Off-roading in Titus Canyon

In an earlier blog, we said that many of the roads in Death Valley are accessible only by foot or by four-wheel drive vehicle. One such road is the one-way road through Titus Canyon. The road is about 26 miles long and actually begins in Nevada a few miles outside Death Valley. Most of the pictures were shot from the cab of the pickup because getting out was difficult and dangerous.

The initial stretch is a slow, steady climb up an alluvial plain to the base of the mountains. At that point, you begin traveling mountain switchbacks that get progressively steeper and tighter. Well into this stretch we came upon switchback corners that were so short that our 4x4 crew cab Dodge could barely maneuver them. On several outside turns while you are traveling uphill, you made a hairpin turn while looking over the pickup hood into space! The gold-mining ghost town of Leadfield is along this road.

After traveling over the first mountain ridge to the bottom of a valley, we headed into a narrow, rock-walled canyon that wound downward toward the far side of the mountains for several miles. The rock walls rose for hundreds of feet on both sides. 

The last six miles of this road is two-way traffic. Normal vehicles--cars--can travel up this road to the base of the canyon. 

We took other off-road drives such as Artists' Drive, which is actually paved but is extremely steep with some short, tight turns. Twenty Mule Team Canyon and Salt Creek Interpretive Trail are not paved but are travelable by car. Hundreds of miles of other roads in Death Valley are listed as high clearance recommended or four-wheel drive roads only.

One of these roads enters Death Valley at the extreme north end and travels south and west for 50 or 60 miles before it exits Death Valley on the west. This road is listed as being "for experienced four-wheel drivers."

We saw many Jeep-type vehicles that were obviously equipped for this kind of trail--skid plates, double shock absorbers, wide tires, and extra water and gasoline. If off-roading and seeing back country interests you, Death Valley is for you!