California
DifficultCoyote Flat Road — Big Pine to Coyote Flat via Westgard Pass Divide
Owens Valley to alpine silence at 11,000 feet.
Feature: Camping
USA
ModerateCottonwood Canyon Road — Tooele County Salt Flats to Simpson Springs via Pony Circuit
Bryce to Kanab through empty mesa and canyon country.
Oregon
EasyAlvord Desert Playa to Fields Station — Steens Mountain East Escarpment Base
A mile-high fault wall and an alkali desert floor.
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.
USA
DifficultChicken Creek Canyon to Pine Valley — Tushar Mountains High Road
Utah's forgotten alpine spine above 12,000 feet.
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.
Oregon
EasyAlkali Flat Road — Summer Lake Basin to Christmas Valley via Silver Lake Desert Floor
Sixty miles of alkali silence in Oregon's outback.
California
ModerateMendocino Ridge Road — Fort Bragg Ridgeline to Boonville via Pygmy Forest Summit
Coastal ridge solitude above the Mendocino fog.