Explore
Routes
Mapped routes with the details that matter before you commit to them.
Only what the agency publishes. Where it states nothing, neither do we.
Length, high point, surface, season, vehicle requirement and permit for each route are the managing agency’s own, and every guide links to the page where it posts conditions and closures.
01 / 11 Magruder Road Corridor
Southwest
- 03 Cathedral Valley Loop A 57.6-mile loop of dirt road through the remote northern district of Capitol Reef National Park, starting with a ford of the Fremont River. The National Park Service says to allow six to eight hours.
- 04 El Camino del Diablo A free permit obtained in advance is mandatory for every adult before entry, and so is high clearance four-wheel drive. Everything you will drink goes in with you.
- 05 Hole-in-the-Rock Road A rough dirt road from Highway 12 near Escalante to the notch a pioneer expedition cut through the rim of Glen Canyon in 1880. Most of it crosses Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, and the last miles are in Glen Canyon National Recreation Area.
- 06 River Road, Big Bend Fifty-one miles of primitive road across the remote south of Big Bend, a full day from end to end. The National Park Service requires high clearance and true four-wheel drive.
- 07 White Rim Road A 100-mile loop below the Island in the Sky mesa in Canyonlands National Park. Every trip needs a permit, and the National Park Service requires high clearance and low-range four-wheel drive.
Rocky Mountains
- 08 Alpine Loop A 4x4 byway linking Lake City, Silverton and Ouray over two passes above 12,600 feet, on BLM and national forest land in Colorado’s San Juan Mountains.
- 09 Medano Pass Primitive Road A rough 22-mile road from the dunes over Medano Pass to the Wet Mountain Valley, with deep sand, nine crossings of Medano Creek and a low-range requirement written into park regulation.
Beyond the Lower 48
- 10 Dalton Highway Four hundred and fourteen miles of mostly gravel from the edge of the Interior to the Arctic Ocean oilfields, with fuel in three places and repairs in two.
- 11 Denali Highway A hundred and thirty-five miles of mostly gravel between the Richardson and the Parks highways, open for part of the year, with two campgrounds and very little else.