THE ROAD TO TITUS CANYON

Day two of our Death Valley exploration started on 374 out of Beatty. 2.7 miles outside the Park
there is a one way gravel road that leads through Red Pass through Titus Canyon and joins Scotty's Castle Road. This road ends on the south at 190. The road to and through the Canyon is 26.8 miles long. It took us three and a half hours to drive. This road is the most popular backcountry road in the park. It is one way from east to west. It winds through the Grapevine Mountains, passing through a ghost town, petroglyphs and winds through spectacular canyon narrows.

All along this narrow road the altitude changes and therefore the scenery changes are very dramatic. Rocks, plants, colors--everything is different.

This is a view of our road down into a very narrow valley.



From green to red.




Life everywhere.

Down we go!

Now we are up. This view taken from the truck window. The beautiful purple flowers are just a foot away.

Looking back and down on the road we just took.

Another view of the road and the drop in elevation. These are all taken from the truck passenger window.

This is what most of the road looks like--a real hair raiser for Duane. The road was just wide enough for our 1 ton, crew cab, long bed, dual wheel truck. On the driver's side was a sheer wall of rock, on the passenger side a sheer drop of several hundred feet. On either side there was a margin of only a foot or so. My view was fantastic. Duane got to see mostly tight curves and almost no road!

There were several tight turns. This one was so tight we had to back up once to get around.

After this curve we went up again into Red Pass.

Down again on the road to Leadville. More dramatic color change and hair raising change in elevation.

The ghost town of Leadville. The little miner's shack below was up the road from the rest of the remaining buildings.

Gorgeous burst of color!

Tailing pile and remaining buildings. Presumably the rest of the town lay between the sign and the buildings here. Nothing remains of it save a smattering of rusting tin cans.

More to delight the eye.

The mountains are more eroded here. The formations get more fantastic the closer we get to the Canyon.

I love this pale green color!

From Leadville the road led down to Titus Canyon. At this point we had driven about 23 miles in 2 1/2 hours. The awsome rugged beauty of this road demanded we go no faster. This is just one tiny part of Death Valley but it is enough for today!

Tomorrow--Titus Canyon

Louise and Duane