From Hiking Death Valley: A Guide to Its Natural Wonders and Mining Past:

If you are looking for a scenic and adventurous backcountry drive, try the Titus Canyon road, a scenic mountain byway that will take you clear across the Grapevine Mountains. One of its many highlights is the small ghost town of Leadfield; its scattered buildings have an unusual story to tell. There is a small spring and petroglyphs along the way, the geology is interesting, and the spectacular drive through the narrows in the lower canyon is truly unique.

Consider us sold! This sounded like the perfect introduction to Death Valley. We arrived in Vegas Friday night and spent the night in Summerlin. Saturday morning we went supply shopping, then were on our way. We stopped in Beatty to top off the gas tank and get some snacks at Death Valley Nut and Candy Company. From Beatty we took Highway 374 (Daylight Pass Road) about six miles to the start of Titus Canyon Road. The road is a very scenic 27 miles from Daylight Pass Road to Scotty's Castle Road (one way except for the last few miles from the Titus Canyon trailhead to Scotty's Castle Road).

It wasn't long before we started climbing the ~1,800 feet to Red Pass (elevation 5,290 feet). As we switchbacked up the slopes the views got better and better and we liked the variety of colors in the landscape (from the lava flows, ash beds, and tuffs). I didn't think the road/drop offs were bad at all, but we did hear Norah in the backseat saying "Stay calm Norah, stay calm Norah". :-O

We dropped over 1,000 feet down the other side of the pass and in ~3 miles reached Leadfield. Leadfield went from boom to bust in a year (1926-1927) and there are still some remnants of the mining operations. We stopped here for a bit to check out the few buildings left standing.

The rest of the drive was all about Titus Canyon, especially the narrows (only 20 feet wide in some places). We've hiked through multiple canyons, but this was the first time we drove though a narrow canyon and it was a very cool experience. Titus Canyon is a wineglass shape due to different erosion factors and we loved different rock formations and colors. The narrows were a great finale to the scenic Titus Canyon Road - great drive!