Grapevine/Northern Funeral Mountains (GF)

Sites GF1-2 can both be accessed off the paved highway from Death Valley to Beatty, Nevada. Chloride Cliff provides what is probably the best high vantage point (without hiking far) from which to view Death Valley and is a good place to see a branch of the Boundary Canyon detachment system. Titus Canyon is probably the best geologic side trip in the world. In this guide there are 10 stops listed of geologic interest in this canyon and they include a wide variety of features. The two roads to Chloride Cliff require four-wheel-drive (at least in one spot) and the long one-way road through Titus Canyon requires high clearance. Before visiting either locality, one should obtain Wright and Troxel (1993) and Miller and Wright (2004) for Chloride Cliff and Miller and Wright (2004) for Titus Canyon. Also, for Titus Canyon, Brandt (1992) is less technical. One should allow a full morning for the trip to Chloride Cliff and the better part of a day for Titus Canyon. Sites GF-3 and GF-4 can be reached directly by paved road and any vehicle all year.

GF1. Chloride Cliff

At the junction (10.9 miles from the highway), you cross the Boundary Canyon detachment and the steep climb up the hill is through the Johnnie formation, ...

GF2. Titus Canyon

GF3. Rhyolite

The gold in these hills occurs in fissures and veins associated with calcite, quartz and pyrite in rhyolite tuff related to ...

GF4. North-Central Death Valley Fault Zone

From this point all the way through the north end of Death Valley, a series of pressure ridges along the fault zone occur at ...