Colorado
ModerateCottonwood Pass Road — Buena Vista to Crested Butte via the Collegiate Peaks High Crossing
12,126 feet of Continental Divide gravel.
Surface: Dirt
Botswana
ModerateNxai Pan and Baines’ Baobabs Desert Circuit — Gweta to Nxai Pan Camp via Baines’ Baobabs and Kudiakam Pan
Ancient baobabs on a fossil lakebed.
Australia
ExpertGibb River Road — Pentecost River to Mitchell Falls via King Edward River and Drysdale River Station (Northern Kimberley Spur)
Crocs, cascades, and Kimberley wilderness.
Kenya
ExtremeMaasai Mara to Lake Turkana — Northern Kenya Wilderness Corridor via Baringo and the Suguta Valley
Kenya's hardest wilderness corridor, no shortcuts.
Antofagasta Region
DifficultSalar de Atacama Desert Circuit — San Pedro de Atacama to Paso Sico via the Atacama Salt Flat and Puna Volcanoes
Salt, flamingos, and 6,000-metre volcanoes.
Australia
DifficultGibb River Road — Derby to Kununurra via the Kimberley Gorge Country (Classic Full Traverse, Wet Season Closed, Eastern Approach)
The Kimberley's 700 km red dirt masterpiece.
Australia
ModerateOodnadatta Track — Marree to Oodnadatta via the Old Ghan Railway Corridor and Lake Eyre Basin
The old Ghan's ghost, in the red heart.
British Columbia
DifficultStikine River Road — Dease Lake to Telegraph Creek via the Grand Canyon of the Stikine
John Muir's 100-mile Yosemite. No tourists.
Colorado
DifficultColorado BDR Southern Segment — Silverton to Chama via the San Juan Backcountry
San Juan high country, raw and unfiltered.
Northern Cape
ExpertRichtersveld Kuboes to Sendelingsdrift — Orange River Canyon Desert Rim
South Africa's harshest, prettiest dead end.