Artist’s Drive - Death Valley National Park

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(Fig. 01)

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Directions: Artist’s Drive is a scenic loop drive through multi-hued volcanic and sedimentary hills.  The drive is a 9 mile one way loop off CA 178 (Badwater Road), middle left of (Fig. 02),  south of the Furnace Creek junction and highway 190. There are several parking spots with unique views along the loop. After about 6 miles, look for the Artist's palette sign on the right that leads you to a small parking area.

Area Description: This curvy, one-way lane drive leads you up to the edge of the Black Mountains. Artist’s Drive rises up to the top of an alluvial fan fed by a deep canyon cut into the mountain. As you make your way up to the mountain face you'll dip up and down, roller coaster-like as the road dips into ravines carved into the fan by Death Valley's occasional, but intense flash floods. The narrow road runs high up onto the fan, with views of the strikingly white salty floor of Death Valley in the distance.

03/28/15 Trip Notes: This was our second stop on the days visit to Death Valley. Because I have been here several times before I only ended up with a couple of new pictures (Figs. 03 & 04). The picture in (Fig. 04) shows the southern end of the "huge" wash that runs in front of Artist's Palette.

(Fig. 03)

(Fig. 04)

01/27/2014 Trip Notes: On today’s visit to Death Valley we made this our fourth stop of the day, hoping that the afternoon sun might provide some better pictures. As it was after 1:30 in the afternoon, we sat on a nearby rock and enjoyed a picnic lunch. The picture in (Fig. 01) is the view we enjoyed while eating lunch. The close-up in (Fig. 05) shows the upper portion of the trail you can hike out to get a closer view of this colorful area. Even though we chose not to hike out to the end of this trail today, I have done so on previous visits, giving you a very “up-close-and –personal” views (Figs. 06 & 07) of the fascinating geology in this area. Return to ... Furnace Creek Area - Death Valley National Park for more pictures of this area.

(Fig. 05)

(Fig. 06)

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Silica Dome Hike (VOF)

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This page last updated on 04/10/2018

(Fig. 01)

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Directions: Once you arrive at the visitor center, turn into the visitor center and then take a left onto Mouse's Tank Road. Drive 1.9 miles and then turn right onto Rainbow Vista Road up to the parking area (Fig. 02). Silica Dome (Fig. 03) is about 1/2 mile in front of you.

Silica Dome/Fire Canyon: The sandstone formations that are so prominent in the Valley of Fire are made of sand grains that are almost pure silica. Silica Dome is the finest example in the area of such a deposit. The change from white to red at the base of the dome occurs where small quantities of iron in the rock produces a rust-like stain. In this region, forces within the earth have been powerful enough to cause thousands of feet of surface rock to fold, break, and in some areas push several miles from their original location.  Today, erosion has worn away the top of one great fold, exposing the sharply angled layers of rock, and creating numerous canyons.

(Fig. 03)

01/30/2014 Trip Notes: I captured the sunrise picture in (Fig. 01) on my way to the Senior Center to catch the van for our trip to Valley of Fire. After we arrived at the park, I decided to have Bill drop me off at Silica Dome, at the end of Rainbow Vista Road, one of the few places left in this park that I had yet to hike. I was joined by my friends Harvey Smith and Robert Croke. Though there is a wide, sweeping trail that leads to the top of Silica Dome (Fig. 03), we decided to climb down into what is known as “Fire Canyon”, the area of red sandstone canyons below the upper deposits of the white silica (Fig 04). It was a relatively steep, 246 foot decent (Figs. 05 & 06) down silica dome to the wash that leads to Fire Canyon; there is no trail. At the end of the climb down, we had to do some class three scrambling down a very narrow, rocky crevice (Fig. 07) to reach the floor of the wash. Once we reached the base of the wash we hiked about another quarter mile, passing through a somewhat narrow slot canyon (Fig. 08 & 09). At the end of the slot canyon, we climbed up onto a sandstone outcrop (Fig. 10) that provided us with a nice view of the shrub filled wash and remainder of the canyon spread out ahead of us (Fig. 11). Unfortunately, we were out of time and had to head back to our pickup point. The good news was that we found an alternative route back (refer to the map in (Fig. 02). Even though it was a relatively steep climb up a smooth sandstone face (Fig. 12), it was much easier than the climb down the rocky crevice in (Fig. 07). The wash runs through the middle of the picture. In total, we hiked almost two miles.

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Fig. 08)

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Painted Turtle (Chrysemys picta)

(Ref. 01)

Picture Notes: I took these pictures on 01/16/2014 while visiting Rogers Spring, a colorful desert oasis located along Lake Mead’s North Shore Drive. I spotted two of them swimming in the small, warm water, spring fed pond found here (Fig. 05). There are many unusual fish and turtles that live in the pond. Many of the fish found here were imported by the former private owners of the land in and around Rogers Spring to sell the fish to pet stores. Because of this, it is highly unlikely that neither the fish nor turtles are indigenous to the area. There are molly's, guppies, ciclids, and more. If you look closely to some of these pictures, (Figs. 01 & 04), you can spot some of the fish swimming around the turtles.

