A Rare Superbloom Is Turning Part Of Redwood National Park Purple And There Are Only Weeks To See It

Something extraordinary and fleeting is happening right now in Northern California, where the Bald Hills grasslands above the redwood canopy in Redwood National Park have erupted into a rare lupine superbloom, turning a stretch of elevated landscape off a remote road near Orick into a sweeping sea of purple, blue, and white wildflowers that can grow to five feet tall. What makes this display unusual compared to most California superblooms is its cause: not rainfall but fire. Park botanists have found that lupine seeds with hard coatings can lie dormant in the soil for years, and that prescribed burns reliably trigger a superbloom roughly two years after the fire clears competing vegetation and allows mass germination. The last major superblooms in the Bald Hills occurred in 2009 and 2025, and this year appears to be another strong one in what is already being called California's best wildflower year in a decade.

The bloom is dominated by riverbank lupine and covers an area where open grasslands above the famous redwood forest create a landscape where a carpet of purple flowers gives way to one of the most ancient and towering tree species on Earth. The viewing window is narrow: the bloom typically peaks from mid-May through June before fading, meaning the next few weeks represent the best opportunity, and park staff are actively encouraging visitors to make the trip. The Redwood bloom is part of a broader 2026 wildflower season that California State Parks has rated as moderate to strong statewide, with notable displays having peaked at Death Valley and continuing across parks in Northern and Central California. Rangers say that for anyone within driving distance, this particular hillside is worth rearranging your weekend for.

Source:https://www.accuweather.com/en/leisure-recreation/redwood-national-park-superbloom-2026/1888471