14 Road Trips To Add To Your List If You Love Seeing Stunning Wildflowers

Hop in the car! We've got camping equipment, binoculars, snacks, and long playlists to sustain us on a massive wildflower quest around the United States. Imagine following the roads and the seasons across much of the continent, witnessing some of the most spectacular floral shows Mother Nature puts on each year, arriving right at the peak of their blooming glory. Utter magic. Feed your eyes with Texas bluebonnets, West Virginia wild orchids, alpine blossoms of the Washington mountains, and everything in between.

No matter how charming the idea is, setting aside months for the sole purpose of seeking wild blooms isn't realistic for many of us at this point in time. Breaking the super-loop up into 14 smaller trips makes this more feasible. Our list is organized chronologically rather than by geographical convenience, as well.

Located at all corners of the contiguous states and representing diverse ecosystems from montane to coastal to boreal, you can reach each of these locales within a reasonable drive from a large city, and all but the deadest of winter months are covered here. Let the stunning colorful wildflowers inspire your own planting journey at once you're back at home, too.

A flower-viewing trip to Anza-Borrego Desert State Park is akin to catching a pre-season football game. This California destination makes it onto many lists of must-sees for wildflower enjoyment. In late winter, the desert floor explodes in color after much-needed seasonal rains. From late February through April, after a particularly rainy winter, the park has been known to experience a "superbloom" with efflorescences even visible from space! You can spy purple desert sand verbena, yellow desert marigolds, and pink beavertail cactus blossoms. Anza-Borrego State Park is located about 1 ½ hours east of San Diego.

Head for the Texas hills in April for glimpses of the area's iconic bluebonnets. The rolling south-central region of Texas is especially known for the deep blue member of the lupine family, but that's far from the only blossom on display. Breaking up hillsides of solid blue are light pink evening primrose, red-centered yellow coreopsis, and flame-red Texas paintbrush. Some of the Hill Country's best spots for flower gazing are the Ladybird Johnson Wildflower Center on the outskirts of Austin, and Lyndon B. Johnson State Park, about 1 hour 20 minutes north of San Antonio.

Most visitors know a summer version of Great Smoky Mountain National Park. If you can squeeze a spring break trip to the locale, you'll learn why it's also known as "Wildflower National Park". There are over 1,500 types of flowers that make this Tennessee-North Carolina national treasure their home. In mid-April through May, tread the Chestnut Top and Porter Creek Trails to track down elusive woodland blooms like trillium, bleeding hearts, and lady's slippers. Reach the park on a 1 hour drive south from Knoxville, Tennessee, or a 3-hour drive west from Charlotte, North Carolina.

The U.S. capital provides its share of floral beauty in the form of spring cherry blossoms, but if you need a break from politics, Shenandoah National Park in Virginia is an easy, refreshing getaway in spring and early summer. Located under 1 ½ hours southwest of Washington D.C., the park shows off a bounty of wildflowers visible on hikes or by car. Hoof it along the Stony Man and Limberlost Trails to view wild geraniums, bloodroot, and trillium. Non-hikers won't miss out either; vistas from the Skyline Drive will let you take in hillsides dotted with color.

The mountains of New England are widely celebrated for fall foliage, but springtime provides its own palette of colors. Starting in May and continuing through June, White Mountain National Forest is the place to savor the sight of lupines, lilies, red trillium, rhododendrons, and a variety of goldenrods. This swath of forest straddling the border between New Hampshire and Maine is 1 hour west of Portland, Maine and 3 hours north of Boston. Flowery points worth visiting within this vast tract are Mount Washington, Black Mountain, White Brook Fen, and the Sawyer Pond Trail.

A folksy name like Dolly Sods is fitting for a West Virginia wildflower hotspot. It's not one of the easiest corners of the eastern U.S. to reach — it's 3 ½ hours south of Pittsburgh and 3 hours west of Washington D.C. Perched atop the Allegheny Plateau in Monongahela National Forest, you're regaled with plant life more akin to what you'd find in Canada. In spring and summer, gaze at flame azalea, rhododendrons, and bleeding hearts. Keep your shoes dry on boardwalks through the bogs to spy rose pogonias and pink orchids.

