Epic Travel → North America → The West Coast → Northern California → Death Valley → Titus Canyon

Location: north of Beatty Junction, Death Valley

Time Required: ~3 hours

Red Tape/Notes: Access to Death Valley is $25/vehicle for a 7 day pass. This description is for the 27 mile dirt road that travels through Titus Canyon. The road generally requires high clearance and possibly 4WD, although it was navigable in our Mazda CX5 AWD. The road is closed periodically due to flash floods. More information on the road and optional hikes from the road can be found on the national park website here.

What’s Nearby?: Keane Wonder Mill, Keane Wonder Mine, Keane Canyon, Leadfield Ghost Town

Titus Canyon Road is a great little drive for seeing some of Death Valley’s beautifully colored landscape. It’s also a nice way to ditch some crowds since the road is recommended for high clearance vehicles (4 wheel drive depending on conditions), although we didn’t find the road all that bad when we drove it. Despite being near to the most commonly visited section of the park, the area feels remote, although you’re still likely to encounter other people. There are a couple of hikes that are accessed from the road (Titanothere Canyon, Thimble Peak, and Upper Titus Canyon – you can find some information on them on the national park website here), as well as the Leadfield Ghost Town and some petroglyphs at Klare Spring near the end of the drive. You’ll emerge rather suddenly from the narrows of the canyon, likely onto a crowd of vehicles that have drive up as far as they can on the two way road which ends at the mouth of Titus Canyon.

Epic Travel → North America → The West Coast → Northern California → Death Valley → Titus Canyon