Lippincott Road, Death Valley's most dangerous road

Two new to serious off roading drivers make their way across the most difficult and dangerous road in Death Valley.
Truck Details
2017 Toyota Tacoma double cab
wheel base: 127 inches, clearance: 9.4 inches
2020 Nissan Frontier crew cab
wheel base: 125.9 inches, clearance: 9.8 inches

[@YosemiteFour]

By God, I love Death Valley.

[@lawrencewiddis2447]

Good photography. Brief narration…which I prefer.

[@donwest1869]

I have done it twice in a ‘94 Toyota DLX pickup with 33s and dual lockers, and Marlin Crawler. It was actually pretty awesome.

[@brandonpierce4102]

Once you pass that sign. You are committed to no mistakes for the next few hours. Don’t go solo. At least bring a spotter. I did it without either, and it’s definitely in my lucky to live through it file. The grade part of Lilppencott is no joke.

[@adama7357]

I feel like going up it much more difficult and going down is more dangerous. I did it at 2am in 2000 4Runner manual transmission, no lockers. No suspension, no problem!

[@user-pp4nd7vw8m]

Yikes! Glad you made it safely!

[@davefoc]

I was pretty glad about that also.

[@onefastcyclist]

Nice video - Yes it's a shelf road I've been up many times- but Dedeckera is far more challenging

[@CBeard849]

Videos never really portray just how steep inclines are. You have to be there!

[@ExploringCabinsandMines]

I'll be sure to bring a hammer drill and sledgehammer.

[@davefoc]

I own a hammer drill which I think is fun to use but I rarely need to drill through rocks and concrete. But this could be my opportunity. It's wall powered so I'll need to bring an inverter and then we can have the fun of being stranded because I ran down the car battery drilling through rocks. Perfect.

[@tacofornia3726]

So Titus Canyon is a one way road but not this? That's crazy.

[@davefoc]

It seems crazy to me as well. A little confession. We planned to ride down TItus Canyon. When we got near the start the road was closed. We drove to the bottom and drove up it a ways with the idea that was OK because it was blocked off at the top. It was the first time that I had seen any of Titus Canyon, and it was spectacular. Eventually we became nervous about going the wrong way and turned around.

[@dantruong1162]

@@davefoc Titus canyon is likely one way mostly because it's an easy dirt road frequently travelled by tourists with no experience, and it also ends in canyon narrows where crossing cars would be a mess. Most of death valley off-road is travelled by people who have 4x4 or at least dirt road experience. Lippincott and Steele pass are some of the sketchier main roads. A one way Lippincott would mean a huge detour to get back.

[@davefoc]

@@dantruong1162 I think this is exactly right. With drivers of my skill level, (which would be low for the average serious off roader) backing up would be a challenge but with somebody outside the car to watch me back down I think it could be done safely until there was room for passing. I also think shorter will base vehicles than our trucks would make the drive safer and less scary.

[@diablohedgie]

Titus is easy and yes one way

[@angiedues8813]

We did lippicott in a long bed pickup.

[@davefoc]

Did you need to stop and do road repair before you could go on anyplace along the way?

[@megankirkeby7075]

Maybe mountain bikes instead next time?

[@davefoc]

Hi Meg, I'm not sure. definitely not for me. The first few miles, no problem, basically you're riding a bike on a bumpy dirt road albeit one where if you fall over the edge it will be your last fall. But towards the end the road becomes very rocky and you'd be maneuvering around rocks and riding over rocks. It might be easy peezy for a good rider, but I'm so far from that that I'm not sure what a good rider can do. I think it might make a nice day hike. You might just go to the end of the interesting hilly part which would be about four miles down and then four miles up to get back. As far as next time: I'd like to back to the area. but I'm not going down Lippincott Road again on any kind of vehicle.

[@stevemikel4966]

I rode down this road in an old hard tail MTB back in 85’ a damn nice ride but it my hands were numb for a few days. We used to drive down in an old 2nd Chevy , lots of crawling but if you know what you’re about and bring the right gear it is a grand trip.

[@MissionOffRoad]

Sounds fun!

[@joshuacameron4342]

Great informative video! I really enjoyed watching this as it shows what it likes to be there, but I also think adding your personalities into the video made for a great watch. I have a 3rd gen Tacoma OR with stock suspension and 31 tires. I' thinking of going for it top to bottom like you guys. Thanks for filming!

[@w9jim]

It's a much better run going up from Saline Valley.

[@rosscayley8773]

Drove a stock rental 4runner up this a few years ago without knowing anything about it....awesome setting, a couple of narrow spots, but the track isn't really that challenging....most importantly- its rocky but not slippery, so you can drive slow, steady and safe. I didnt bother airing down and think the traction control only kicked in once. I think its the view that freaks some people out, rather than the track itself.

[@davefoc]

Thanks for the post. Yeah, it might be fairly tame to experienced off road drivers. There are several places where a mistake might be your last which I wasn't too nervous about. The guy that was driving the truck I was in seemed to be doing a very good job. . I think doing it with long bed trucks made it a little scarier. We had a large turning radius and that made it a little dicey in places. The other thing is that the road can change. The section we had difficulty with at the end would have been impassable for us without filling in some of the holes. At other times it might be less difficult depending on when the last time road maintenance had been done.

[@rosscayley8773]

@@davefoc I'm an Australian-based geologist so have lots of experience navigating dodgy roads...so it could just be a relative perception. I agree that size matters - off-road, smaller is usually better.

[@georgeryan613]

Went over it about 25 years ago in a Jeep. Had to push fallen rock over the side in a couple places.

[@fbauer4368]

Hey, you left out an important part.! One second you guys are filling holes for the most dangerous part then a motorcyclist goes by and you declare victory with an "We Made It" banner. I do appreciate the effort though.

[@davefoc]

Hi F. Bauer, :), you zeroed in on the most disappointing part of the video for me. Two things happened. Steve had figured out how we could get down and needed help to lift the rocks in place. It seemed lame to call the other guys down so I could video people putting the rocks in place, so I moved from camera guy to rock lifter guy. Then when we had the rocks in place the trucks needed guidance to make it down the path we'd built. I felt like I was in the best position to guide the first truck since I was the most familiar with the path we'd worked out. And the second truck was the one I was traveling in so I guided that one down as well. So no video again. If I had it to over, I might at least try to get some video of the second truck going down , but at that point I was feeling mighty good that we had made it down with nobody hurt and the trucks still functional. I didn't want to screw that up by making a mistake because I was making a video.

[@fbauer4368]

@@davefoc Hey brother, it's all good. I figured you were busy but it is my nature to ask. As long as I have your attention let me ask how wide/long is your largest vehicle. I'll be in the area soon and would like to trace your steps but the vehicle I will be using is a full size Chevy 4 door. My wife is not a fan of the steep drop-offs so I'm trying to calculate my options. Thanx

[@davefoc]

@@fbauer4368 I sympathize with your wife's view. Quick answer: Both trucks had a full rear seat and I think roughly a six foot bed. I will get make, model, wheel base and clearance info tomorrow and post it in the video description.

[@davefoc]

I added the information to the video description. Good luck with your adventure. I'd like to hear about it. Maybe you could post a comment here?

[@gringoreno]

Made the trip to panamit in stock k5 blazer in early 80's not anymore way worse

[@marka6331]

this is top notch content, thanks for sharing!

[@Solo-Road]

good work boys

[@ExploringCabinsandMines]

LOL wow a gravel road SCARY !