IF YOU just can’t feel satisfied without navigating hairpin
turns, dizzying elevations, and gravel surfaces with no guardrails to protect
you, we’ve got you covered with this bucket list of freaky routes.
Some of these are highly
travelled destination roads, some get very little traffic, and others are
obscure to most drivers. But if you can patiently and carefully handle them in
the proper vehicle, you’ll be rewarded with some tasty visual treats, plus
access to unique mountain-climbing and cycling adventures.
We’d tell you to buckle up,
but we’re not sure how much even doing that will help you here (of course, do
it though!):
Road of Death (North Yungas),
Bolivia
There’s
nothing ironic about the name of this 61 kilometre journey that goes from over
4570 metres in La Paz to 1188m in Coroico — it is the black widow of roads. Its
claim to fame is being named the world’s most dangerous road by the
Inter-American Development Bank, and it’s estimated that 200 to 300 people
travelling on it die each year.
It’s not hard to
see why the road is so dangerous: It’s barely the width of one vehicle, with no
guardrail to protect you from falls of up to 609m. Rain can make the road muddy
and slippery, and rain or fog can reduce a driver to feeling blindfolded.
Still, there’s a
siren song here that attracts thousands of people, from danger-loving tourists
to hardcore cyclists. The view of the Amazonian rainforest is astounding, and
standing right over the sheer drops here will bring out the lemming in many of
us. Tour groups that serve the road include Barracuda Biking and Gravity
Bolivia.
Lippincott Mine Road, Death
Valley National Park, California
This little-used
11km route in and out of the park near the famous Racetrack Playa really puts
the “Death” in Death Valley. It’s a faster route to the park than others, but
you might be clenching your jaw the whole way, trying not to fall hundreds of
feet to oblivion, and it’s not for the casual driver or the casual car. This is
four-wheel-drive territory only.
My friend Doug
did the honour of driving us out of Death Valley via Lippincott at the end of
our camping trip last fall, and by the time we had slowly descended the almost
600m drop, I felt like the park had chewed us up and spat us out into Saline
Valley.
What could kill
you here? Let us count the ways. There are no guardrails, and there is the
constant threat of a steep fall if you’re not careful — at times, there’s just
a foot or two of gravelly space to navigate. You’ll be driving around or over
some large rocks that could break your vehicle, and if that doesn’t do it, the
park’s intense heat could if you’re making the climb into Death Valley during
the hotter months. There’s no towing service, no water source, no road signs
and no cell reception. Other than that, this drive is like Christmas.
Still, competent
drivers in the right vehicle can make this trip safely. Make sure you stop
along the way to capture some gorgeous views of the valley below. Also, if you
enter the park this way, you’re just three miles from the Racetrack and its
otherworldly beauty. Just play some Metallica at full blast, as we did in this
video clip, to give you the adrenaline rush you need to survive.
Dalton Highway, Alaska
While the
Road to Hana is seductively warm and dangerous, this frosty, gravelly,
pothole-laden route is as seductive as a White Walker in Game of Thrones. The
Dalton Highway was opened for one thing: transporting oil. And it covers 666km
of desolate, icy terrain.
This is the
route of Ice Road
Truckers fame, and you’ll
have to excuse the truckers for thinking you’re crazy if you want to drive this
highway for fun. Let’s put aside the freezing cold and often miserable road
conditions, with 18-wheelers pounding your vehicle with ice. On a single 386km
stretch, there are no service stations, restaurants or basic services — the
longest such stretch in North America. There are three — count ’em, three —
service stations the entire way. And don’t count on cell service at all.
Still, there are
enticements to taking your chances here. You can say you’ve crossed into the
Arctic Circle, which the highway does. And if you visit at the right time, you
can slowly pull over and watch the northern lights.
A guide is
highly recommended here unless you know your survival skills, as you’ll need to
pack provisions, including fuel. And be on the lookout for freeway closures,
such as the one that happened just after flooding from the Sagavanirktok River.
Trollstigen Mountain Road,
Norway
As
dangerous roads go, this is among the most visited in the world, and for good
reason: It overlooks a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the Geirangerfjord on the
west coast of Norway. I’d like to say that I gave death a noogie as I raced
this road’s 11 hairpin turns and 9 per cent incline in an Alfa Romeo, but in fact,
I slowly weaved through it on a large tour bus. Next time, I swear.
Dangerous
conditions here include the incline, narrow driving space, and the poor
traction and visibility that come with rain and fog. But oh man, those views:
There are ideal photography opportunities where you can pull over and capture
the fjords and lush valleys below, and waterfalls so close you can touch them.
