Artist's Drive (and hike!)

This is one of Death Valley's scenic drives.  Like everywhere else in the park, you can hop out wherever you like and just start hiking, so that is what we did.  These photos are from Dec. 12, 2012.

I love how the eroded rubble from the mountains itself gets eroded into the same patterns as the mountain it washed off of:

We saw some people wandering around in this area, so we parked and got out to have a look and take a hike.

Below is a gravel wash coming out of a small canyon - for those who don't know washes, they fill with water after rain storms, and are dry the rest of the time.

We decided to hike into the wash, as there seemed to be a tempting canyon at the end of it:

There was!  It was cool to hike into it, the passage is pretty narrow in places:

Same wash, but hiking out this time:

This is the formation called "Artist's Palette".  It is pretty colourful...

I think this part looks more like Spumoni ice cream:

And now with people, to give you perspective:

Next stop, Golden Canyon, fasten your seat belts (but don't get too comfy, that one's another hike!)