Driving the Furnace Creek Road in Death Valley NP
Furnace Creek Road is a very exciting desert drive located in Inyo County, in the eastern central part of the U.S. state of California. High-clearance vehicle required. Due to frequent flooding in the area, road conditions often vary throughout the park. It’s one of the challenging Backcountry roads in the Death Valley National Park.
Tucked away in Death Valley National Park, the road is totally unpaved. It’s 45.54km (28.3 miles) long, running north-south from Dantes View Road to CA-178 (Jubilee Pass Road). This road follows the length of this mid-elevation valley. Once bustling during mining booms, little remains of the ghost towns of Furnace and Greenwater are accessible via side roads.
It is a quiet, gradual dirt road. High clearance vehicles are required. The road features steep sections, and tops out at 1.238m (4,061ft) above the sea level. The middle months of May-October can be brutally hot. A rough, dead-end road to Gold Valley (4x4 required) leads off to the west 17 miles from the north end. For the most up-to-date information on road conditions, visit Death Valley’s website at nps.gov/deva.