Ok I got a somewhat unusual question. We have loads of rain this year, so it seems natural that we’ll have a profuse wildflower blooming season. Would love to take the kids to see wildflowers but its not feasible for me to drive, for example, all the way to places like Death Valley. So the goal is to find somewhere local so they get to see flowers, then feed them and us something good nearby.
Wife said someone mentioned the SF Botanical Garden. If they have wildflower over there, then the food is easy around the GG park. I’ve never been, but I thought its a ‘managed’ garden?
But, besides that, any locations around the Bay Area got good wildflower sightings this year? How about Mt Diablo? (Eats in Far East Bay).
In years past, the land on the west side of Paseo Padre between Dumbarton and Yum’s Bistro was covered with yellow mustard flower. Don’t know about this year.
Sad to say the blooming mustard of years ago on Paseo Padre in Fremont have been turned into homes!! No more wildflowers there.
SJ Mercury News just did a front page story on the wildflowers coming into bloom peak Mid-April.
Pt Reyes - hiker told me Chimney Rock was beautiful just recently.
Mt Tam SP - Dipsey Trail to the Ocean is usually nice
Mt Diablo - somewhere for poppies not sure where
Sunol Reg Wilderness - has annual Wildflower Festival coming up this Sun 4/9 11-4, free event, $5 Cash for parking.
Calero Co Park, SJ
Wilder Ranch SP, Santa Cruz
My favorite is Mori Point, Pacifica really short and not too hard and tons of wildflowers w/ Pacific Ocean views.
Last year went to the Western Railway Museum near Suisun City and took a train ride through the wildflowers. It was fun, but I’m sure it’s much more spectacular this year. Beforehand we had a pleasant lunch at a Greek restaurant on the water in Suisun City proper. The food was better than okay, and it was nice to sit outside.
This sounds great. Its only a short detour from eateries in Daly City, which I can grab from this thread, unless there are recs for Pacifica. How long/ steep are the hikes to the flowers?
This sounds good also. I must admit I haven’t thought about Suisun City much despite all these years living in the Bay Area. Out of curiosity I did a search, and there have been a total of 27 discussions mentioning Suisun City in 18 years of CH history.
Yep. Must’ve been, since there isn’t a whole lot to the waterfront area.
It’s pretty rural still. Hasn’t been taken over by suburbs yet. I believe the wildflower train rides are only in April – so go soon! They provide cookies and lemonade on the train, but I passed on that.
Sonoma - beautiful flowers and mustard in vineyards along highway 29 between Glen Ellen and Kenwood. Might also want to check out Jack London or Sugarloaf state parks - also Montini reserve trail in Sonoma town and Overlook trail in town. Lots of good food options locally and I’d recommend El Molino in Boyes Hot Springs for casual creative mexican, VJB in Kenwood for salads/pizza in fun courtyard setting many options in Sonoma itself and always option to buy some local wine cheese and chocolates and picnic
A friend of mine was just here this week; you can see photos on their FB page:
Also, I noticed that the cherry blossoms were in full bloom the weekend before last in Japantown; it was really pretty. Isn’t the Cherry Blossom Fest coming up this weekend?
Aw, I guess you must’ve missed it and it’s over already. It was in full pink blossom that first warm/sunny weekend after all the rain; I think it was 03/25. My cousin was visiting and we walked through Jtown and it was really pretty. We also had lunch at Marin Joes one afternoon (Monday if memory serves) and we spotted full pink cherry blossom trees beside some residences in the neighborhood.
Ah. I saw a few trees with the color of the leaves that look like it was past the bloom but wasn’t 100% sure. At least I didn’t make a special trip because when I saw your post I was standing literally at Japantown. A cherry blossom festival without the blossom. Oh well!
I did take the kids to Mori Point in an attempt to see the wildflowers today. Took them out of the car. One of them immediately complained that it was cold (It wasn’t, really.) and about the breeze. The other joined in. Both asked me to carry them. We took a grand total of ten steps past the bathroom. So that’s our wildflower viewing today- the yellow mustard by the baño. At least we got a lunch in HMB before this debacle and a grocery trip in the city afterwards.
