Update on Open Roads and Wildflowers in Bloom

DEATH VALLEY NATIONAL PARK, Calif. Death Valley National Park is open to visitors via Highway 95 through Beatty, NV, or via Pahrump, NV, through Shoshone, CA, and up Badwater Road. Highway 190 from Death Valley Junction remains closed due to re-construction.

Due to recent significant rainfall, roads leading into the National Park are blooming with wildflowers, in what is predicted to be the best wildflower bloom in the national park in more than eight years.

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While the heavy rains did impact Highway 190 from Death Valley Junction, the significantly increased rainfall has lead to an early wildflower bloom throughout the national park that is described as "spectacular." With more than 2.5 inches of rain reported in Death Valley during the last week of December and the first week of January (more than in any other two-week period of the park's history), this earlier than ever bloom is predicted by the National Park Service to be the best wildflower showing in Death Valley in more than eight years.

The Death Valley wildflower season typically lasts from March through mid to late April, with longer blooms through early June in elevations above 5,000 feet. The January bloom is most likely a sign of more flowers than usual through mid-spring.

Desert Gold, Brown-Eyed Evening Primrose, Notched-Leaf Phacelia, Golden Evening Primrose and Desert Star are just a few of the species blossoming in the area. In some canyons in the Park, Desert Gold Carpet -- a flower unique to Death Valley, is in bloom.

To learn more about entrances into Death Valley, wildflowers in bloom, hikes in the Park, or accommodations, contact the Death Valley Chamber of Commerce at 760-852-4524 or log on to www.deathvalleychamber.org.

For further media information or photography, contact Death Valley Chamber of Commerce, PO Box 157, Shoshone, CA 92384, 760-852-4524. Death Valley Chamber of Commerce is a 501c3, Non-Profit Association.