During the Death Valley Ride Debra, Yvette, and myself left the main ride route to climb up and through Artist Canyon Loop. It is a fairly short (something like 9 miles) with more than 1400' of climbing in that short distance. It rises between 8% and 15% for the first 3 miles and then levels out for a short distance before hitting some major dips. After coming out of the dips you think you're home free and begin the dive down the mountain. This ends fairly quickly when you come up around a corner to find yourself facing a second steep climb through a narrow flash flood channel. Back up you go followed by the final downhill. Very pretty multicolored mountains along the route provide for the route's name.