Artists Palette is one of the areas that I've visited the most in the park. Because I take so many people to Death Valley for their first time, this is one of the places that I am sure to include when giving them a tour. Artists Palette is an unbelievable combination of different colored hills, all mixed together in the same area. These colors include red, yellow, orange, green, purple, brown and black. As the Artists Palette interpretive sign indicates: "Various mineral pigments have colored these volcanic deposits. Iron salts produce the reds, pinks and yellows. Decomposing mica causes the green, manganese supplies the purple. Colors on the 'palette' are reproduced in a larger scale on the mountains around Death Valley." Just before reaching Artists Palette along Artists Drive (formerly known as Volcano Drive), there are two major dips in the road. At the bottom of these dips, you can hike into two short canyons which are very scenic. The first dip canyon is blocked by an 11 foot dry fall at the entrance, which cannot be climbed without a degree of risk. The second dip canyon is fairly easy to access, although there are some short climbs and bypasses with minor exposure. Pictures of our hike through the dip canyons in March of 2011 can be seen after our pictures of Artists Palette.
The classic interpretive sign welcomes you to Artists Palette at the edge of the parking lot:
Lowell and Steve hanging out in one of the most colorful areas:
Somebody in this picture is hiking uphill to get a better picture of the purple sand and rocks:
One of the fun things to do at Artists Palette is to hike around in the hills:
Purple on top of blue in this photograph:
There are several small side canyons like the one in this picture which cut a path through the colors:
To get the most out of Artists Palette you have to walk through these small side canyons, which are a few seconds walk down from the parking lot in the wash below:
Tiffany standing tall while hiking through the area:
A ridge line of colors that is easy to walk across:
This is Kayla and Ryan at Artists Palette as we had a large group exploring the area:
A close-up of some of the colorful rocks:
I can't use enough superlatives to describe how beautiful and amazing Artists Palette really is. If you only have one trip to Death Valley in your life, and you don't come here, you missed out big time:
Nice view of the parking lot in the distance:
Two more pictures to show you the colorful hills and walking path:
And one final picture of Steve enjoying the area for the umpteenth time:
Prior to reaching Artists Palette, signs along Artists Drive announce that there are dips ahead in the road:
At the bottom of the first dip, this is the view looking in towards Artists Dip No. 1 Canyon:
Shortly into the canyon, this 11 foot vertical dry fall stops most hikers. We could have climbed it, but turned around here because our group was focused on safety first:
Thus, we headed back to the road and drove a little further until we dropped into the second dip. This is the view looking towards Artists Dip No. 2 Canyon:
Heading into the canyon, we were immediately impressed with the colors on display:
Easy climb up the red colored dry fall at the beginning:
Around the first major bend, the walls grew higher than anticipated:
Some massive boulders have rolled down into the wash creating a wall:
A little further and we found that lots more boulders were covering the wash:
Steve working his way up through a boulder jam early on:
The boulder blockades had to be passed through a combination of climbing and bypassing:
Looking down at Jeremy climbing this section. As you can see, there is a small amount of exposure here:
Up above, Jordan is climbing the final part of this section:
Walking under a very unique looking rock overhang:
Bypassing the next obstacle on the right side:
A close-up of the dry fall which we bypassed in this section:
Looking back down the canyon from near the top of the dry fall:
Progressing into the middle of the canyon in the next three pictures:
This is a panoramic of the major bend in Artists Dip No. 2 Canyon which leads to the narrows (click to enlarge):
The narrows are definitely the highlight of this short canyon:
Passing through the best part of the narrows:
The canyon wraps around a dramatic bend and continues:
Looking back down the best section of narrows with a golden glow in the background:
Steve getting a picture in this part of the narrows:
Notice the gradual bend in the canyon which almost makes you feel dizzy to look at:
Continuing further up this beautiful section of canyon in the next three pictures:
Climbing a short rock slide section in order to continue:
The walls remained high and narrow as our group pressed on:
We finally arrived at a huge boulder which was wedged between the walls with no way to climb it:
However, there was a way to crawl underneath it in a tight passage on the right side:
On the other side of the boulder, you immediately come face to face with this dry fall:
The dry fall is huge. And although there is a rope sling, there are more boulders above it. So basically, it's only for expert climbers:
Jeremy crawling out of the boulder passage. After this, we turned around and headed out of the canyon: