| Home | Warning | Gear | Books | Photography | Hikes | Links | Flora & Fauna | Etiquette | About Me | What's New |

 
 

Fall and Lower Titus Canyons - Death Valley National Park

Summary: Two canyons which sit side-by-side in the Grapevine Mountains. Both offer good hiking opportunities and feature some decent narrows.
Directions: Fall and Titus Canyons are located between Grapevine and CA 190 on Scotty's Castle Road. Turn east at the signed dirt road for Titus Canyon and drive 2.6 miles to the bathroom and parking area (do not proceed beyond this point, the road is one way only).
Road Conditions: Passenger Car
Navigation: Easy
Length: 4 hours or more, turn around when you want
Date Hiked: November 2004
Weather Conditions: Overcast and extremely windy
Required Skills: None
Hike Description: Fall Canyon
From the parking area, the path begins behind the bathroom and heads north along the edge of the Grapevine foothills. It passes up and across the rocky debris of several alluvial fans before reaching the large main drainage of Fall Canyon about 20 minutes later. Once in this wash, turn right, and begin slogging your way up the deep gravel of the rocky streambed. The canyon is moderately wide at first and the walking is a bit tedious. After about an hour of steady trudging you'll see a prominent side canyon which enters from the left (facing up canyon). You can walk up this drainage, but will be stopped shortly thereafter by a 25 foot dry fall. Continuing up the main wash for another 30 minutes, the canyon forms some nice gray rock narrows which soon end in a 20 foot dry fall. To proceed, retrace your steps ~100 feet and look for a cairned route around on the south side (left facing down canyon). Above the dry fall you may find a small amount of running water as you walk through two nice, if short, sets of smooth, gray, polished narrows before the canyon widens out. You can continue up canyon for several more miles, but the route is less interesting. The author turned around 2.5 hours after leaving the trail head.
Titus Canyon
Though cars are allowed to drive through Titus Canyon from the top, there are some short, decent narrows that start just beyond the parking lot that are worth a look. From the trail head, simply walk right up the canyon. The best narrows occur in the first mile. When ready, return the way you came.
Rating (1-5 stars): - Fall Canyon
- Titus Canyon
The author and his wife hiked up Fall Canyon through the narrows and back in 4.5 hours. We then walked up through the narrows of Titus Canyon and back in another 2 hours. The road in Titus was closed due to wash outs when the author was here, so we didn't have to share it with vehicles.
Maps: Trails Illustrated - Death Valley National Park
Photos: Click picture for larger view, click your browser's 'Back' button to return to this page.

Fall Canyon: Heading
up the canyon.
Fall Canyon: Start of
the narrows
Fall Canyon: Polished
narrows.
Fall Canyon: Interesting
tilted geology.
Titus Canyon Titus Canyon: Narrows
or road? Both.