After having to be pried away from Badwater Basin, we drove back up (you pass it on the way to Badwater) to the neighboring Artist’s Drive.

This is a one-way scenic road that meanders through mineral-rich hills in pink, blue, white, and yellow. The main attraction is the Artist’s Palette where you can walk up-close-and personal to the hillside on a short trail.

It’s a Death Valley National Park must-do and it’s a relatively accessible one (it’s a walk, not a hike) in a place that generally is so not.

We stopped at the first parking lot to check it out, but most people skip this and just keep driving. We walked up a short trail to the top of this hill had sweeping views of Badwater Basin’s salt flats. It was really cool to see the size and scale of where we’d just been.

After leaving the parking lot, you’ll start seeing pinker and pinker hills on your right, with deposits of yellow and blue. Lots of people pulled over (like us) for pics.

Soon, you’ll get to the main parking area for the Artist’s Palette. The path is down some sandy stairs and is very obvious, just walk toward what you’re looking at haha.

There will most definitely be other people there with you. The turnover in the parking lot seemed pretty quick though, people don’t stay long.

And I mean… look, photographers definitely beef up the saturation and contrast when they post photos of this place. There’s no denying that. But genuinely – in some parts, it *really is* that vibrant in-person. Don’t deter yourself from going just because you think it won’t live up to the hype. It does.

We hung out for a while and soaked it in. I figured out that my sunglasses made it look more vibrant, so I had fun playing with that for a while…

And there’s the tiiiiiniest bit of shade.

For my memory’s sake when I’m reading this in the future – our total Death Valley stops this day, in order, were:

• Badwater Basin/Lake Manly
• Artist’s Drive/Artist’s Palette
• Furnace Creek Visitor Center
• Mustard Canyon (0.5 mile of it, apparently this goes all the way to Zabriskie Point… wild)
• Devil’s Cornfield
• Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes
• Mosaic Canyon

Here’s a pic of the Furnace Creek Visitor Center for good luck.

To learn more about the Artist’s Palette:
https://www.nps.gov/places/artists-palette.htm

And about Artist’s Drive: https://www.nps.gov/thingstodo/tour-artists-drive.htm
Or about Death Valley National Park in general: https://www.nps.gov/deva/index.htm