California
ModerateRacetrack Valley Road — Death Valley’s Sailing Stones and Grandstand Loop
Washboard, sailing stones, and brutal beauty.
Feature: Historic
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.
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.
Oregon
ModerateBuckhorn Drive — John Day Fossil Beds High Desert Circuit
Painted badlands and fossil rimrock, zero crowds.
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.
Oregon
ModerateHells Canyon Reservoir Road — Oxbow to Hells Canyon Dam via Homestead
Deeper than the Grand Canyon — and nobody's here.
California
DifficultMendocino County’s Bloody Rock Road — Elk Mountain to High Valley via Snow Mountain Wilderness Edge
Coast Range backcountry with a name that fits.