Titus Canyon. Death Valley National Park, California. April 1, 2015. © Copyright 2015 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.
Titus Canyon narrows, Death Valley National Park
In something of a departure for me… I have named a location. Enjoy it while it lasts! ;-) The lower portion of this canyon is one of the popular destinations in Death Valley National Park, and with good reason. This section is very narrow and deep, and aside from the lack of red colored rock it might remind one in some ways of similar canyons in other places such as the Southwest. There are essentially two ways to get to this section. More than once I’ve driven to the canyon entrance, loaded up a pack with camera gear and water, and walked in. This is a great way to experience the lower canyon, which is the area with the most impressive canyon walls and narrow sections. I always see much more when I’m on foot, and there are a lot of subtle things to look for in this part of the lower canyon.
The alternative way to get here involves a fair amount of driving on a road that is rough enough that it could make some drivers uncomfortable. (It is not a place for low-slung suburban vehicles, to be sure.) The one-way road through the canyon begins in the higher country of the Amargosa Valley near the eastern boundary of the park. It crosses the flat desert terrain as it heads toward the mountains and soon begins to twist and turn through valleys, up slopes, and over ridges. A few sections might test the nerves of drivers not used to such roads, especially the sections just before and after Red Pass. Once over the pass the road drops into the canyon and begins its descent toward the Valley. Near the end the road passes through the section that you could hike into from below, a section that seems like a very improbable place for an automobile roadway — and this photograph shows part of that segment of the trip.
G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
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