Death Valley Backroads
Death Valley National Park · near Beatty (NV) / Furnace Creek · California Desert
Gravel & Bikepacking
At a glance
- Difficulty
- expert
- Best season
- Late fall–early spring ONLY (summer is deadly)
What is here
- Terrain
- desert
- Amenities
- Hottest, driest, lowest place in NA · Titus Canyon narrows · The remote Racetrack playa · Vast dark-sky wilderness
- Best for
- An extreme, otherworldly desert expedition
- Features
- Ride below sea level · Dramatic Titus Canyon · The mysterious Racetrack · Immense desert silence
Worth knowing
- Hazards
- DEADLY summer heat (avoid Apr–Oct) · Extreme aridity, must carry all water · Vast remoteness, no services · Sandy/washboard roads, tire risk
- Good for a first timer
- No
Gravel & Bikepacking detail
- Ride types
- adventure · bikepacking
- Surface
- sand
- Remoteness
- 5
- Riding
- Otherworldly desert riding in the hottest, driest, lowest place in North America — sandy backroads like Titus Canyon and the remote Racetrack, through vast, stark, silent wilderness
- Terrain note
- Below sea level to 5,000+ ft; sandy/washboard roads; extreme heat & aridity
- Camping
- Yes
- Intl tip
- The hottest, driest, LOWEST place in North America — otherworldly desert riding on sandy backroads (Titus Canyon's narrows, the mysterious Racetrack playa) through vast, silent wilderness. EXPEDITION terrain in a deadly environment: summer heat is LETHAL (late fall–early spring ONLY), NO water (carry every drop), total remoteness, sandy/washboard roads. For experienced, fully self-sufficient riders only. Respect the desert absolutely and carry far more water than you think. A bucket-list expedition.
- Trip lengths
- day · overnight · multi-day
The guide
Death Valley — the hottest, driest, and lowest place in North America — offers some of the most otherworldly and extreme desert…
In the Guidebook
Everything above is yours for free. The written guide to Death Valley Backroads — what it is actually like, and what we would tell a friend before they went — comes with the Guidebook.
Getting there
- Coordinates
- 36.85, -117.15