Driving Tours: Adventure from Your Vehicle
Death Valley National Park offers hundreds of miles of paved and unpaved roads, providing plenty of driving adventures. Always start at the Furnace Creek Visitor Center for current road conditions and closures.
- Badwater Road (34 miles round trip): This paved, out-and-back drive takes you to Badwater, North America’s lowest point (-282 feet below sea level). The drive out takes about 30 minutes. The return trip can take longer due to stops like Natural Bridge, Devil’s Golf Course, and Artist Drive. Vehicles over 25 feet are not allowed on Artist Drive.
- North Highway to Ubehebe Crater (120 miles round trip): This can be an out-and-back trip, or if you have a high-clearance 4-wheel drive vehicle, you can take unpaved routes out of the park. From Furnace Creek Visitor Center, head north on Highway 190 for about 30 miles towards Scotty’s Castle. Turn onto North Highway (Scotty’s Castle Road), another 30 miles. Near the Ubehebe turn-off, you’ll see the Grapevine Ranger Station (flush toilets are available). Ubehebe Crater, a “maar” volcano formed by a steam explosion, is a short drive away.
- Beyond Ubehebe: From Ubehebe, you can take a rough, 30-mile washboard dirt road to The Racetrack – not recommended for sedans or low-clearance vehicles due to frequent flat tires (two spare tires are recommended). You can also access Big Pine Road from near the crater, leading out to Big Pine; again, not for sedans or low-clearance vehicles.
- Emigrant Canyon to Wildrose Charcoal Kilns (56 miles round trip): This out-and-back drive is best for summer and not recommended in winter. Start at the historic Emigrant Canyon Ranger Station (9 miles up Highway 190 from Stovepipe Wells), famous for Ranger Stan Jones, who wrote “Ghost Riders in the Sky” there. Turning onto Emigrant Canyon Road offers a gentle climb into a Pinyon-Juniper Forest, passing sights like Skidoo Ghost Town (5,700 ft), Aguereberry Point (6,433 ft – some say the best view of Death Valley), and finally the Wildrose Charcoal Kilns. The dirt road past the kilns is high-clearance 4-wheel drive only.
TOP Places to See in Death Valley National Park
With a little planning, you can easily visit most of these iconic spots by following just a couple of routes within the park.
