found mixed with the desert gold flowers creating quite the display of colors.

Another very interesting one is the pink and purple desert five-spot. The 5 pedals open up in the afternoon and close at night.

As mentioned earlier, many of the flowers are easily accessed on the north edge of camp while others are farther to the south end. The super bloom won't be around for long so get out there and see it for yourself. There are probably only a couple weeks where the bloom will be at it's peak. Once the temperatures start to rise, the only flowers that will survive will be at higher elevations (not Dumont).