Spring Wildflowers in 2021: Rim Country, Payson, Pine & Strawberry
Why come up here?
We have dope mountains.
Weather is much cooler than Phoenix.
Also the winter snow melt will cause a flower bloom explosion! We got almost 3 feet of snow up here in February 2021, and then it snowed some more in March!
Day 1 of the 2021 snow storm
Day 2 of the 2021 snow storm
Where are they?
All of the wildflowers listed above can be found in the areas below:
PLEASE DON’T BE A blueDICK AND WALK ON / DESTROY THE FLOWERS, THANK YOU!
Barlett Reservoir (This area starts blooming first, lower elevation)
Apache Lake
Roosevelt Lake
Deer Creek Trailhead
Rye area
Payson area
Dollbaby Trailhead
The Boulders Loop Trailhead
Pine / Strawberry (This area blooms last, higher elevation)
Download the Payson Map to help your adventure
When are they?
Mid-March to Late-April basically
Starts in Late-February down in the Barlett Lake area —> about 2 weeks later Roosevelt / Rye area peaks —> about 2 weeks later Payson area peaks
Another reason to come up here is that the flowers typically bloom down in Phoenix first and then they start blooming up the mountain to Rim Country, then Flagstaff, then Colorado, etc… Poppies are already starting to show up down the in Valley starting Late-February, which means they are about to pop up here in Rim Country.
Last year 2020, we didn’t get as much precipitation in the winter but the bloom was still great. Down in the Barlett Lake area, wildflowers started in lasted until Mid-April. The cacti and wildflowers were blooming near Roosevelt by around Mid-March and lasted until the end of April. Wildflowers a bit more north in the Rye area to Oxbow Estates were blooming by about last week of March - last week of April. Manzanita and wildflowers in Payson were blooming by March 24. Dakota mock vervain were around until about the middle of May.
In 2019, wildflowers south of Roosevelt in Barlett Lake there were still tons left by around March 24. Flowers north of Roosevelt reached peak bloom by about the last week of March to Mid-April. This year was a great bloom since we had snow storm in February then also, bringing 2-3ft of snow.
What kind of flowers?
AZ State Parks website already has a great list HERE
Heather has been using a plant identifier app along our hikes, from Roosevelt Lake area all the way up to the Mogollon Rim, for the past few years and have added a few to the list:
Indian Paint Brush
Purple Owl’s Clover
Lupine
Poppy
Dakota mock vervain
Thistle
Chia
Fairy Duster
Oxeye daisy
Wild showy goldeneye
Dalmation toadflax
Golden Alexander
Fairy Duster
Blue Dicks
Big Berry Manzanita
Manzanita
Red Hot Poker
Wooly locoweed
