Spring is finally here and wildflowers are popping up in many parts of the Pacific Northwest. Some of the best known displays of flowers, like those at Paradise in Mount Rainier National Park and Hurricane Ridge in Olympic National Park, won’t happen for several months yet, but in lower elevation meadows, prairies, and wetlands the blooming has started and will be at peak for the next month. Wonderful wildflower blossoms can also be seen in the sagebrush-steppe habitat of the Columbia Plateau and Great Basin east of the Cascade Mountains.
Interested in venturing out in search of wildflowers? Here are a dozen of the best places in the northwest USA to find the spring bloom:
Oregon
- Tom McCall Preserve at Rowena in the Columbia River Gorge
- Mount Pisgah Arboretum & Buford Park near Eugene/Springfield
- Table Rocks Preserve near Medford
- Hells Canyon Overlooks
- Rough & Ready Botanical Wayside near Cave Junction
Washington
- Dalles Mountain Road at Columbia Hills State Park, Columbia River Gorge
- Dog Mountain and Catherine Creek in the Columbia River Gorge
- Steamboat Rock State Park near Grand Coulee
- Kamiak Butte in the Palouse
- Patterson Mountain near Winthrop in the Methow Valley
- Turnbull National Wildlife Refuge near Spokane
- Umtanum Ridge near Yakima
What other top places for wildflowers have you found in the northwest?
