After our first day trip in Death Valley I got hit by some short term virus pretty bad. I was laid up in bed watching DVDs for a whole day. But a the next day I was feeling up to some more off-roading. We decided to check out ‘The Racetrack’. The racetrack is a dried lake bed known for it’s mysterious moving rocks. Although you can’t actually see the rocks move in real time there are long trails behind each stone that show their movement over time.
We checked out the racetrack for a while before deciding to head back to camp. We didn’t like being gone too long as our dog, Charlie was chilling in the RV (she doesn’t like off roading - too bumpy for her). The way out to the track wasn’t super exciting as far as off roading is concerned; several rental cars there, but we all know that rentals are the fastest and most capable. So we decided to take an alternate route back, Lippincott Pass. As we reached the beginning of the road there were all kinds of warning signs about the road being dangerous. Even the map we got at the ranger station had a warning printed in it recommending “experienced drivers only” take this route. My wife kept asking me “are you sure you are an experienced driver?”
As soon as we started down the trail my wife was getting worried. This was definitely harder than Titus Canyon and that had been the most intense off roading she had done. The road was narrow and single vehicle width with occasional pull outs. There were also very steep drop offs on one side with lots of loose rock.
We took it slow and meandered down the road. At one point there were a few heavily modified Jeeps coming up the hill as we were coming down. They managed to find a turnout and pulled over to wait for us and others to pass. They had to wait quite some time because there were a few other vehicles going the same way as us and it turned out there was no other turnouts. As we passed them they waved to us and said, “good luck down there” in a very “this truck is not going to make it” type of tone.
After a few more turns we knew why the guys in the Jeep wished us luck. Some of the turns got very sharp and with the long wheelbase of the truck we were definitely struggling a bit. Taking it slow, staying on the high points and the occasional 3 point turn took us to the bottom of the mountain with only a few scrapes under the side steps of truck.
On the way back to the campground we drove through a pretty serious Joshua tree forest and stopped for some ice-cream. We also had a close encounter with a few coyotes who were running around in the road right in front of our truck. It seemed like they were expecting park visitors to feed them which means that people have probably fed them in the past, against park rules. People think it is cute, but all it does is put the wildlife at risk.
We hit a gas station on the way back for a wife bathroom break and some ice cream. The next day we packed up and left to head back to San Diego for work. Next time I’ll talk about how this trip helped me decide which modifications I would like to do to the truck.