What’s the scariest road you’ve ever driven down? There are many of them across the U.S., but the road in the photo below just might have them all beat…
You know that feeling when your heart drops into your stomach and your toes start to tingle and you just might pee your pants? That’s the exact feeling we get when we look at this photo, which we found on the CampingRoadTrip.com Facebook page.
This photo was taken by @ThisWildIdea, who runs a beautiful Instagram account with 1.3 million followers.
Would you drive this road or have you driven down one similar? Tell us in the comments.
##RVT956
It reminds me of, and may be, the Moki Dugway.
It is one of roads to natural bridge national park. I drove up it. When i got to park office i sat down and put my head on hands and may have been shaking. Ranger came up to me and said so you just drove the dugway?
Very narrow . Only remember one pull over for oncoming car. Made from a dugway small rail cart area to get uranium out. I prayed all the way up not to meet another car. I think i got a sticker saying I survived Moki Dugway.
So what is road in picture?
I would not go on that road on a bicycle!!
We pulled our travel trailer up the Moki Dugway and met an 18 wheeler coming down! Safely passed at very slow speed. It looks to be absolutely impossible as you approach it, but Beautiful view from the top.
Annoying click bait. You failed, repeat failed to name the road.
We have driven the Moki Dugway; following a ranger’s suggestion, we drove our Jeep Wrangler pulling a teardrop over Miller Peak to Parker Canyon Lake campground; but perhaps the one that was really white-knuckle driving was the Smoky Mountain Road in Grand Staircase Escalente driving down off the escarpment. Great view of the valley and side-canyons, though. I don’t think we will try that one again— but I am sure we will wander onto others.
Musandam, Oman. Tent camped here a few times. One of the most beautiful places I’ve ever been.
https://www.musandamtravel.com/khor-najd/
Been there on the bus from Muscat.
Independence Pass in Colorado is the scariest road I’ve been on, and that was only in an SUV. Cannot imagine it in an RV.
I’ve done Independence Pass in at least 4 different vehicles over the years since 72. I love that pass! Last time was in 2010 on my motorcycle.
Was your favorite drive in a Class A on the outer part of the road, seeing an oncoming Class A and meeting up where the white line had disappeared from that part of the road because it had fallen off the cliff? Makes the drive even more exciting than the views 🙂
It is a beautiful drive on a paved highway. Can be stressful for the driver of a Class A or C at times like I mentioned.
Took my family over Independence Pass in the 1970s in my ’66 VW Campmobile. It was fun but a real challenge chugging very slowly up the pass, then going as easy on the brakes as possible on the downside.
My husband and I won the Denali National Park lottery one year, so we were allowed to drive the full length (about 80 miles) to Wonder Lake. A beautiful drive, except when we met a tour bus on those curves, with huge drop offs, where it seems there’s barely room for one vehicle, let alone 2 going in opposite directions. White knuckled, indeed
We were in California and decided to go to Lake Tahoe as we headed home, we came in on the west side going east, I do not remember the road, but the switchback signs were the worst we had ever seen. Drop offs on both sides, and we were in a 40 foot motor home with a tow car . I took the two dogs and we climbed over the bed , me with a bottle of wine and hid on the other side of the bed until we were on flat ground. When I walked up to the front, my husband was white as a ghost and said “ shiiiiiitttttt” we laughed as we survived it and we were newbies in 2000.
Was it Donner Pass?
Highway 50 going into Carson City. Weeeeeeeee
Going to the Sun Road in Glacier NP eastbound is on the top of my list of never wanting to drive it. We took a tour bus.
We drove it in our car and loved it. Chuck
It’s a beautiful trip. This year, the east entrance has been closed by the tribal council, so it’s out and back on Going To The Sun Road, You can get as far as Rising Sun before you have to double back. There is a lot more congestion in West Glacier and Apgar compared to years before, also due to the road closure.
We’ve made that trip a dozen times in our dually. We’re the same width as the Red Busses, so why not?
I would drive it in my Jeep, but without a trailer.
The Blue Notch Road, The Burr Trail and Hell’s Backbone. All in Central Utah are similar roads.
oh, hell no!!! that’s just crazy! i would in my jeep also, and have been on similar roads, but that’s it.
