From late May through August, Colorado wildflowers dazzle Vail-area locals and vacationers alike with their color, beauty, and diversity.
When is peak wildflower viewing season in Colorado? Like the Vail river rafting season, wildflower viewing season is variable and dependent on two things: the amount of snowpack from the previous winter and how that snowpack melts in the spring. But generally speaking, Colorado wildflowers bloom in the Vail area from the end of May through August.
As the snow melts and the flowers appear, different zones of elevation will have different peak seasons of flowers. For instance, we see some of the same Colorado wildflowers in June at 7,000 feet on our Castle Peak/Blue Lake Jeep Tour that we see at the end of July at 11,000 on our Historic Camp Hale Jeep Tour.
The number of wildflower varieties is astounding, and they easily fill thick field guides with information. But here, we’ll highlight three of the most popular Colorado wildflowers that we see in late May through June on our wildflower viewing jeep tours.
Indian Paintbrush: This wildflower that blooms in red, orange, yellow and lavender starts to appear on our lower-elevation Castle Peak Jeep trail in late May/early June and follows us up in elevation through the season as the snowpack melts.
There’s a sweet legend told by one of our jeep tour guides about how the flower got its name. The story claims that back before recorded time, the only color on the earth was in the wildflowers. Everything else was void of color. A Native American boy asked the chief why this was so, and the chief replied that no one had taken the time yet to paint it. So the boy took it upon himself to gather all the colors of the flowers and paint the rest of the world with them, making the sky blue and the trees green–and that is why this flower is called Indian Paintbrush.
Rocky Mountain Columbine: This flower, with its white and blue petals, is special among Colorado wildflowers for many reasons. For one, it’s the Colorado State Flower. The blue petals represent Colorado’s blue sky; the white petals represent the snow; and the yellow stamen is symbolic of the gold that brought prospectors to the state in the late 1800s.
Secondly, this flower is short-lived. Unlike Indian Paintbrush, it only thrives in one elevation zone, so it’s a little more elusive and special to find. We typically see this flower on our Fulford Jeep Trail at elevations of 8,500 to 10,000 feet in June to early July. It’s an edible plant, but it is illegal to pick it in Colorado.
Arrowleaf Balsam Root: This large yellow flower blooms early in the season before wild grasses are high enough to overshadow it. The name comes from the leaves that are eight to ten inches long and shaped like an arrow.
It’s not uncommon to see entire meadows or mountain hillsides covered in this wildflower, creating a beautiful golden sheen.
Colorado’s wildflowers are a like the high country equivalent of an urban botanical garden. But there’s no admission fee, proving yet again that old saying: the best things in life are free.
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Timberline Tours is Vail’s premier whitewater rafting and backcountry jeep tours outfitter. We offer rafting trips on Colorado’s Eagle, Colorado, and Arkansas Rivers, and we also guide duckie river trips. All of our guided trips are open to Vail visitors, locals, families, and corporate groups.
To book your Vail, Colorado, adventure, call Timberline Tours at (970) 476-1414, or email us at info@timberlinetours.com.