Travel across the plains to the rugged Black Hills for a dose of western mountain blooms starting in May and culminating in July. Pasqueflower, native columbine, and prairie smoke are among the most striking flowers you'll find at elevations of 5,000 to over 7,000 feet above sea level. Reach them on hikes along the Cathedral Spires or the Black Elk Peak Trails. The Black Hills are a scant 1 hour southwest of Rapid City.

Make your way into the high peaks of Colorado to experience Crested Butte's legendary wildflowers. Although it's a popular spot, it's very remote. The 4-hour drive southwest from Denver won't disappoint, though, since the route is brimming with spectacular sights. June to early August are peak wildflower viewing season in Crested Butte. The annual Wildflower Festival in July will take your breath away (both literally and figuratively, since the town is around 9,000 feet above sea level.) Scope out meadows filled with columbines, Indian paintbrush, and lupines along Snodgrass Mountain and Rustler Gulch Trails among many others.

People might not celebrate spring snowmelt in a skiers' paradise, but in Sun Valley, Idaho, the frozen layers give way to an abundance of wildflowers starting as early as April. The botanical performance continues through June. And oh the things you'll see! Snowless pistes pop with yellows, pinks, purples, and reds in the form of arrowleaf balsamroot, fireweed, penstemon, and western columbine. Some of the top places to see them are Bald Mountain, Taylor Canyon, and Camas Prairie. Reach Sun Valley with a 2 hour 45 minute drive east from Boise.

Before the Vermont mountains burst into fall color, wildflowers take center stage in Green Mountain National Forest. Within this expansive territory are scenic drives and parks riddled with trails. Really, flower season takes off in April; come early for trout lilies and Dutchman's breeches. Summer gives way to tall meadow rue and Canadian lilies. As the days grow shorter, it's Queen Anne's lace and goldenrod that step in. See them along the Leicester Hollow Trail and drives along route 125. Parts of the forest are 1 hour from Albany, NY, or 3 hours from Boston.   

Visitors to the Seattle-Tacoma area know that the behemoth Mt. Rainier isn't always visible from their cloud-covered cities. Make the 1 hour 45 minute drive south to Mt. Rainier National Park to glimpse the elusive peak. The sprinkling of wildflowers along its slopes will make your experience unforgettable. The blooms peak mid-July but continue till mid-August, when you'll gaze at alpine lilies, Indian paintbrush, and avalanche lilies. Peer at these beauties on drives near Paradise and Chinook Pass and hikes in the Mowich Lake area and trails on the mountain's southwest slopes.

Only those who've never been to Iowa think it's nothing but corn fields. Intriguingly-named Wildcat Den State Park, 12 miles east of Muscatine, is an enchanting maze of trails among bluffs and deciduous forest. During the growing season, catch sight of pink prairie roses, bellwort, and snowdrops. The trail to Devil's Punchbowl delivers both on its namesake and wildflowers, and the picturesque Park Boundary trail is one of only two hikes rated moderate instead of hard. The park is 1 hour 20 minutes southeast of Cedar Rapids and about 3 ½ hours west of Chicago.

Sitting equal distances between Chicago and South Bend, Indiana is a serene landscape you wouldn't expect in the Midwest. Indiana Dunes National Park affords you a seascape far inland. Along the towering hills of sand are scores of wildflower varieties that unfurl their petals from April to September. Among the springtime flowers are salt and pepper plants, dog violets, and nodding wakerobins. Summer ushers in hoary puccoons and purple bergamot. As summer warmth fades, spot cardinal flowers, blue lobelias, and gentians. Get your visual fill on the Tolleston Dunes trail or the Cowles Bog trail.

Nebraska's Sand Hills are 19,000 square miles of rolling hillocks. These dunes are well-stabilized by plants, and wildflowers abound among them. The Hills host wildflowers for months, but fall is when the place really shines. Stunning sunflowers and asters pepper the hills in September. Take in a lot in a short time on Nebraska's Sandhills Scenic Byway that you can pick up in Grand Island (a bit over 2 ½ hours west of Omaha). Great hikes are found at Fort Robinson, Smith Falls State Park, and Spring Creek Prairie Audubon Center.