The first time, nearly twenty years ago, that we stumbled upon the Moki Dugway, we had been at Natural Bridges, and were really just out wandering in our Chevy Suburban. We took highway 261 with no destination in mind, a long, flat, ride along a high desert plateau We stopped at Muley Point Road just before the Dugway to stretch our legs and smell the sage. (Sage smells different in different parts of the high country.) We had no idea what the Dugway was.
As we stood there in the sun, a pickup truck came up from the valley pulling a long horse trailer. As soon as he got to a flat spot, he slammed on the brakes. His passenger jumped out of the truck, ran to the side of the road and puked violently.
We proceeded slowly down the Dugway and marveled at the views along the way. A little tight in places, but not a daredevil act by any means. We always go out of our way to revisit the Dugway when we’re in southeastern Utah.
I actually do want to drive on this road, repeat do.
But I’m not foolish enough to follow a gps on it with a giant rv.
Reminds me of the Shafer Trail-Potash Road that goes down to the Colorado River from Island in the Sky in Canyonlands National Park. Shortly after Canyonlands became a NP, I ripped the muffler off my ’55 Chevy driving down that road.
Have driven the Moki-Dugway in our Jeep.And would do it again. Not, however, in our 30′ Class A.
Did it in our Four Winds Sprinter, no issues!
We actually towed our 7500-lb travel trailer down the Dugway!
You guys in the West think you have the best roads. Come East and do the Mt. Washington road. We made it to the first turnout. Decided to go for “The Covered Wagon”, a Chevy van with a special transmission. Even that was somewhat scary!
But well worth it. We were in shorts. At the top, had to buy sweatshirts due to the temp difference.
Visited Mt Washington on motorcycles had rode from Alabama in mid June. Remember seeing a parking lot with folks getting out with backpacks and snowboards. Thought this is crazy. Then at the base saw this Ford 4wheel drive crew cab come rolling up with snow chains, ice and snow dripping off where they were swapping crews for the weather station at the top. Did the covered wagon. The guide said he’s driven others vehicles back down quite a few times when they freaked out and froze
Think I’ll pass this one by
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The W Road between Signal Mountain and Chattanooga, Tennessee, has hairpin turns that no 5th wheel, travel trailer, or motor home should ever try to negotiate. Don’t try it! Google it and see some of the photos.
My first thought was the movie ‘The Long Trailer’.
I’ve watched that movie so many times. It makes me belly-laugh each and every time. A true classic.
Hi, Lyn. I saw that movie when it first came out, when I was about 6. I can still remember how scared I was watching it, and for a long time afterward. I guess I should watch it again so I can enjoy the humor in it. 😀 —Diane at RVtravel.com
Drove California’s highway 1 with my wife after camping along the coast near the Hearst Castle to Monterey in a 34ft motorhome towing a Jeep years ago, not knowing how narrow it was and nowhere to turn around. Took my time, luckily there wasn’t too much traffic that I could see behind me, although in some of the turns I could see the back of the jeep, finally made it to Monterey where I was able to take the highway inland towards San Jose. For the whole trip my wife kept telling me to not do this ever again.
I really hope you give magnificent Highway 1 another chance. This time, in your Jeep or even better, on a Harley!
Came up a road like this in Kentuck or Tenn, but trees on both sides, in our converted Ford Van. I just had to see what was at the top. Nothing. Had to back down about 1/2 mile. Wife won’t let me explore anymore.
OK this road looks just like the road that comes into town from the back roads into Jerome. You take this road from Williams, you have to force GPS to find this road but you will find it. You go thru town and just stay on it until you find a road called Perkinsville. Trust you me I am glad I did not have the camper or I would have been like you gotta be kidding me It looks just like that one. So if you like roller coasters? Perkinsville Road that follows straight into Jerome AZ. Yeah man I will never do that again. Mom died 14 weeks and that was her crazy idea. That keeps me from crying when she says what was I thinking.
Then there is another and this woman told us O yeah take route 12 to Bryce Cannon its an easy peasy run. Do not listen to this woman. It is a gas station mexican restuarant and you either go straight on or turn. Do not listen to her. That road was a nightmare with the trailer. I wish I never listened to her. OMG To this day I remember mom going OMG what were we thinking.
