May Wildflowers Season is Here!

The wildflower season is starting at Camas Meadows. Soon the entire meadow will be a sea of wildflowers. These Glacier Lily's blooming in the meadow are the advance guard for the next 130 species of wildflowers that will follow.

May brings sunny days followed by cool nights at the meadow. It is our favorite time at Camas. If you can only make one trip to Camas, May is the month to be here. The wildflowers are blooming; the elk are in the meadow. Days are warm and nights are still cool enough that an evening fire is a cozy way to end the day.

Soon the entire meadow will be covered with wildflowers. It looks like the peak of the wildflower season will be mid-May to early June. At peak bloom, Camas Meadows becomes a sea of wildflowers. There are probably well over fifty wildflowers blooming at the same time.


The elk herd has returned to the meadow. Our neighbor counted 24 elk in the herd this morning. This is before the cows drop their young. It looks like the elk herd is starting to increase once again. Everything in nature cycles, but we always appreciate an increase in the elk population. At it's peak in the early '90's the herd numbered 225.

Today, as we glanced at the meadow we spied two Sandhill Cranes. The cranes have been visitors to Camas for four or five years now. They hunt the frogs and other amphibian's that are found in the meadow during spring runoff. Once the meadow dries out for the summer, they fly off to raise their young. We're not sure where they go, but we do appreciate their stopping at Camas Meadows on their spring flight.

We are currently booked the weekend of May 16th, June 24th and 25th, 4th of July weekend, and the week of July 28th. Memorial Day and the weekends in June are still open for wildflower season.

Don't miss the best season at Camas Meadows Natural Area Preserve.