Oregon
DifficultSawmill Road to Sunflower Flat — Owyhee Canyonlands Desert Rim via Battle Creek
Owyhee canyon rims — isolation by the mile.
Surface: Dirt
Idaho
ModerateLonesome Highway — Centennial Range Divide to Macks Inn via Targhee Plateau Back Road
The only east-west range in the lower 48 — mostly ignored.
Colorado
ModerateLime Creek Road — San Juan Mountains Descent from Coal Bank Pass to Durango
San Juan shelf road without the Alpine Loop crowds.
New Mexico
ModeratePecos River Canyon Road — Santa Rosa to Puerto de Luna via the Canadian Escarpment
Spanish canyon gateway carved by the Pecos River.
Idaho
DifficultBunker Hill to Strawberry Creek — Hells Canyon Wilderness Rim via Imnaha Gorge
Basalt rim above North America's deepest gorge.
Texas
ModerateCallahan Divide Road — San Angelo to Big Spring via the Edwards Plateau Rim
West Texas caliche spine above the Permian Basin.
California
ModerateBowman Lake Road to Gold Run Creek — Plumas National Forest Northern Sierra Divide
Glacier lakes and gold-scarred granite above the Yuba.
Colorado
EasyLonesome Highway — Pawnee National Grassland to Crow Butte via the South Platte High Plains Back Road
Big sky, no crowds, and Oligocene badlands on the plains.
Arizona
DifficultCentennial Wash Road to Harquahala Peak — Hassayampa Desert Basin High Traverse
Smithsonian ruins at 5,681 feet above the Sonoran floor.
Oregon
DifficultSawmill Road to Cornucopia Ghost Town — Wallowa Mountains Mining Spine via Pine Creek Canyon
Oregon's ghost town the canyon wants to keep.