Overlanding Trip in Death Valley National Park

This week we hit the trail with the Overland Bound Las Vegas group! It was a jam packed trip – Titus Canyon Trail, Racetrack Playa, Teakettle junction, Truck camping, Tembo Tusk camp pizza, craters and much more!

Titus Canyon Trail

Titus Canyon is a 27 mile long ONE WAY road, starting off Hwy 374 (down the road from Beatty, NV.) It took about 2 hours to get to the Trail head from Las Vegas, NV. Make sure to get gas in Beatty because its one of the last options to get gas in the area before you get through Titus Canyon! From Beatty the Titus Canyon Trailhead is less than 10 minutes away.

On the trail, there are a bunch of climbs, descends, washboards, a few holes but nothing major. You can easily run the road with a 2wd rig (4wd makes it easier) but having good tires regardless of 2wd or 4wd will always make the difference on the dirt. Also airing down will make this trail much smoother, there are some washboards and loose rock at the beginning.

Other landmarks on the trail (& you can’t miss them): Leadfield Ghost Town & Petroglyp viewing area that you don’t have to hike into to see.

The last part of the trail is the BEST part. The trail begins to enter a slot canyon with picturesque views and the coolest drive I’ve done up to now. This last part wont disappoint! So take your time and take lots of pictures.

Titus Canyon Trail Starting coordinates: 36.859200, -116.846494

Racetrack Playa

At the end of Titus canyon, we made our way toward RaceTrack Playa!

On the way there, we passed by Teakettle Junction (you can’t miss it). This stop includes a bunch of tea kettles of all shapes, sizes and colors that have been left behind with messages from visitors.

Teakettle Junction coordinates: 36.760456, -117.541609

RaceTrack Playa is home to the mystical moving rocks. For the longest time, they never knew why these rocks would move on their own across the dried up lake bed, but they now have found that at night the lake bed would freeze then thaw and the winds would then move the rocks slowly overtime. Its a really unique area, unlike anything I’ve ever seen before like a scene out of Star Wars.

RaceTrack Playa: 36.682666, -117.572328

Past RaceTrack Playa, we eventually get to camp (its a long ~25 mile long washboard road so get ready). Past RaceTrack Playa, there is a stretch of area that you are allowed to camp (you can’t camp near RaceTrack Playa, you have to be at least a few miles away and you’ll see signs that state it). When we got to the camp area, there were a few campers there already so the sooner you get there the better!

Campsite coordinates (Past Racetrack Playa in an area where you are allowed to camp): 36.637492, -117.574068

It was a full day of exploring and pretty tiring if you do Titus Canyon and go all the way through past RaceTrack Plata to that camp spot for the night. Give yourself time to get through it and enjoy!

Ubehebe Crater

On the way back to the main road from RaceTrack Playa, you come up on Ubehebe Crater (you actually pass by it when you turn onto the road to Racetrack Playa. We actually ended up checking out and walking around RaceTrack the following morning after we camped and then aired back up at the Ubehebe Crater parking lot.

Ubehebe Crater: 37.014393, -117.453789

This was a fun full day trip in Death Valley. You also didn’t have to pay to get into the park either (at least the way we entered in from Beatty). Great first time overlanding itinerary and we are looking forward to more trips out in Death Valley National Park!

Let me know if you have any questions about the trip!