New Mexico
ModerateTrans-America Trail — Lordsburg to Hachita via Playas Valley and the Pyramid Mountains
New Mexico bootheel desert — flat, empty, and honest.
Trail Type: High Clearance
North Carolina
ModerateTrans-America Trail — Waterville to Asheville via the Pisgah National Forest Backdoor and Black Mountains
Pisgah clay, creek crossings, and Black Mountain skies.
Arusha Region
DifficultNgorongoro to Lake Natron — Rift Valley Floor Track via Ol Doinyo Lengai and Engaruka Ruins
Active volcano, soda lake, flamingos — real Africa.
Baja California Sur
ModerateTranspeninsularBaja Sur — Guerrero Negro to La Paz via Loreto and the Sierra de la Giganta Canyon Roads
A thousand miles of cactus, dust, and Cortez light.
Kyrgyzstan
DifficultTian Shan Celestial Mountains — Naryn to Torugart Pass via Chatyr-Kul Lake
Roof of Kyrgyzstan — wind, ibex, and no easy way out.
Australia
ModerateOodnadatta Track — Oodnadatta to Marla via the Old Ghan Railway Corridor and Finke River Country
Old Ghan ghosts and artesian springs in Australia's dead heart.
India
ExpertLeh to Tso Kar — Rupshu Plateau Salt Lake Crossing via Pang and Thukje
Salt, silence, and 15,000 feet of Rupshu plateau.
Australia
DifficultGibb River Road — Derby to Kununurra via the Kimberley Gorge Country (Dry Season Classic, Galvans Gorge to Manning Gorge, Eastern Traverse)
Kimberley gorges earned one corrugation at a time.
Namibia
ModerateSossusvlei Salt Pan to Naukluft Mountain Plateau — Hardap High Desert Crossing via Solitaire and Tsaris Pass
Dunes to desert plateau, Namibia's finest contrast.
Australia
DifficultGibb River Road — Fitzroy Crossing to Mornington Wilderness Camp via Geikie Gorge and Tunnel Creek
Eastern Kimberley the hard way.