Death Valley is a natural geologic museum that covers a great portion of the Earth's history. The exposed desert landscape reveals colorful, complex, and unusual geological wonders such as moving rocks, singing sand dunes, and dramatic fault scarps.
The Sand Dunes are located only a few miles west of Stovepipe Wells. There aren't any established trails through the sand dunes but you can still park off the road and walk where you please. There is an interpretive sign near the dunes that provide more information. While the dunes are constantly changing they, as a body, remain in the same general location. The dunes are so popular that they have been the site of several movies including the famous "Star Wars."
Titus Canyon is the most popular back-country road in Death Valley. A trip through Titus Canyon takes you 27 miles along a rough, steep and narrow dirt road. It is a one-way road beginning on the eastern border of Death Valley in Nevada. First along the road you will pass through Titanothere Canyon where you will find colorful rock deposits and a fossil bed that is 30-35 million years old. Next is Red Pass which is the highest point along the trail and sits in between Titus Canyon and Titanothere Canyon. The ghost town, Leadfield, is along the way shortly before Titus Canyon. All that is left today are a few shacks and a number of mines. Just below Leadfield the road enters the main fork of Titus Canyon. Limestone Cliffs, rugged steep slopes, bighorn sheep, cacti, and hanging gardens of rare plants are all at home in the high rising cliffs of Titus Canyon. There is a small spring, Klare Spring, that is the water source for the bighorn sheep and one of the best places to view the elusive animals. The last mile and a half is called the Narrows. The walls at several points through this part narrow to less then 20 feet across.
Some popular Death Valley day hikes include the Golden Canyon Interpretive Trail, Natural Bridge Canyon, Badwater Salt Flats, the Salt Creek Interpretive Trail, the Sand Dunes, Mosaic Canyon, Titus Canyon Narrows, and Dante's Ridge. You can obtain more information about these and other hikes from the Furnace Creek Visitor Center.
Nestled in a remote valley between the Cottonwood and the Last Chance Ranges, the Racetrack is a place of stunning beauty and mystery. The Racetrack is a playa -- dry lake bed -- best known for it's strange moving rocks. Although no one has actually seen the rocks move, the long meandering tracks left behind in the mud surface of the playa attest to their activity.
Other sites of interest may include: Mosaic Canyon - a colorful canyon formed by faults and water erosion just out of Stovepipe Wells; Scotty's Castle - formerly known as the Death Valley Ranch, it is a mansion originally built by millionaire Albert Johnson in the 1920s; The Ubehebe Crater - an area created by volcanic steam and gas explosions located 8 miles away from Scotty's Castle.