Montana
ModerateLonesome Highway — Garnet Range Divide to Missoula via the Blackfoot River Benchlands
Montana's most intact ghost town on a ridge road.
Surface: Gravel
California
DifficultLonesome Highway — Owens Valley to White Mountain Peak via Barcroft Road
Highest drivable road in the lower 48.
Colorado
ModerateSlumgullion to Powderhorn — San Juan Plateau High Bench via Los Pinos River Divide
San Juan mesa country with zero crowds.
Montana
ModerateSawmill Road to Black Canyon of the Yellowstone — Paradise Valley Rim to Yellowstone River Gorge via Mill Creek Summit
The canyon most Paradise Valley drivers never see.
Montana
ModerateLonesome Highway — Pioneer Mountains Scenic Byway South via Mono Creek and Antelope Creek Divide
Montana ghost towns and granite sky, no company needed.
Colorado
ModerateWest Elk Wilderness Road — Gunnison to Crested Butte via Kebler Pass and Anthracite Creek
Colorado's great aspen back road, no crowds.
Montana
ModerateSourdough Road to Wilderness Falls — Bob Marshall Wilderness Rocky Mountain Front
Where the plains end and the wild begins.
Colorado
DifficultRims Road — Dinosaur National Monument Echo Park Desert Circuit
Two rivers. One brutal clay descent.
Kentucky
ModerateCumberland Gap Backcountry Road — Middlesboro to Virginia Line via Ridge Road and Pinnacle Overlook
Boone's Gap, still rough after 250 years.
Nevada
ModerateLonesome Highway — Sheldon Antelope Range to Virgin Valley via the Black Rock Desert High Desert Rim
Opals, mustangs, and zero cell bars.