Titus Canyon Road is my favorite way to enter Death Valley National Park. A high-clearance four-wheel-drive vehicle is recommended for this trip, but if the weather is nice a two-wheel drive vehicle can make the trip most of the time. However, a word of caution, this is one place that you do not want to be during inclement weather, or if it is raining anywhere in the surrounding area because the canyon is susceptible to flash flooding.
The 27 mile one-way Titus Canyon Road starts from Nevada State Highway 374 about six miles west of the town of Beatty.
Along the way through the canyon there are rugged mountains and many colorful rock formations that add to the splendor of the trip. Fossils deposits are found in some of the rock formations and in 1933 a large fossilized skull of a rhino-like Titanothere was found that was estimated to be 30-35 million years old.
After going over Red Pass the road starts a gradual decent passing a ghost town, old mining ruins, and petroglyphs before passing through several miles of canyon narrows. At the end of the narrows the canyon opens up and exits into Death Valley National Park about three miles east of Scotty's Castle Road.
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| Red Pass (5,250 feet elevation) |
The ghost town of Leadfield "boomed" from 1926-1927 and then the lead deposits ran out and the town died. All that is left of the town today are a few buildings and a number of abandoned mines. At its peak, the town of Leadfield had a post office and a population of 300 people.
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| Historic Picture (Unknown Photographer) |
After leaving Leadfield the road passes by some petroglyphs that are well marked and then travels through the canyon narrow for about two miles before exiting into Death Valley. It takes about 2.5-to-3.0 hours to travel the 27 miles through Titus Canyon.
BONUS HUMOR
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