I have kept seeing this place pop up on my feed lately and I went there last year, but unfortunately I was too late in seeing the sunflowers in bloom! This year, however, I went just in time and was able to see some gorgeous yellow fields.

Hours/Accessibility
How to Get There (Parking and Driving: Beware of Floods!)
Best Times to Go
What to Expect once There (Sunflower Fields)

Hours/Accessibility
Unlike many local areas that have specific hours or close at sundown, Mckee-Beshers Wildlife Management is open 24 hours a day, all days. It is a 2,000 acre plot of fields of flowers, grass and trees, situated in Poolesville, MD.

How to Get There (Parking and Driving: Beware of Floods!)
The best address to access the sunflower fields is at 18600 River Rd, Poolesville, MD. But I will admit, the path is narrow and rocky with some pretty large craters. It’s best to go slow. When it rains, it also will very much flood the area, sometimes making entrance impossible. When I got there, it was rocky but doable. Upon leaving (the opposite direction) there was flooding on the other side, so much so that my car wheels would’ve likely not reached the ground and I would have ended up floating so I had to VERY carefully, slowly, and painfully turn around.

Best Times to Go
Besides a personal preference of going when the sun sets or rises, versus during the daytime- Sunflowers are typically at their peek around August to September. Although, I had gone July 26th and they were glorious then. There were definitely some emptier patches with flowers not bloomed yet though.

Weekdays would likely be better to avoid crowds as well. You’ll have better luck to see some wildlife, like birds, during cooler drier weather and of course to avoid that flooding talked about in the previous section, I highly recommend avoiding coming during or right after heavy rainfall.


What to Expect once There (Sunflower Fields)
Once you get there, there is a small parking lot where you can park. You’ll go through the very obvious entrance and walk a little ways and there will be a sunflower field to your right. You can’t miss it! And if you do, you’re either too early, too late or you’re blind haha! Jk on that last one.

There is an electric fence around the flowers and you’re asked not to go INTO the field and also to not pick the flowers.

Even with the fence, you can get some really great photos!

For a more family-friendly experience, feel free to check out Butler’s Orchard Sunflower Spectacular up in Germantown, Maryland. Here you can pick your own sunflowers after a small hayride over to the field, feed goats, pigs, sheep and other animals before washing your hands and ordering smoothies farm-to-table style. You can find out more about that here. Last time I was there, it was $5/person I believe. (But double check that because it may have changed since!)

Cheers friends & Travelers!
~Sho, Founder of Backroad Butterflies ~

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