Beatty, Nevada

09/19/2026

If Titus Canyon has been sitting on your “one of these days” list, one of these days needs to be pretty soon.

Titus Canyon Road is temporarily open right now after the first round of repairs, but on October 1 it closes again — this time through September 30, 2027 — for the next phase of work.

So, barring any temporary closures, what’s left of September is your window.

And that “barring temporary closures” part matters. Death Valley National Park says Titus Canyon may close on individual days, so check the park’s current road conditions the morning you plan to go, not the night before.

Titus Canyon is a 27-mile, one-way backcountry road. It is rough, steep and narrow in places, and a high-clearance vehicle is recommended. Give yourself several hours, start early, carry plenty of water, and don’t head in thinking you can squeeze it in before dinner.

There are no services and no cell service out there, so tell somebody where you’re going and when you expect to be back.

Then enjoy it — because once October 1 gets here, Titus Canyon is going to be off the driving list for about a year.

Current conditions: nps.gov/deva/planyourvisit/conditions.htm

Stay in Beatty – Explore Everywhere!

09/18/2026

**Pack for two very different temperatures, because that is exactly what you can get around here.**

Beatty sits at about **3,300 feet above sea level**. Head down into the lower elevations of Death Valley and you lose more than 3,000 feet pretty quickly.

That difference matters.

Even in September, the valley floor can be considerably hotter than Beatty, so don’t pack or plan your day based only on what it feels like when you leave town.

A few things should always be in the vehicle:

**Water.** In hot conditions, Death Valley National Park recommends at least a gallon per person, per day. Not one little bottle tossed in the cup holder.

**Something salty to eat.** Water matters, but so do electrolytes and actually eating.

**A hat, sunscreen and lightweight clothing that gives you some protection from the sun.**

**Real shoes.** The kind you would be willing to walk a mile in if suddenly you had to.

**A full tank and maps that work without cell service.** Most roads inside Death Valley have little or no service, and help can be a long way away.

And probably the biggest one:

**Don’t plan your day around the middle of the afternoon.**

Go early. Take a break during the hottest part of the day. Save more exploring for later.

Death Valley is incredible, but September is still hot enough that a little planning can make the difference between a great day and a very short one.

Check current conditions before you head in: **nps.gov/deva**

Stay in Beatty – Explore Everywhere!

09/17/2026

Beatty Days 2026 is coming!

Three days of small-town fun, old-fashioned competition, live entertainment, food, vendors and plenty more happening October 30–November 1 at Cottonwood Park.

Save the dates, check out the poster, and start making plans to spend the weekend with us in Beatty!

09/17/2026

By 1914, Rhyolite’s banks had been closed for years.

The Montgomery-Shoshone Mine had been shut down since 1911.

The post office was gone.

And in July, the last train pulled out of Rhyolite.

But the lights were still on.

They would stay on until 1916.

That is the part of ghost-town history that sometimes gets lost. Rhyolite didn’t wake up one morning empty. Even after the mines closed, the businesses disappeared and the trains stopped coming, there were still people there trying to make a living and calling it home.

Towns do not empty all at once.

They empty around the people who are still in them.

09/17/2026

09/17/2026

Here’s something easy to drive past without ever realizing what you’re looking at.

East-southeast of Beatty, up in the Bare Mountain area, is a massive outcrop of pale gray limestone known as the Beatty Mudmound.

And hundreds of millions of years ago, it was sitting on the bottom of an ocean.

The Mudmound is an Ordovician bioherm — a huge mound of carbonate mud that formed offshore roughly 470–480 million years ago.

And it is full of fossils.

Trilobites. Brachiopods. Cephalopods. Sponges. And even conodonts — tiny tooth-like fossil elements left behind by strange, long-extinct jawless vertebrates.

This isn’t just a quirky little local rock pile, either.

