{"id":937,"date":"2026-03-17T12:57:55","date_gmt":"2026-03-17T13:57:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cpetzold.com\/?p=937"},"modified":"2026-04-24T16:24:26","modified_gmt":"2026-04-24T16:24:26","slug":"dr-elliot-mcgucken-seizes-a-rare-superbloom-in-death-valley","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/cpetzold.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/17\/dr-elliot-mcgucken-seizes-a-rare-superbloom-in-death-valley\/","title":{"rendered":"Dr. Elliot McGucken Seizes a Rare Superbloom in Death Valley"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Along with its reputation as the driest and lowest national park in the U.S., Death Valley is also one of the hottest places on Earth<\/a>. It holds the air temperature record of 134 degrees Fahrenheit, recorded in 1913. But in spite of its macabre name, Death Valley is anything but lifeless. And over the past couple of weeks, a rare \u201csuperbloom\u201d demonstrates just how vivacious it can be.<\/p>\n

For photographer Dr. Elliot McGucken<\/a>, who focuses on landscapes and nature, the visual cacophony of wildflowers foregrounding the Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes or dramatic mountains like Telescope Peak are an endless source of fascination. Death Valley\u2019s predominant flower displays<\/a> are magenta and yellow\u2014Phacelia and Desert Gold, respectively. There are also Mojave Stars, Brown-eyed Primrose, Five Spot, Sand Verbena, Brittlebush, and the uniquely named Gravel Ghost.<\/p>\n

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McGucken was photographing at Yellowstone National Park when he learned that Death Valley had experienced record rainfall over the past few months and was primed for a superbloom. Not wanting to miss it, as they only happen occasionally\u2014the last ones occurred in 2016, 2005, and 1998\u2014he drove to California. \u201cAs nature photographers, we\u2019re oft waiting for those \u2018hell yes\u2019 moments to pack up and move out, and this was a \u2018hell yes\u2019 moment!\u201d McGucken says. \u201cI traveled from minus 10 degrees Fahrenheit to over 90 degrees in a day!\u201d<\/p>\n

At the beginning of March, Death Valley National Park announced it was experiencing its best superbloom in a decade. At lower elevations, the wildflowers blossom in early March, and depending the weather, can last until mid-month. At higher elevations, wildflowers bloom from April to June, depending on the altitude. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhile I had photographed a smaller bloom in the Panamint Valley back in 2024, I had never seen so much greenery in the lower parts of the park, from Stovepipe Wells to the Mesquite Dunes to Furnace Creek to Badwater,\u201d McGucken says. \u201cI have been photographing for the last few days, making the most of the once-in-decade event.\u201d<\/p>\n

The photos here were taken over the course of several days, including March 16. While the superbloom is now considered past peak, there are still some displays in certain areas of the park. See more on McGucken\u2019s Instagram<\/a>, and purchase prints on his website<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member<\/a> today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $7 per month. The article Dr. Elliot McGucken Seizes a Rare Superbloom in Death Valley<\/a> appeared first on Colossal<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Along with its reputation as the driest and lowest national park in the U.S., Death Valley is also one of the hottest places on Earth. It holds the air temperature record of 134 degrees Fahrenheit, recorded in 1913. But in spite of its macabre name, Death Valley is anything but lifeless. And over the past […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":940,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[21],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/cpetzold.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/937"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/cpetzold.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/cpetzold.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/cpetzold.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/cpetzold.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=937"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/cpetzold.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/937\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":966,"href":"http:\/\/cpetzold.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/937\/revisions\/966"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/cpetzold.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/940"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/cpetzold.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=937"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/cpetzold.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=937"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/cpetzold.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=937"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}