New Mexico
ModerateTurquoise Trail — Tijeras to Taos via the Sandia Mountains and High Road
Ghost towns, pueblo missions, and high desert light.
Trail Type: Overland Route
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.
California
ModerateMojave Road — Needles to Barstow via Piute Spring, Government Holes, and Afton Canyon
Army camels, lava fields, 140 miles of honest desert.
Agadez Region
ExtremePiste de l’Aïr — Agadez to Timia Oasis via the Aïr Massif Volcanic Core
Volcanic Sahara. Tuareg country. Expedition only.
North Carolina
DifficultTrans-America Trail — Robbinsville to Tellico Plains via Cherohala Skyway Backdoor and Unicoi Mountains
Rocky Appalachian spine — no easy miles here.
Agadez Region
ExtremePiste du Tenere North — Agadez to Bilma via the Erg du Ténéré and Fachi Oasis
Navigate by camel bones. No pressure.
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.
Gilgit-Baltistan
ModerateKhunjerab Pass to Sost — Karakoram Highway Pakistan Summit Descent via Shimshal Valley Junction
The roof of the Karakoram — drive it or dream it.