Gnome's Workshop is an extremely special location of miniatures. It has a small stream running down the middle. The name comes from the salt formations, which are very fragile and shouldn't be trampled on. To reach it, from the Furnace Creek Visitor's Center drive north 2.2 miles and look for a small drainage on the right. Park your car by the side of the road and follow the stream up. The area is almost pure salt and the crust on the ground (which reminds you of Devil's Golf Course) is sensitive and gets destroyed when stepped on, so look for the overlook foot trail and follow it east. Gnome's Workshop is an area that I first visited in early 2007.
This is a photograph of Gnome's Workshop which was taken in 1934:
Entrance to Gnome's Workshop not far from the highway pull-out:
Gradually the special salt formations start to appear on the banks of the creek:
In the foreground you can see one of the especially sharp and tall salt spikes:
A close-up of the salt as it appears close to the creek:
Zooming out you can get some perspective on the salt bank on the side of the creek. Walking over this would cause serious damage, so please stay far away from this area:
Steve examining the formations. Notice how I walked close to the creek to get a few pictures, and then stayed back away from the fragile parts:
One more close-up of the salt as it appears right next to the water in the creek:
A beautiful salt bank which highlights how amazing this place is:
The creek in Gnome's Workshop winds its way around this high canyon wall:
This picture is taken from up high, because we had to use a bypass in order to avoid getting too close to the creek:
This picture shows how the creek flows through a different landscape a little further up. The creek narrows and deepens here:
The first of three miniature salt waterfalls which we encountered in Gnome's Workshop:
Eventually the creek widens out once again:
Here another smaller creek comes in and joins the larger one:
This is the second salt waterfall. Notice how the salt grows right over the edge and down:
Up high once again looking down:
The third and final waterfall is probably the prettiest. It appears to be 6 to 8 feet tall:
On our way out we looked down into the canyon at the area we had passed through earlier: