Desert Zen
by Heidi Smith
Title
Desert Zen
Artist
Heidi Smith
Medium
Photograph
Description
This particular part of Artist's Drive has many stacked rock structures.
Rock balancing can be a performance art, a spectacle, or a devotion, depending upon the interpretation by its audience. Essentially, it involves placing some combination of rock or stone in arrangements which require patience and sensitivity to generate, and which appear to be physically impossible while actually being only highly improbable. The rock balancer may work for free or for pay, as an individual or in a group, and their intents and the audiences' interpretations may vary given the situation or the venue.
Artist�s Drive crosses a sloping mountainside composed of vibrant soil colored by rich metals. The drive passes an area dubbed the Artist�s Palette, which is among the unique landmarks in Death Valley National Park that must be seen to believe.
Artist�s Drive is a one-way road traveling from south to north. For those coming from Badwater Basin, this is an ideal side trek en route to Furnace Creek.
The 9-mile drive climbs above Badwater Road for an impressive perspective on the salt flat below. Turnouts allow visitors to get out of the car and have a look around. The first major turnoff provides a short uphill walk to an impressive overlook with wide views of the basin below.
The main stop of the drive is Artist�s Palette. Turn off the drive and into the Artist�s Palette parking lot. Steps from the lot lead down to a narrow wash. Cross the wash and make your way toward the colored mountainside. Various metals have oxidized the clay creating eye-popping reds, yellows, greens, blues, and purples. The rainbow bands that color the soil bare an obvious resemblance to a grand painters palette.
Source - hikespeak.com and Wikipedia
Uploaded
April 11th, 2013
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Viewed 493 Times - Last Visitor from New York, NY on 04/24/2024 at 2:03 PM
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