Note: The road
closes in October and opens in May.
Road to Hana, Maui, Hawaii
Paradise
is worth the risk, which is why the 67km of Highway 360 to Hana in eastern Maui
are such a tourist favourite. You’ll have to navigate through and around 600
hairpin turns, 54 one-lane bridges, steep cliff drops, falling rocks, and even
some confusing mile markers that reset. Plus it rains often, so there’s that.
But the rewards
for your risk are considerable: You probably won’t have time for them all, in
fact. The road itself is full of pull-over-right-now photography opportunities,
but venture deeper and you’ll find such rare beauties as Wai’anapanapa State
Park’s black sand beach, Twin Falls, Wailua Falls, and the laid-back charm of
Paia Town.
Drive slow and
you’ll be fine here — you’d better, in fact, because police strictly enforce
the 25-mph speed limit.
Fairy Meadows Road, Pakistan
Is climbing the
world’s ninth-highest mountain not challenging enough for you? Fine. Just try
driving to the base of it. If you want to climb Nanga Parbat, you’ll have to
ascend six death-defying miles to Fairy Meadows. The gravel road is completely
unmaintained, there are no guardrails to protect you, and it gets so narrow
that near the end you’ll have to cover the last section by walking or biking.
The road is
prone to avalanches and heavy snowfall, and it closes in the winter.
Skippers Canyon Road,
Queenstown, New Zealand
Welcome to a
road so dangerous, your rental car insurance won’t be honoured if you drive on
it. Only one other road in New Zealand has that honour.
Yet you will be
tempted to drive this one-lane, twisting terror with steep drops because it abounds
with natural beauty and photo ops, including the Shotover River directly below
you. Skippers Canyon Road is cut into the side of a mountain and extends 26km
in New Zealand’s South Island, 40km from Queenstown. It’s considered one of the
country’s most scenic routes. The miners who built the road in the late 1800s
didn’t think much about luxury, though — it’s unpaved and very narrow. Should
you encounter a car driving the other way, one of you will have to back up
gingerly until you can find enough room to pass. Good luck figuring out which
of you that will be.
For an adventure
trip, you can hire a tour bus to do the driving for you, such as a jet boating
tour with Skippers Canyon Jet.
Los
Caracoles Pass, Chile
If you impressed
yourself by driving down the curves of Lombard Street in San Francisco, this is
just like that, only 1000 times more challenging. Called the “Snails Pass” by
locals, this serpentine mountain pass in the Andes connects Santiago, Chile, to
Mendoza, Argentina. It reaches 3200m in elevation, and this being the Andes,
it’s known for getting heavy snowfall: About 15,000 travellers were stranded
for 10 hours on the Argentine side in 2013, when the road had to be closed
because of snow and cold.
When you reach
the summit of this road, you’ll pass through the Cristo Redentor tunnel, and
the heaviest, steepest switchbacks are on the Chilean side. You may need tire
chains and plenty of patience to make it through here, but if you take your
time, you should be able to avoid an accident.
Karakorum “Friendship” Highway,
China and Pakistan
For some
real altitude, take your chances with this 1287km drive. At 4693m, it’s the
highest paved international road in the world. And you can get a sense of how
dangerous it is just by knowing that about 1000 workers died building this
freeway before it opened in 1979.
The road’s
nickname stems from the collaboration between China and Pakistan in building
it, but it can be unfriendly in practice, with little driving room, sheer
drops, no pavement on the Pakistani side and flash floods.
However,
Karakorum is an adventure lover’s delight. Comprising part of the old Silk Road
trade route, it offers views of soaring mountain peaks such as the K2
(second-highest mountain in the world), massive glaciers such as the Baltoro,
and sprawling rivers such as the Indus.
\Bayburt Of Yolu-D915, Turkey
This road is
arguably more dangerous than any other on this list. The D915 connects the
Turkish cities of Bayburt and Of, near the Black Sea, and it spans 106km. It
has many of the same hazards of the Death Road in Bolivia: It’s only a lane
wide in some sections and unpaved, with elevation exceeding 1980m and no
guardrails protecting you from certain death. The often-poor weather adds to
the danger.
Says the website Dangerousroads.org, “Words can’t describe the road and
pictures don’t do it justice … the steep part is simply terrible. Curvy roads
descending down the cliffs, often so narrow that you cannot turn the first
time.”
There are 29
hairpins turns, and things get gnarly in Çaykara, where the road climbs from
521m to 619, in just 5km, with 13 hairpin turns.
