Namibia
ModerateNamib Desert Moon Landscape to Swakopmund — Welwitschia Drive and Vogelfederberg Desert Circuit
1,500-year-old plants and a desert that looks like the moon.
Trail Type: Backcountry
Chihuahua
ExpertLienzo Charro to Batopilas Canyon — Copper Canyon Barrancas Track via Creel and Urique Rim
Four times the Grand Canyon. Half the guardrails.
California
ModerateMojave Road — Afton Canyon to Piute Valley via Government Holes and Lanfair Road Junction
America's oldest desert highway — still wild, still real.
South Dakota
ModerateMojave Road — Afton Canyon to Needles via Government Holes and Lanfair Valley (Night Sky Variant)
Grassland benches and a volcanic plug at trail's end.
Australia
ExtremeGibb River Road — Derby to Kununurra via the Kimberley Gorge Country (Wet Season Closed Gates)
1,100 red dunes. No services. No excuses.
Australia
ExtremeCanning Stock Route — Well 23 to Well 36 via the Great Sandy Desert Core
Fifty wells. Infinite dunes. No rescue.
Afghanistan
ExtremeWakhan Corridor Road — Khargush Pass to Bozai Gumbaz via the Little Pamir Plateau
The roof of Asia. No safety net.
North Carolina
DifficultTrans-America Trail — Tellico Plains to Robbinsville via the Cherohala Skyway Backdoor
Appalachian ridge country the pavement tourists never find.
Australia
ExpertCanning Stock Route — Well 1 to Well 9 via the Gibson Desert Southern Gateway
The benchmark. 1,850km of desert isolation.
Namibia
ExpertNaukluft Mountains 4×4 Trail — Büllsport to Tsauchab River Gorge via the Naukluft Plateau High Spine
Dolomite cliff descents with zero room for error.