It's prime poppy season in California right now, and luckily, there's a way for everyone to see them without making the trek out to the fields. After heavy rains in April, the flowers at Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve have sprung into bloom. And while the park is closed due to the new coronavirus, you can still admire the fields of beautiful poppies now that the park set up a live stream with 360-degree views of the famous fields. The flowers haven't quite reached super bloom levels this year, like they did last year, but they're still numerous enough to turn the hillsides orange on the live video feed online.
The angle of the livestream changes every 10 to 30 seconds, providing a new view of the park and blooming poppies as far as the eye can see. According to the California Department of Parks and Recreation, the poppies open up in mid-morning and start curling up in the late afternoon or evening if it's chilly, so you'll probably get the best view of the flowers if you're watching the camera in the middle of the day.
Last spring, thousands of people headed to the hills of Southern California to see fields and canyons filled with wildflowers (so many people flocked to Lake Elsinore that the town had to shut down access to the canyon with the flowers). Naturally, everyone wondered if 2020 would produce yet another super bloom, but the weather has been a bit too warm for the wildflowers to bloom quite as much this year.
Last year, Lake Elsinore in Walker Canyon was the go-to spot to experience fields of orange, but more sections of wildflowers were seen in Coachella Valley Preserve, Morongo Valley Preserve, and Anza-Borrego Desert State Park. There's also a live feed of the flowers set up in Walker Canyon, so you can switch back and forth between the two streams for views of blooming poppies across California. It's almost as beautiful as seeing the flowers in person!