This is an extremely rare occurence: I put my route behind a paywall to reduce the impact on this area after being contacted by Death Valley National Park. Once purchased, you will receive a password in order to access the page.
GPX track added to your cart.
I was contacted by Death Valley National Park with the message below, so to make this hike less accessible, I put my route map and description behind a paywall (downloadable above). Normally I am in complete support of access to information regarding the outdoors, hence the free resource that is my site, but I also want to reduce negative impact my info may have on beautiful places.
From the park: "We've been noticing an uptick in treks to locations like Blue Mountain within the park. This is an incredibly scenic area as noted in your report, but due to the badlands terrain it's also very susceptible to resource impacts from this increase in traffic. We are seeing the development of new social trails in this area and would like to minimize future impacts."
Mar 09, 2021 — This route tours some of the best Mojave desert scenery I've experienced to date. Not only are there vast views of Death Valley below, but also the multi-colored eroded hills of the Artist's Palette area. Note beforehand that the terrain imagery is a bit off on most maps, including the one attached to this trip report (e.g., drainages bend incorrectly, a couple of ridges aren't actually as straight as they appear on the map, etc.). I adjusted the track on my map slightly to make sense with the terrain imagery, not as accurately depicting the actual downloadable GPX track.
The route described is actually a combination of two separate days of exploring the area. After my first visit with my friend Kailey, I wanted to return to figure out better options for ascending and descending the ridges in the area, plus I couldn't get "Avant Garde Peak" out of my mind, a golden lump south of Blue Mountain that seemed to possibly be a first ascent. So, the map will look a bit jumbled since it outlines the different options we took from the two days. And, of course, my description below might be a little convoluted since there are so many options for navigating the area. [GET PASSWORD ABOVE TO READ MORE]
Unlock more photos and full captions through paywall above.