USGS geologists H.R. Cornwall and F.G. Kleinhampl brought attention to the mound while mapping this area in 1960. It eventually became the subject of two separate U.S. Geological Survey Professional Papers — one devoted to its fossils and another to how the mound itself formed.

That is a whole lot of scientific attention for something most people pass without ever knowing it’s there.

And maybe the coolest part can be summed up in three words:

Nevada was ocean.

The desert we know today once sat beneath ancient marine waters, and some of the proof is still sitting in the mountains right outside Beatty.

If you head out to see it, remember this is rough desert country. Wear good shoes, carry plenty of water, avoid the heat of the day, and please leave the fossils and rocks where you find them.

Sometimes the best souvenir is knowing what you were looking at.

Stay in Beatty – Explore Everywhere!

09/15/2026

Sunday morning at Beatty Days belongs to the pets!

The Beatty Days Pet Parade steps off at 11:00 AM Sunday, November 1, in Lower Park.

Registration is open from 8:00–10:30 AM, then bring your pet back by 10:45 for lineup. There will be ribbons, trophies, and plenty of reasons to stick around and watch.

Bring the dog. Bring the pet that thinks it’s a dog. Dress them up if they’ll tolerate it. Then come join one of the most fun little traditions of Beatty Days.

And if you’re coming without a pet, that’s okay too — grab a spot along Lower Park at 11:00 and enjoy everybody else’s.

Beatty Days 2026
October 30 – November 1
Cottonwood Park • 3rd & Amargosa
Celebrating Beatty’s 122nd birthday!

Stay in Beatty – Explore Everywhere!

09/15/2026

Four years ago yesterday, getting out of Death Valley meant heading toward Beatty.

On September 13, 2022, another round of flash flooding hit Death Valley, damaging roads and temporarily closing every normal route into and out of the park.

For a short time, crews opened the still-damaged Beatty Cutoff so visitors had a way out.

It’s a good reminder for anyone traveling through Death Valley this time of year.

Late summer storms can build quickly out here, and a lot of rain can fall in a very short amount of time. Water that falls miles away can suddenly come rushing through a canyon or wash that looked completely dry a few minutes earlier.

If storms are in the forecast, stay out of narrow canyons and washes. Never drive through water covering a road, and always check current road and weather conditions before heading into the park.

And maybe the biggest lesson from September 13, 2022:

Don’t assume the road you came in on will be the road you leave on.

Stay in Beatty – Explore Everywhere!

09/13/2026

It is Grandparents Day, so here is an honest answer to a question people actually ask us. What around Beatty holds up when you have a seven year old and a seventy five year old in the same vehicle?

Not a hike. Here is what does work.

The Beatty Museum and Historical Society. Admission is free, it is indoors, there is somewhere to sit, and the mining and household displays are the kind of thing where the oldest person in the group starts explaining what something is and the youngest one actually listens.

Goldwell Open Air Museum, west of town. Free, outdoors, and the ground is flat. The walk between the artworks is short, and The Last Supper reads from a distance, so nobody has to get close who does not want to.

Cottonwood Park. Shade, grass, benches and a playground. This is where you go when the plan has fallen apart and everybody needs twenty minutes.

The Amargosa River. It runs year-round, which almost nothing in this desert does, and you can look at it without walking far.

Geocaching. There are reportedly around 137 caches hidden within 30 miles of town. You do not have to be an expert. Download an app, pick one close to a road, and let the kid be the one who finds it.

Bring more water than you think three people need, and go early or go late rather than the middle of the day.

Stay in Beatty - Explore everywhere!

09/12/2026

Look up!

If you’re hoping to spot desert bighorn around here, start with the rocky slopes and ridgelines.

They blend into the desert so well that you can stare right at one and completely miss it.

Find a safe place to pull off, get out, and really scan the rocks. Look for movement, the curve of a horn, or something that just doesn’t quite match the slope.

And give it a few minutes.

Seriously — five real minutes.

You might be surprised what was standing there the whole time.