The first time I heard about the super bloom was in 2017, and I couldn’t see it because I was in Utah. I’m not missing it this year!
It was not easy choosing photos for this post, partly because I took so many and partly because the photos can’t capture the magic. Basically, if you are reading this anywhere near Southern California, cancel whatever you had planned for today and go see the super bloom.
I try to pick one favorite photo for a blog and put that photo first, and this time I have three. This looks like splashes of paint! It’s like nature’s Rose Parade float.
Anyway, I went to Walker Canyon in Lake Elsinore to see the super bloom. One thing the Internet said was, “If you’re not there by 6:30 a.m., forget about it.” Apparently the super bloom has limited parking and causes traffic jams on the 15 south, so you want to get there early to avoid all that. There were only about ten cars on the freeway when I got there, but half of them exited at Lake Street with me. (And the 15 south was definitely crawling when I left. Google said it was taking 40 minutes to do the 15 miles south from the 91.) There was a wait to get onto Walker Canyon Road because authorities had set up a roadblock to stop everyone and tell them the two rules: park well off the road, and don’t step on the flowers.
The Internet was not kidding about getting there early. I parked at 6:35 a.m. and was still about a half mile from the trailhead. This is the line of cars arriving. The rumor is that for this weekend they started a new parking program where you park at an outlet mall and then pay $5 for a shuttle if you didn’t get there early enough to park at the trailhead.
I underestimated the cold, so I hiked fast to compensate and made it to the top to enjoy the sun rising.
The other thing the Internet said is that people are ruining the super bloom by trampling it to take selfies. It looks like someone sat here. Most people were respectful (I heard one guy gasp in horror when he stepped on a petal that was already sitting in the middle of the fire road), but a few had no shame (I saw another guy wade down the hill into the flowers then slip on his way back up and leave a man-shaped flat spot.)
As it got warmer a massive amount of painted lady butterflies began to stream up from the canyon over the top of the hill (see the video). Apparently more rain means more butterfly food!
Sleepy poppies. They started to open up once the sun had been out a while.
It was interesting to see that the flowers only grew on one side of the hills, and that different types of flowers liked different sides.
The crowds hang out near the start of the trail where the flowers are the thickest, so the massive amounts of people are fairly easy to out-hike if you wanted to hang out with just the flowers.
A panorama of the most vibrant part of the trail.
Since I parked when it was still dark, I didn’t realize there were flowers around the Mustang until I got back. I was sitting in the car texting this photo to my dad when a family walking by stopped and pointed at the running horse symbol on the grill. I rolled down the window. “Mustang fans?” I asked. Oh yes, they said, especially her, and brought the youngest girl forward. I told her she had excellent taste.
The steady stream of cars rolling in before sunrise, and all the butterflies!