Travel: Death Valley Delights

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If you prefer Nature's more subtle shades, Artists Drive is a nine-mile, one-way winding loop through the Black Mountains offering a serene showcase of volcanic rocks painted in pastels by various minerals: iron-producing reds, pinks, yellows; decomposing mica coloring rocks mint green; manganese supplying the purple. The best panoramic vista on this route is at Dantes View, where the deepest salt basin, tallest mountain, multicolored rocks and swirling sand can be savored from 5,475 ft. high in the Black Mountains.

For those who like to mix it up with other vacationers, the valley offers a long list of organized social events, including the 27.3-mile Enviro Sports running marathon through Titus Canyon in January, Planet Ultra's 200-mile bicycle rides in May and October, and the popular Death Valley '49ers Encampment in November. Some 8,000 enthusiasts flock to the encampment each fall to enjoy three days of musical performances, Western art shows and parades.

Nothing, however, can quite match the physical wonders of Death Valley, says Dave Woodruff, 49, a veteran tour guide who, after 11 seasons here, is still discovering new things. There are the mysterious moving boulders on the Racetrack's remote dry lake bed, for example, or the beehive-shaped charcoal kilns of Wildrose Canyon. Just the other day Woodruff came across a scenic Depression-era back road that runs between Furnace Creek Ranch and Stovepipe Wells. "The magic of this place," he says, "makes me hunger for Death Valley more each year."