(Newser) – Death Valley in California is both the driest place in North American and the hottest place on Earth, according to the National Park Service. And that makes it an even more breathtaking sight when it's covered in a colorful blanket of wildflowers, as it is right now. The San Francisco Chronicle reports Death Valley National Park is in the midst of its most impressive "super bloom" since 2005 thanks to heavy rains in October. Death Valley averages about 2 inches of rain per year, but some areas beat that by an inch in just five minutes this year. "I saw several impressive displays of wildflowers over the years and always wondered how anything could beat them, until I saw my first super bloom in 1998," a park ranger who has lived in Death Valley for 25 years says. "I never imagined that so much life could exist here in such staggering abundance and intense beauty." See that beauty for yourself with this video. (Read more Death Valley National Park stories.)