novice death valley offroading?

Hi! I'm a older guy who recently bought my first 4x4, a low mileage 2008 tacoma 4x4 trd offroad. We immediately put 5 new KO2 tires on it to replace the 8 yr old OE tires. It's a 6-speed.



we're planning a trip to death valley this christmas-new years. we've been there before, many times, but always in a car that couldn't go seriously offroad. We've been to Rhyolite and out Titus Canyon in a car (heh), and did the length of Westside road in a E150 van with highway tires (getting a flat right after we got back to the road). I've done quite a lot of offroading with non-4x4s, and I'm generally not an idiot. obviously we drop the trailer at our campsite (Stovepipe? Panamint Springs?) on this trip...

For sure we want to visit the Racetrack, but I gather thats pretty easy. Are we crazy to try to go out Lippincott Canyon in the Tacoma on a late december afternoon without being part of a group ?

Am I even crazier to think I can take a stock TRD OR over Mengel Pass and out Goler Wash (or visa versa) ?

 

I've been thru some tough trails in Death Valley like Surprise Canyon being one of the nastiest trails . But Gohler and Mengel do have some technical sections that require low range , good articulation and locked either both axles or rear only


Here's a rough section of Gohler wash

https://youtu.be/FCGKwlR96Hc


Mengel pass ...

https://youtu.be/QYIhw8f5FE0

 

in

 

let me rephrase that...I am fucking in bitches!

 

the 08 TRD has a rear differential lock, as well as 4 channel A-TRAC

maybe this trip we'll just do lippincott.. mengel is probably too technical for my stock ring. I figure we'll also hit darwin falls (2 mile round hike, ya ya), do Titus in the truck because its easy, and maybe even head up to Eureka Dunes, although snow on the passes would probably stop us. and that should take care of most of a week

 

Mengel pass can change yearly from an easy 2wd trail to a technical trail requiring a spotter

If you want to do a nice (2-3) day hike try hiking up Surprise canyon to Panamint city . There you can continue up to telescope peak or sentinel peak

 

Here's the hike from Ballarat up Surprise Canyon and up Telescope peak . From the summit and on a clear day you can see mt Whitney

https://youtu.be/xAIQUco22kc