My father and brother were log truck drivers and I rode many trips in trucks when we couldn’t see the edge of the road over the hood of the truck. Only once have I driven my old motorhome on a logging road I shouldn’t have. It had old drum brakes and even though I kept it in first gear, I had no brakes for the last half mile. Thank goodness nobody was coming the other way.
Sharon
29 days ago
We have driven the Moki Dugway; following a ranger’s suggestion, we drove our Jeep Wrangler pulling a teardrop over Miller Peak to Parker Canyon Lake campground…
Sharon, Miller Peak & Parker Canyon Lake are in south central Arizona just north of the Mexican Border and southwest of Fort Huachuca and Sierra Vista.
Sharon
Moki Dugway (261) is in SE UT & connects with UT 95 west of Blanding & US 163 west of Bluff.
There is a dead end dirt road that goes from UT12 (east of Escalante) SE until it ends overlooking hole in the rock crossing.
There is a second dirt road that goes south from Escalante and wanders around until it finally connects with US 89 at Big Water.
The third dirt road goes south from UT12 @ Henrieville and past Kodachrome Basin State Park until it connects with US 89 @ Paria Contact Station west of Church Wells
We’ve driven this road, and a number of others like it in Utah, though I’ll grant that we have a relatively small trailer. Fish Creek Hill on AZ SR 88 used to look like this until there were so many accidents that the HIghway Dept gouged another foot or two out of the cliff face, and added guard rails. And going southbound on the Coronado Highway (US191) just south of Hannigan Meadow, AZ, is trickier because it is paved, giving you a sense of safety. But it has sudden awesome drops of greater than 15% downgrades with a very tight, narrow, and invisible hairpin turn at the bottom. And it is common to find a cow standing across the road at the end of the turn. Speed greater than 5 mph is an invitation to disaster.
Wish I could attach a photo – I’ve got a doozy.
Bill
Everyone has at least one encounter with a scary road. As a veteran driver these may give me moments of anxiety but I have one I will never forget. This road had no name as it lead to a ghost town. We had driven many a mile on scary roads before. On this one I had invested considerable distance out of the 50+ miles to get there when I bypassed the first of two road closed signs. These roads were clearly passable. However, with about 5 miles to go the road became one lane, carved out of a steep hillside, very narrow and potholded. There is a reason why these roads become impassible. No one uses them. Plus their switchbacks were not made with automobiles in mind. I was on the outside of the curve when I came to one switchback so sharp, narrow and steep my truck hood obscured the edge of the road. Now that is scary. I creeped around the curve, finding out only later I had scraped a little paint off a front inside fender in the process. The scratch serves as a great reminder.
Being natives of “flat Florida” we took a dream trip to Yellowstone. Alas, no camping. When traveling from Yellowstone to Cody, Wyoming my husband and I drove over a mountain . . . don’t even know the name of the road but it was dark and VERY SCARY for us not being used to mountain driving! We normally would talk to each other non stop about the beautiful scenery, but both of us remained very quiet during that ride. This sounds morbid, but I started counting the markers on the roadside where deaths had occurred only because I saw so many and came up with 52 markers! We of course made it, but talked about it for days. And may I say how much I enjoy reading RV Travel! I look forward to it every day. Thanks again 🙂
Harts Pass road to Harts Pass campground and fire lookout off of Highway 20 in mid-north Washington. It has a bend in the middle that caused my co-pilot to walk ahead to make sure no one was coming opposite. She could barely open the door enough to get out because of the cliff face on passenger side and on the driver’s side it was about a 600′ drop almost straight down. We in our 69 Chevy with Westways 10′ camper were the only hard sided non-van rig in the campground and I know why.
In West Texas we traveled on a dirt road over this mountain which had a large drop off. I don;t know the highway that ended at this store/motel office. The was the alternative to driving all the way back to the nearest town. We did meet a pickup pulling a cattle trailer. We had to back up till their was a turn onto some property and open a gate so the guy could pull in so we could continue. I don’t like looking over the edge when you can’t see anything but down.
We were Jeepin’ around the Engineer Pass region of Colorado and took a side road that eventually came out to paved highway just south of Ouray, CO. I white-knuckled the whole trip as there were hairpin curves and shelf roads. Hubby even had to get out to see how big a drop the road was as we couldn’t see it over the hood of the Jeep. I was never so scared in my life and when we got to that paved highway, I got out and kissed the ground!
