I requested a random Monday off of work, not planning to visit the daffodil fields in Skagit Valley. The weather is so hard to predict in Washington, so planning outdoor activities in advance requires some luck. Thankfully, while it was grey and rainy in Seattle, 70 miles north up in Mount Vernon, it was blue skies and sunshine.
Daffodil Fields in Skagit Valley
There are several daffodil fields in Skagit Valley, but only a few are open to the public, and the most popular place to visit is the site of the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival, Roozengarde. You can check the map of fields on lovelaconner.com to see where the flowers are in bloom. I’d also recommend checking the photos tagged at Roozengarde on Instagram.
Daffodils bloom about a month before the tulips. Definitely research the blooms before you go, since the weather will impact the flowers. This year, the best timeframe was March 15-April 15. Seeing the daffodils is free, but once the tulips bloom, Roozengarde starts charging for admission to the fields. We went on Monday, March 22, and Roozengarde started charging for the Tulip Festival that weekend.
We got there around 11am, and there were only about a dozen other cars in the parking lot. It had been rainy the past week, so the fields were very muddy. and I’m glad my mom told me to bring rain boots. There was one field right next to the parking lot, but the daffodils were only half-bloomed.
We walked across the street to the main fields and saw layers of yellow. There were several species of daffodils, yellow and white, and they were gorgeous! It was fifty degrees and sunny, and it truly felt like spring. We walked around the whole field and took photos for about an hour.
Fields of Birds
Daffodils aren’t the only thing people visit Skagit Valley for. Every winter, thousands of white snow geese and trumpeter swans migrate from the Arctic south to Washington. You can spot them in the fields all over the area from October to March.
We had visited Skagit Valley a few weeks prior in search of the birds but weren’t able to get very close. I had seen them on our way home along I-5, but we didn’t stop. This time, the weather was better and so when we saw the field of white birds on the side of the highway, so we took Exit 221, you can type Morrison Farms in Mount Vernon in Google Maps. The birds will fly around to different fields, so you don’t know exactly where they will be every day, but I feel like this place is pretty reliable.
We pulled over and saw hundreds of snow geese about a football field away. You can tell they’re not swans because of the sound they make and because they have grey/black tips on their wings. They were very loud and constantly moved around. Every 15-20 minutes they would fly around a little bit and my mom and I would try to take a bunch of pictures. Several other cars pulled over to take photos as well. Some just stayed for a few minutes, but some were birdwatchers with binoculars and cameras.
We stayed there and watched them for 45 minutes until out of nowhere, a man who parked behind us walked down the hill and ran into the field. The birds flew everywhere! There were SO MANY, and they flew to a field a little further away and came back. The sky was full of birds, and I’d definitely recommend staying in the car if they come towards you because they pooped a bunch on my car haha. It was a crazy sight to see and photos don’t do it justice. I captured when the man ran out and made a gif out of it!
Here’s a reel with some video clips I took throughout the day! If you visit Seattle in March or April, I highly recommend going up to Skagit Valley for some unique experiences.
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