Northeast: Nevada Route 374
At Beatty, Nevada, U.S. Route 15 intersects Route 374. From the ranger station here, it is 41 miles to Furnace Creek Visitor Center. This, the primary route from Reno, passes over Daylight Pass (4316 feet) providing a striking view of Death Valley and Hell's Gate.
Two miles west of Beatty is the turnoff to the ghost town of Rhyolite. During the gold rush of 1904, this town prospered with two railroads and 6000 inhabitants. Today, only the rail station, cemetery and rock foundations remain, except for the abandoned mines dotting Bullfrog Hills above the town.
Three miles further west is the turnoff to Titus Canyon Road (see video), a 4-wheel, 26-mile drive through the abandoned town of Leadfield and beautiful Titus Canyon, rising 500 feet above the road and revealing fantastic geologic upheavals of stratified rock.
If you remain on the highway, take the Daylight Pass Cutoff Road south (about 19
miles from Beatty). A few miles further on the left is the road to Keane Wonder Mine, the location of a few old buildings and some dangerous tunnels.
The Cutoff merges with Route 190 and, another 5 miles south, the spur road to the Harmony Borax Works appears on the left. A short trail leads past the ruins of the refinery and some other buildings and machinery.
Borax was processed in these structures in the 1880s, then was shipped by mule teams 165 over the rugged desert to Mojave, California. A one-way dirt road north of the Borax Works runs through Mustard Canyon, a series of low hills colored by salt and oxidized minerals, including iron.
The Visitor Center is only 2 miles further south.
AUTO TOURS
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Southeast: California Route 178
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East: California Route 190
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Northeast: Nevada Route 374
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North: Nevada Route 267
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West: California Route 190
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Southwest: California Route 178
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