'It was like Woodstock': inside the town hit by super bloom mania

An influx of visitors, eager for Instagram fodder, prompted Lake Elsinore's mayor to shut down access to a flower-covered canyon

The town of Lake Elsinore sits at the edge of a canyon newly bursting with color. Fields of poppies, lupins and other wildflowers spill across hillsides - usually covered with brown, scrubby plants - as though poured from a bucket of paint.

In the last few weeks, large swaths of southern California have been transformed into a colorful canvas of flowers. This type of "super bloom" has happened before, but this year is especially intense - an unusually wet winter following years of drought, combined with the aftermath of a brutal wildfire season, has set the stage for what many predicted would be the best bloom in years.