California
ModerateRacetrack Valley Road — Death Valley’s Sailing Stones and Grandstand Loop
Washboard, sailing stones, and brutal beauty.
Difficulty: Moderate
Level 2
Oregon
ModeratePainted Hills to Picture Gorge — John Day River Basin Backcountry Loop
Fossil beds, painted badlands, and empty Oregon rangeland.
USA
ModerateCottonwood Canyon Road — Tooele County Salt Flats to Simpson Springs via Pony Circuit
Bryce to Kanab through empty mesa and canyon country.
California
ModerateVolcanic Legacy Scenic Byway Backcountry — Medicine Lake Highlands to Lava Beds
Alien lava country north of Shasta.
USA
ModerateOnion Creek to Castle Valley — Fisher Towers Back Road
Eighteen creek crossings into canyon madness.
Oregon
ModerateBuckhorn Drive — John Day Fossil Beds High Desert Circuit
Painted badlands and fossil rimrock, zero crowds.
California
ModerateHungry Valley to Gorman — Los Padres Desert Ridge Run
Tehachapi ridge chaos where two ranges collide.
USA
ModerateConger Mesa Road — San Rafael Swell West Edge to Castle Valley Rim
West Swell solitude above Muddy Creek Canyon.
California
ModerateMendocino Ridge Road — Fort Bragg Ridgeline to Boonville via Pygmy Forest Summit
Coastal ridge solitude above the Mendocino fog.
Oregon
ModerateHells Canyon Reservoir Road — Oxbow to Hells Canyon Dam via Homestead
Deeper than the Grand Canyon — and nobody's here.