This scenic wilderness trail run is on a gravel jeep road from Beatty, NV through the picturesque Titus Canyon, finishing in Death Valley (entire run is in Death Valley National Park). The desert is beautiful this time of year with mild temperatures; lows at night between 30 and 40 degrees …
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This scenic wilderness trail run is on a gravel jeep road from Beatty, NV through the picturesque Titus Canyon, finishing in Death Valley (entire run is in Death Valley National Park). The desert is beautiful this time of year with mild temperatures; lows at night between 30 and 40 degrees and highs during the day from the low-60s to mid-70s. This is our most spectacular trail event of the year and well worth the weekend away. Truly, an experience you won’t forget.
The event is limited to 250 total participants (due to National Park Service rules) and sells out months in advance so don’t wait too long to register!
IMPORTANT: In the 30+ years that we’ve produced this event, nature has forced us to run an alternate course outside the canyon five times and cancel the race completely once. By signing up for this event, participants acknowledge the possibility of a last-minute course change and agree to run the alternate course or, if not, agree to abide by the rules set forth by the Death Valley National Park Service (i.e. if the road through Titus Canyon is posted as closed, registered participants of this event must abide by the closure as any other park visitor).
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Beautiful Titus Canyon
The course is on a single dirt road through Titus Canyon. The race starts at 500 feet above sea level and you run up to 2500 feet and turn around … MORE
The course is on a single dirt road through Titus Canyon. The race starts at 500 feet above sea level and you run up to 2500 feet and turn around and run back down. The scenery is breath taking.
A great location for a race
This is a review for the Death Valley trail marathon. (There is also a street marathon. And if the weather is bad sometimes this race is run on the road. … MORE
This is a review for the Death Valley trail marathon. (There is also a street marathon. And if the weather is bad sometimes this race is run on the road. ) This is a beautiful marathon if you like the desert which I do. We were bussed out to the Nevada starting line and from there it was one road back to California. But between you and the finish line is a row of hills.
The first part of the race is 5 miles of flat dirt road. This begins to climb up to the White Pass where the 30K starts. Then there is a downhill and you start back up the next hill to the Red Pass. You reach that after a 1,800 ft climb (relative to the starting line). From here it is 13 miles and 5,000 ft of downhill.
You run by the ghost town of Leadfield. You run by ancient petroglyphs. And then you get to Titus Canyon. Some years this is closed because of rain, snow or rock slides. It is a narrow winding dirt road down a slot canyon. There are cliffs probably a couple of hundred feet high in places. The rocks were all different colors, the cliffs were dramatic, and everything was just great. When you come out from the canyon you can see the finish line 3 miles away.
Most people worry about the weather but it is run in the winter and the weather for my race was perfect. There are aid stations every 5 miles also. I admit the race shirt and medal could be better. But the awards ceremony is in the one bar in Furnace Creek which was very nice. I would highly recommend this race.