I make it a point NOT to drive on these kinds of roads even in my toad (Jeep). Call me chicken but someone once said, those kinds of white knuckle trips can take years off your life, and that’s if you don’t fall off the cliff. I don’t know how much time I have left and I sure don’t want to shorten it……
Nah, the road’s too narrow.
I would probably take a road like that, but if the DW is on board, I couldn’t get within 5 miles of it.
for me, driving (crawling) up the Moki Dugway state highway in South East Utah.
It reminds me of the old road to Leadville Colorado in the mid 1960’s. It was one lane with wide spots every so often. If you met someone going the opposite direction one would have to back up to one of the wide spots. Not bad for cars but if you had a trailer it was challenging.
I can’t remember the name of the road in Northern California. We were leaving Lava Beds National Monument and headed east to Nevada. Fortunately, I was driving (a van) or I’m sure I would have had a heart attack. As I approached what appeared to be a solid wall of rock I kept thinking there had to be a way to go around or through. No, the closer I got I could see vehicles winding their way down the rock face. One of them was pulling a trailer! As we headed up I noticed there was no guard rail and very little shoulder. I told the others to help me watch out for any oncoming traffic as I pulled to the middle of the road, we met no one. One of my passengers woke up halfway up, looked out the window, and said, “Oh, Pat, what have you gotten us into”. As a flatlander, I don’t mind telling you I was almost in tears by the time we got to the top!
I have driven that road, the MokiDugway in So. Utah
I’m not sure about that, Paul. The Moki is generally pretty well-maintained–don’t know if I’ve ever been able to make out a distinct “two-track” look like that. But if this is someplace else, I want to drive it, too!
Went up MokiD in the ’70s in Toyota PU with a pop-up trailer. Understand that there have been ‘improvements’ in the track since. Had two hairpins we had to back-and-forth to get around – a real learning experience. Never saw another vehicle. I loved it, stopping to take slides many times. Wife, not so much.
Maybe a column with the roads that present issues/ problems would be helpful to others.
I can say we have taken the road less traveled. Headed for Lake Powell Halls Crossing for a house boat rental we found ourselves running lat because of a blown tire on the boat trailer. This put us in Mexican Hat after dark and the shortest highway to the lake was HWY 261. We would have never made this trip in the day time but it was dark. So up the Moki Dugway we went. I kept telling the ladies it is only three miles. We stopped at the top for a much needed break and looked down on where we had been but it was dark. On the return trip in the daylight my ladies refused to make the downward trek and I turned around and went the long way back.
I was on my motorcycle, holed up in Moab for some torrential rain (causing historic flooding in Hanksville) for a day and overnight. The next day, the plan was to ride on 95 from Blanding to Hanksville, but there was a bridge out so we detoured via Hwy 261. I rode up the Moki Dugway, just after a road grader had turned the gravel surface into a wet, clay, slimy 2 inch thick layer of slippery mud. It was a first gear ride, trying to stay near the cliff edge rather than the dropoff, except when I met the road grader coming back down and I needed to move over by the dropoff. Definitely white-knuckle riding up this road — gravel would’ve been okay — it would be nice to have traction on this road, but this slippery ice-like surface was almost too much on a motorcycle.
Driving up numerous mountains in the north, Mt. Washington Auto Road being one of them with an elevation of 8000ft with the risk of ice and snow the further up you go, this road seems very relaxing, yet beautiful!
Absolutely not! Not with my truck/5th wheel anyway.
Mt Washington, NH
Back in the ’80s there was a road that ran between Idaho Springs and Central City, CO called “Oh My God Road”. It looked a lot like the one pictured and was a white knuckler in the best of weather. Over the years they legalized low stakes gambling and Central City/Blackhawk became the hub of Colorado’s gambling world and they modified the road. Now it’s more of an “Oh My Gosh, This is Beautiful, Road.”
I remember the road between Central City and Idaho Springs..
When I was a kid my Dad would drive us over that road. My Mom called it the “Oh sh** road!”
I did that road in the summer of ’73 in my ’62 Corvair Greenbrier with my Mom, Grandma and little brother and sister.
