Artist's Drive

Considered by many fans of Death Valley National Park to be even more colorful and varied than the famous badlands between Zabriskie Point and Golden Canyon/Gower Gulch is the loop road known as Artist's Drive to the south. It passes through cemented gravel, sedimentary deposits, and volcanic debris formed in the Miocene Period, about 23 to 5.3 million years ago. Some of the formations here are 5,000 feet thick, containing scarce fossils, including at least five types of ancient diatoms (plankton and algae).

Starting at Badwater Road, the road is paved, but narrow and one-way, limited to vehicles less than 25-feet long. It starts out heading north and frequently makes sharp bends as it dips through gullies and climbs steep grades, making the going a bit rough for anyone who gets easily car sick. For good reason, the posted speed limit is just 15 miles per hour.

The reward for making the snake-like journey over Artist's Drive is the eerie scenery and the portion called Artist's Palette, in particular. There bands of clay-like rock in alternating ribbons of pink, green, white, and black running across the hillsides. Salt flats can also be seen at the lower elevations to the west, and viewing is especially good in the afternoon.

With plenty of places to pull over for sightseeing and photography, frequent stops along the way are a must, as are short hiking excursions into the rocky landscape. The entire loop covers about nine miles and takes from 30 minutes to an hour to cover with stops.