Deserts

The desert strips away everything that is not essential: shade, water, familiar landmarks. Desert trails are often run self-supported, with a pack weighing several kilos, under a sun that leaves no margin for error. What remains is an open 360-degree horizon, a mineral silence and a kind of purity few other terrains offer — every dune, every canyon becomes a landmark in its own right.

The Marathon des Sables crosses the Moroccan Sahara over six days in complete food self-sufficiency. The Wadi Rum Ultra-Trail winds between the red sandstone formations of the Jordanian desert. The Cappadocia Ultra-Trail runs through the fairy chimneys and volcanic valleys of Anatolia. Badwater 135 links Death Valley to Mount Whitney in extreme heat. The Grand to Grand Ultra, in Utah, joins the Grand Staircase to the Grand Canyon. Further south, the Atacama Crossing traverses Chile's desert, the driest in the world, between salt flats and Andean volcanoes.

The bareness of the desert suits a pared-back poster, where a few contour lines are enough to tell of its vastness.