Artists Palette Drive in Death Valley National Park
When you think of Death Valley National Park, you might think of stark, bleak, barren desert scenes. And that is true of areas in the park! However, there is a section of Death Valley that’s a kaleidoscope of beautiful colors tucked away on a side road in the park. Artists Palette drive is one of the most photographed sections of this large National Park and should not be missed on your trip to Death Valley National Park. Here’s everything you need to know about Artist Palette loop drive. Let’s get started!
Artists Palette Drive – Details
This is a one-way road
Road length: Road is 9 miles, one way.
Option to hike into the canyon from the overlook
This scenic detour will take you about 30 minutes to complete, including a stop at the Artists Palette.
Related: Surviving a Flash Flood in Death Valley National Park
Artists Palette Drive Location
The map below shows directions from the Furnace Creek Visitor Center. The one-way loop drive is located in the same general area of the famous Badwater Basin and the Devils Golf Course. As you approach
Best time to visit Artists Palette
The best time to visit Artists Palette and do the drive would be in the fall, winter or early spring as the temperatures are cool enough for exploring. Additionally, if you want to see the colors in the canyon during their best light, you’ll want to visit in the early evening hours. When you visit during mid-day, the sunlight will wash out the colors in the canyon, making it seem a little less impressive.
Our visit:
Of course, we picked the worst of the worst time to visit Artists Palette, but what can ya do? We visited in the middle of July (oof!) around 1pm. So the photos on my blog post aren’t the best, but they’ll still give you an idea of what to expect. On a road trip, you can’t be everywhere at the perfect time, all the time – you take what you can get. And frankly, this particular visit wasn’t focused on Death Valley itself; we were driving through Death Valley to get to Las Vegas, so we made a few stops.
Driving Artist Drive to Artists Palette
Note: Vehicles longer than 25 feet are not allowed to drive this road.
This one-way drive is incredibly fun to drive! It’s a very well-maintained, paved road that goes up and down, while it curves through the canyon. You’ll drive about five miles until you reach Artists Palette, which is the star of the show.
There is a parking lot for Artists Palette, and you’ll want to hop of of the car to get a better view. The colors in the rock formations are amazing! The colors on the hills by the volcanic deposits of the iron oxides and chlorite, which give it that rainbow color effect.
You’re free to walk into the canyon to get a closer look, although there aren’t any maintained trails. We didn’t do this, as it was extremely hot during our visit in July – we just enjoyed the views from the parking lot.
After visiting Artists Palette, you’ll continue on Artist Drive until you loop back to Badwater Road. There aren’t any other turnouts or points of interest along Artist Drive, other than Artists Palette, but you can enjoy the interesting desert views as you drive.
Have you ever visited Artists Palette? Or Death Valley National Park? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments!