(Fig. 02)

Description: The painted turtle (Chrysemys picta), is the most widespread native turtle of North America. It lives in slow-moving fresh waters, from southern Canada to Louisiana and northern Mexico, and from the Atlantic to the Pacific. The turtle is the only species of the genus Chrysemys, which is part of the pond turtle family Emydidae. Fossils show that the painted turtle existed 15 million years ago. Four regionally based subspecies (the eastern, midland, southern, and western) evolved during the last ice age.                        The adult painted turtle female is 4–10 inches long; the male is smaller. The turtle's top shell is dark and smooth, without a ridge. Its skin is olive to black with red, orange, or yellow stripes on its extremities. The subspecies can be distinguished by their shells: the eastern has straight-aligned top shell segments; the midland has a large gray mark on the bottom shell; the southern has a red line on the top shell; the western has a red pattern on the bottom shell. The turtle eats aquatic vegetation, algae, and small water creatures including insects, crustaceans, and fish. Although they are frequently consumed as eggs or hatch-lings by rodents, canines, and snakes, the adult turtles' hard shells protect them from most predators. Reliant on warmth from its surroundings, the painted turtle is active only during the day when it basks for hours on logs or rocks.While habitat loss and road killings have reduced the turtle's population, its ability to live in human-disturbed settings has helped it remain the most abundant turtle in North America. Adults in the wild can live for more than 55 years.

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Pages Uploaded in January 2014

January 2014 Posts:
Valley of Fire -Silica Dome
Death Valley - Artists Drive (Death Valley National Park)
Death Valley - Dante's View (Death Valley National Park)
Las Vegas Places of Interest - Bellagio's Conservatory & Botanical Garden
Las Vegas Places of Interest - Container Park
Plants & Lichen - Cryptobiotic Soil
UPDATE - Lovell Wash - Lovell Wash Summary (Anniversary Mine/Narrows)
Lovell Wash - Lovell Wash Prospects
Various Animals & Reptiles - Painted Turtle (Chrysemvs picta)
Nevada Mines - Keystone Mine - Kingston Road
Nevada Mines - Red Cloud Mine - Kingston Road
UPDATE/Lake Mead NSR -Rogers Spring
UPDATE/St. Thomas - St. Thomas, Nevada
Nevada Mines - Southern Nevada (Spokane) Mine
Fossils - Fossils near Potosi Mine
Nevada Mines - Potosi Mine - Mt. Potosi Canyon Road
UPDATE - Daytrip - Valley of Fire State Park
Valley of Fire - Valley of Fire - Pinnacles Hike
Valley of Fire - Valley of Fire - Mouse's Tank Hike 

Rogers Spring (LMNRA) - Trip Notes for 01/16/2014

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Last Update on 01/17/2019

(Fig. 01)

01/16/2014 Trip Notes: Hiking around to the back side of the small spring fed pond I was able to capture some views that provided a whole different perspective of this colorful desert oasis. The picture in (Fig. 01) is looking towards the parking lot and main picnic area with a glimpse of Lake Mead in the distant background. This shallow pond is fed from a natural hot spring that comes directly out of the rocks at the base of the mountain, lower left of (Fig. 02). (Fig. 03) is a view looking east between the two palm trees located on the far right side of (Fig. 01). It is always fun standing along the edges of the pond looking for the many signs of life that seem to inhabit the warm spring waters. In addition to many small fish, this visit provided us with sightings of at least three turtles. I spotted two Painted Turtles (Fig. 04), and what appeared to be a Smooth Softshell Turtle that was sunning himself on a rock (Fig. 05). Click here for more pictures and info ... Painted Turtle (Chrysemys picta). A small waterfall located beneath the footbridge provides a perfect background for quiet contemplation and listening to the tranquil sounds of nature (Fig. 06).

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(Fig. 04) Title - "Me and My Shadow"

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The source of the water to this spring and Blue Point Spring to the north is uncertain. The prevailing theory suggests that much of the recharge water that enters the carbonate-rock aquifer occurs in the high mountain ranges around Ely, Nevada, located 250 miles north of Lake Mead. As this ground water flows south through the carbonate rocks, it encounters several faults along the way, including the Rogers Spring Fault, which has caused the older carbonate rocks to be displaced against younger evaporite deposits of the Muddy Creek. The lower permeability of these evaporite deposits, along with high subsurface water pressure, forces the ground water in the carbonate rocks to flow upward along the fault and emerge at the surface as Rogers Spring. All totaled, ground water discharge from springs along the Rogers Spring Fault totals approximately 1,000 gallons per minute. Flowing 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, the waters from this spring wind their way across the desert terrain, under North Shore Drive, eventually dumping into Lake Mead. (Con’t below)

(Fig. 07)

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