Date: 1/3/2013
Time: 12pm~
Trip Day #: 2
Stops #: 3
Location: Artist Drive and Palette
Travel Buddies: Ebie and Mimi
We worked our way north on the Badwater road from the Badwater Basin and Artist Drive was our next stop on the road.Artist Drive is a one-way 9 miles paved road drive that lead you up to the Black Mountain that covered by multicolored rock formation.
It rises up to the top of an alluvial fan fed by a deep canyon cut into the mountain. As you make your way up to the mountain face you’ll dip up and down, roller coaster-like as the road dips into ravines carved into the fan by Death Valley’s occasional, but intense flash floods. The narrow road runs high up onto the fan, with views of the strikingly white salty floor of Death Valley in the distance(http://www2.nature.nps.gov/geology/usgsnps/deva/ftart1.html)
After a brief stop at the sign for a few pictures, we drove to the first attraction point on the drive that we thought it was Artist Palette as there were nearly 15 cars stopped alongside of the road. We followed other visitors and walked up to a hillside, thinking that we would see the Artist Paletter once we got to the top. Instead of colorful rocks formation, we saw a beautiful Black Mountain landscape to the north and badwater basin from a distance to the south. At the top of the vista point, We found lot of manmade stone towers. These stones towers sure made a scene and nice objects to photograph, but the first thought came to my mind was the Leave No Trace principles. The rather high number of man-made standing sculptures at the location really degraded the the outdoor experience. The Leave No Trace principles might seem unimportant until one consider the combined effects of millions of outdoor visitors. Below is part of Leave No Trace principles on preserving the nature.
Leave What You Find
- Preserve the past: examine, but do not touch cultural or historic structures and artifacts.
- Leave rocks, plants and other natural object as you find them.
- Avoid introducing or transporting nonnative species.
- Do not build structures, furniture, or digtren
After the quick stop at the vista point, we drove on and stopped once again on the roadside as we saw what it seemed to be the Artist Palette.
As soon as the car came to a complete stop, i quickly jumped out of the car and run toward the colored hills(1/4miles down rocky field and dips). As much as i wanted to get to the bottom of the hill, there was this trench(see pic. above) stopped me from getting any closer.
No way to go forward, I backtracked back to the car. As I run/walk carefully on the rocky field with my head down, I saw this REALLY green rock out of all these small gray colored rocks on the ground! I couldn’t take it home(Leave No Trace Principles of outdoor ethics), so I took a picture of it. I later learnt that the green tuff are altered volcanic ash deposits.
The face of the Black Mountains along Artist’s Drive is made up of the multicolored rock of the Artist Drive Formation. Aprons of pink, green, purple, brown, and black rock debris drape across the mountain front, providing some of the most scenic evidence of one of Death Valley’s most violently explosive volcanic periods.(http://geomaps.wr.usgs.gov/parks/deva/ftart1.html)
As we continue on the drive, we found that there was a parking lot right at the bottom of the Artist Paletter(YAY!!!). At the end of the parking lot was the trailhead for a short trail that lead you up to the colorful hills. I took the quick walk up into the colorful hills and took quite some picture and videos.
Next stop~Golden Canyon……