Neither Rain, Nor Sleet...Nor Poor Road Conditions Quiz

Answer: Hammers

While building a road through a mountain may seem to be a straightforward concept, the people of Guoliang clearly had something frightening in mind. This road in the Taihang Mountains, weaving around the outer edge of a mountainside, is a one (and a bit) kilometer test of nerves carved with nothing more than hammers. Literally. Twelve people from the isolated town of Guoliang went to work in the early 1970s and finished after six years of hammering away, connecting their small mountain town to the rest of China and ending their reliance on an even scarier footpath and bannister-free stairwell down the other side. You know-- one way, low clearance...no barriers. Just the type of thing you want to deal with in a vehicle. Just drop off the package at their local post office in Zhengzhou and be done with it.

Answer: Sakha

Found in Far East Russia in the reaches of Siberia, the M56, also known as Kolyma Highway, also known (affectionately) as the 'Road of Bones' is not the best spot for a leisure trip. Cold at most times of the year and wet for the rest, Kolyma is either freezing or unfreezing.

As such, the road can become very muddy or very 'floody'-- some parts of the road wash out completely when the rivers unfreeze. During the dead of winter (this being Siberia), several local communities have claimed to be the coldest places in the hemisphere and the average temperature can be below thirty (below) Celsius.

The road heads eastward from Nizhny Bestyakh to Magadan, sitting on the Sea of Okhotsk two thousand miles from the 'nearby' city of Yakutsk. It is very cold there.

Answer: The Philippines

Perhaps better-known as Baguio-Bontoc Road, this highway through the Luzon Province of the Philippines is a higher-way than most simply because it rolls through the Central Cordillera Mountains of this Southeast Asian nation. Covered in little more than gravel for the most part, the trail weaves around the sides of mountains, free of guard rails of course, and gets itself into the thick of things.

The 'things' being dense mountain clouds and rockslides, I mean. Although the trip from Baguio to Sagala is only one hundred kilometers, you should set aside most of your day for this delivery.

Answer: Panama

The Pan-American Highway is a feat in and of itself; the world's longest road, it stretches from the tip-top of the United States in Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, southward through Canada and the States, down into Mexico and Central America before a screeching halt is required.
You see, in Panama, on the border with Colombia, is a place called the Darien Gap. This stretch of fifty-four miles is the only break in the highway and it contains native groups, tough swamplands and near-unnavigatible forests. Oh yeah, and guerrilla soldiers. There is no road here; it's the only part of the highway without a road. In other words, you can never drive to South America.
Once in Colombia you can skirt along the west coast through Ecuador, Peru, Chile, and Argentina all the way down to Ushuaia.
The trip takes about twenty-four days if you don't stop. That's without the gap.
The problem is that there is rarely a consensus on an official route; there are so many tributaries and because it crosses so much terrain, parts can be closed due to poor conditions. Nonetheless, it's recognized by the "Guinness Book of Records".

Answer: Western Australia

The Canning Stock Route, at nearly two thousand kilometers, is a rough trail cutting through the Little and Great Sandy Deserts and the Gibson Desert allowing for scenic views of...hot plains. The route was originally used to transport horses and cattle from Kimberley to the northeast reaches of Western Australia to break an ever-apparent monopoly on a few communities. What resulted was a single streak across the countryside marked by a path and a few fuel outposts.

While most of the towns and cities in the region are along the Indian Ocean coastline, the road avoids them entirely, opting for dehydration and scorching temperatures. Bring water on this walkabout why don't you.

Answer: Road of Death

Yungas Road is forty kilometers of terror. Teetering over the edge of several mountains, this ride will probably require diapers and an iron will because of its tight turns, narrow lanes, and freakish drops into an abyss below. In fact, many people don't use the road for driving on-- it's too unsafe. Bikers from around the world will take the trail simply for the stunning views and, when cars come along, place their backs against the wall like Indiana Jones. This road stretches from La Paz, the country's capital, to Coroico, Bolivia.

A southern version, 50% longer than the first, heads from La Paz to Chulumani. It's supposed to be just as bad.

Answer: Lagos, Nigeria

The Trans-Sahara Highway is foreboding for obvious reasons; the Sahara will instantly create images in your mind of endless expanses of dunes as far as the eye can see. You'd be correct. Starting on the Mediterranean coast in the city of Algiers, Algeria, it literally bisects the nation before weaving into Niger and Nigeria ending on the Atlantic Coast.

Although the trip is longer than four thousand kilometers, a great portion through the center (you know, the sandy part) is unpaved. It's also freakishly hot.

In other words, what's in that package better be worth the trip. It'd almost make sense to head all the way around through Dakar and over.

Answer: Troll's Footpath

Those Norwegian's have a sense of humour, don't they? Trollstigen is a road found in the crevice of a fjord near Rauma, Norway, a place further north than most people are willing to go in the country. Meaning 'Troll's Footpath', it's a winding road characterized by unnervingly sharp turns at a steep incline up the side of what seems to be a mountain. Along the way there are several stops for tourists looking for snapshots; some would beg to differ and claim that these are spots where you can begin breathing again. Trollstigen's turns are so tight that some buses can't make the curve. Nonetheless, this region on Norway's National Road 63 are beautiful and usually attract a good number of tourists. You'd think they'd pick a punishment less cruel that driving the package though.

Answer: Chile

Chile's Ruta 5 is a bypass heading along the length of the country while avoiding its capital, Santiago. Heading from Arica to Chiloé in Los Lagos Province, the highway begins at the north border next to Peru and weaves down through the narrow nation.

While the road is paved (can't say that for other dangerous roads) it's not the conditions of the road itself you need to worry about. It's the environment. What seems to be the case here is that developers simply laid a road on top of any landscape they could.

This makes Ruta 5 a bit of a death trap. Some portions of this, the country's longest route, take extremely steep drops through eerily desolate, deserted landscapes. In addition, the area can take on some pretty dense fog; you've got a route of sand and fog. No visibility. For serious. Don't let go of the package!

Answer: The highest altitude border-crossing in the world

Karakoram Highway, cheekily known to locals as the 'Friendship Highway', has been deemed the Eighth Wonder of the World by some, just like everything else man-made. What's unique about this roadway, however, is that it was built on what many believed was unbeatable-- a harsh terrain atop the old Silk Road jutting through a mountain range caused by two different continental plates. The roads are so frequently washed out and covered in debris from landslides it's amazing that anyone actually uses the thing (or can, for that matter). In fact, it's closed during the winter because of the immense snowfall in high altitudes and it's closed during monsoon season due to environmental damages caused by flooding and heavy rain.
Khunjerab Pass, on the border between China's rather-large Xinjiang Province and Pakistan also happens to be the highest border crossing in the world. It literally translates from Wakhi to English as 'Blood Valley', so that's cute.
Delivering a package here is a bad idea and we all know it.