The “Moki Dugway” state highway in South East Utah. I drove it in daylight going up.
We did the Moki Dugway at night bottom to top pulling a boat. It seemed the shortest way to the Halls Crossing Marina from Mexican Hat.When we came back the ladies could see and refused to ride it down and we took the long way.
In the late 70’s before the Russians invaded I drove a Land Rover from Kabul to Faisabad in Afghanistan. Part of the route was very much like the pictures above but mostly one lane cut into the side of the mountain with sheer drop of hundreds of feet to the Kokcha River. Sometimes we met a lorry coming from the other direction and since I was driving the smaller vehicle had to back up until I found a little wider spot in the road for the lorry to pass.
The road coming out of Cripple Creek Colorado comes to mind. It has parts that are straight down on both sides. I was young the last time I drove it. I wouldn’t do it today!
That looks like the Apache trail to Lake Roosevelt in Arizona. I wouldn’t tow on it but I’ve met speed boats being towed on it.
That is a close representation to “the road” in our travels. I think it was in AZ where we drove 71 miles one way, around 2 road-closed signs to reach a ghost town. We have taken 1 lane wonders maybe 3 times before but this one scared me. I consider the Moki Dugway fun. With no chance to turn around, on a very pitiful excuse for a road along a 300′ deep cliff we came across a sharp curve. So sharp that I could not see the edge of the road’s curve for the hood of my truck. And, I could not get out either. I could not let on about the dire situation until we were safe. I hugged the inside cliff and lived. Once back, I saw scratches in my fairly new truck from the cliff wall that remain in it to remind me of that day. And you can bet I thank God for allowing me to survive my own stupidity.
The geology looks like the Shafer Trail/White Rim Road in Canyonlands to me (a geologist). If so, I drove down it in the ’60s in a ’56 Chevy sedan (long story) just after Canyonlands became a NP. It was not an “improved” road at that time, so I ripped the muffler off when I hit an unavoidable fallen rock. That memory is still fresh after more than 50 years!
My wife and I rented a Jeep for half a day in Moab Utah several years ago and part of the trail look similar. I often wondered how many might have gone over the edge.
Numerous 4 wheel drive roads around Silverton Co (in a F150). A lot of narrow dirt/rocky roads which my wife complains she is always on the side that looks like a thousand foot drop off. And I have been on the roads around Moab.
That looks like a crazy road to tow a camper…Hat road was a crazy one we took at Snake Canyon but not with a trailer!
The most thrilling and difficult road we have ever traveled is “The Top Of The World Highway” in 2009. Google it. We did it in a 40 ft coach with a toad behind We drove from the Yukon into the remote Alaska interior. First we had to drive our coach and toad onto a large barge with other rigs loaded to cross the Yukon River that still had a brisk current driving the barge down river and having it slowly make its way to a dirt and gravel landing on the other side of the river. Then we drove about 90 miles to Tok, AK in 10 hours of dirt and gravel road the width of a small 2 car driveway with traffic going both ways. There are 11 degree inclines and down grades with hair pin turns and no guard rails. Stay safe, Stay well
The Devil’s backbone in Utah, this is absolutely horrible in a 31ft class A. .straight off both sides and no shoulders, no guard rails.
I10 across LA.
I don’t remember the road, but it was near Washoe, Nevada. Steep cliff to the driver side, sheer drop to the passenger side. Our transmission was slipping on our way up. We had my aunt, uncle, and cousin with us, all from the very flat part of Texas. So, my dad thought it was funny to sing really loudly, “We’re going down down down!” over and over. We Californians thought it was hilarious; the Texans, not so much.
We would easily drive this road in our 4-wheel-drive truck, but would never even consider pulling a trailer, especially our 40-foot 5th wheel trailer!
Any idea where this is at? Looks very similar to a road we ended up going down outside of Moab, UT when we missed the turn to the RV park we were going to. It got this nasty real fast after we rounded a 90 degree turn and was to far down the road to back up. We were towing a 28′ White Hawk TT. Two of the switch back turns we went around I know I was knocking rocks over the side with the front wheels!
Check out Hart’s Pass in northern Washington state. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13Fs0VGRa0A&t=9s&ab_channel=KenPool