Lesotho
ExpertLesotho Highlands Road — Thaba-Tseka to Katse Dam via the Maluti Mountain Plateau
Lesotho's brutal plateau road to a mega-dam.
Surface: Dirt
Colorado
ModerateColorado BDR North Segment — Walden to Steamboat Springs via Zirkel Wilderness Edge and Hahns Peak
North Park wide-open on the BDR's quiet end.
Argentina
DifficultPaso Vergara to Puerto Ramírez — Carretera Austral Backcountry via Río Palena
Patagonia before the tourists find it.
China
DifficultSichuan–Tibet Highway — Litang to Daocheng via the Tibetan Plateau High Spine (G318/G227)
The high road to the last Shangri-La.
New Mexico
ModerateTurquoise Trail — Tijeras to Taos via the Sandia Mountains and High Road
Ghost towns, pueblo missions, and high desert light.
Mali
DifficultPiste du Bandiagara — Mopti to Sangha via the Dogon Escarpment Cliff Villages
Cliff villages and deep sand at the edge of the Sahel.
Australia
ExtremeCanning Stock Route — Wiluna to Halls Creek via the Great Sandy Desert Full Traverse
1,850 km of desert. No margin. No shortcuts.
Magadan Oblast
ExtremeTrans-Siberian Offroad — Yakutsk to Magadan via the Road of Bones (R504 Kolyma Highway)
Built on Gulag bones. Every kilometre costs something.
North Carolina
DifficultTrans-America Trail — Robbinsville to Tellico Plains via Cherohala Skyway Backdoor and Unicoi Mountains
Rocky Appalachian spine — no easy miles here.
Alaska
DifficultDalton Highway — Fairbanks to Deadhorse via the Brooks Range, Atigun Pass, and Arctic Tundra (South to North Full Run)
Arctic Ocean or bust — 414 miles of no mercy.