History Main / CrossingTheDesert

* A large chunk of ''Film/TheWayBack'' involves trying to cross the Gobi desert. It's played out brutally, and [[spoiler:two of them die of heat stroke/dehydration.]]

*** In "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS4E9FinalMission Final Mission]]" Picard and Wesley hitch a ride on Captain Dirgo's shuttle Pentarus V to mediate a dispute. The shuttle crashes on a desert moon, forcing the three men to cross a desert to a mountain range and some shelter.

** ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'': Picard and Wesley hitch a ride on Captain Dirgo's shuttle Pentarus V to mediate a dispute. The shuttle crashes on a desert moon, forcing the three men to cross the desert to a mountain range and some shelter.
*** In "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS4E9FinalMission Final Mission]]"

* ''Series/StarTrekEnterprise''. Naturally this happens in the episode "[[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Desert Crossing]]".

* ''VideoGame/GoldenSun1'' and ''VideoGame/GoldenSunTheLostAge'' has it three times across two games, corresponding to the real-world Taklamakan, Sahara, and Australian deserts. The first one requires you to find water or risk taking massive damage. The second just has tornadoes that will send you back to the start of the level if you don't know how to reveal the giant lizard causing them (and hides the game's BonusBoss). The third time has lots of jumping around and steppes.

** A downplayed example in the [[Anime/FullmetalAlchemist 2003 Anime]], when Ed and Al have to slog through some desert to get to Liore. Ed's hungry, and complains about the sand, since if there was at least some grass he could transmute it to bread. They reach civilization soon enough, however, and Ed is able to stop at a street cafe for refreshment.

* The beginning chapters of ''VideoGame/{{Journey}}'' consist of a desert landscape - one that simply places the player in the middle of nowhere, pointed toward a distant mountain split by a crevice full of light. Your objective, whole and entire, is to reach the mountain. The player characters are completely swathed in robes and don't seem to need supplies, fortunately.

** Dusty Dunes Desert and Scaraba in ''VideoGame/{{Earthbound}}''. Crossing the desert for a while will get you sunburned.

* The opening and closing credits for the first two seasons of ''Series/KungFu'' show Caine walking across a desert.

* ''[[VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiSuperstarSaga Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga]]'' has Teehee valley, in which Mario And Luigi must guide Peach across to get to a Mushroom Kingdom city.
* In ''VideoGame/SecretOfMana'' the characters must cross a desert in order to reach one of their objective destinations. An interesting variant in that the desert takes on some aspects of the LostWoods, in that you will frequently be recycled to the same location you started in until you find the correct path.
* In ''VideoGame/StarOceanTillTheEndOfTime'', you need to cross a (very small) desert to get to some ruins. You quickly dehydrate and have to stand in the water from an oasis in order to recover, making the gameplay in this section exploring as quickly as possible to find the next oasis before you keel over. No, we don't know how standing in water rehydrates you. [[MST3KMantra Don't think about it so hard]].

* Played with in ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure'' in the third arc, where the group has to cross the Arabian peninsula on foot. Joseph, an experienced traveller, is smart enough to have purchased some camels to ride, plenty of extra water provisions, and has the sense to travel in the evening rather than the middle of the day. Unfortunately, an enemy Stand user has a Stand that acts like a super-intense sun, meaning they get the full blast of desert heat even in the middle of the night.

* Brutha crossed the desert from Ephebe to Om with Vorbis on his back in ''Literature/SmallGods''. Om continually insists on dumping Vorbis, because it's what Vorbis would do and also what he deserves. Brutha refuses, "because I'm ''me''." There is also the metaphysical crossing of the desert; dead souls are taken to the black desert by [[GrimReaper Death]], and they then must cross it and they then go to the afterlife they believed in. And Vorbis's disproving of the concept that no army could cross the desert: they could, if you do it in stages, don't care how many people die in the proccess, and start ''long before your pretext for war is in place''.

* Moses does this after he's thrown out of Egypt in ''Film/TheTenCommandments''. Ramses only gives him one day's rations, figuring he'll die that way, but he manages to make it to Midian.

* In ''VideoGame/Uncharted3DrakesDeception'', there's a chapter where you do nothing else. Unusually for a shooter game, the chapter contains no enemies at all - the only danger Nathan Drake faces is being hopelessly, pathetically lost in one of the largest deserts in the world, the Rub' Al Khali, with no supplies, no help, no company and no idea where he's headed, weakening from dehydration and sunstroke. As days pass, Nate is reduced to staggering and then crawling before he begins hallucinating. He does ''try'' to navigate by the stars, but he just never learned how.

* In the zone Tanaris in ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'', one can find the scattered remnants of a caravan.The evidence suggests a [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotForKids long, drawn out and grisly end for the caravan members]]. This implies that the zone very much is this trope, although it averts ShiftingSandsLand. {{NPC}} dialog confirms this idea: including talk about carrying water and the local trolls threatening to drink your blood a la ''Franchise/{{Dune}}''.

* In ''VideoGame/Uncharted3DrakesDeception'', there's a chapter where you do nothing else. Unusually for a shooter game, the chapter contains no enemies at all - the only danger Nathan Drake faces is being hopelessly, pathetically lost in the one of the largest deserts in the world, the Rub' Al Khali, with no supplies, no help, no company and no idea where he's headed, weakening from dehydration and sunstroke. As days pass, Nate is reduced to staggering and then crawling before he begins hallucinating. He does ''try'' to navigate by the stars, but he just never learned how.

* In ''VideoGame/Uncharted3DrakesDeception'', there's a chapter where you do nothing else. Unusually for a shooter game, the chapter contains no enemies at all - the only danger Nathan Drake faces is being hopelessly, pathetically lost in the largest desert on Earth, the Rub' Al Khali, with no supplies, no help, no company and no idea where he's headed, weakening from dehydration and sunstroke. As days pass, Nate is reduced to staggering and then crawling before he begins hallucinating. He does ''try'' to navigate by the stars, but he just never learned how.

** Paul and Jessica again in 2021's ''Film/{{Dune|2021}}'' in order to reach the Fremen. They try to use the Fremen "dance" walk to avoid attracting {{Sand Worm}}s, but it's to little effect. Liet-Kynes is stabbed by the Sardaukar before [[GenderFlip she]] can ride a worm to do that.

* Paul Atreides and his mother Jessica do this in ''Film/Dune1984'', as does Liet-Kynes.

[[folder:Live Action TV]]

* In the ''Literature/DreambloodDuology'', Ehiru, Nijiri amd Sunandi have to join a caravan to cross the desert outside Gujaareh so they can safely reach Kisua.

* In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/Ben10AlienForce'', Ben wanders the desert with a Highbreed, Reinrassig III, in order to get to a teleporter. The two eventually [[spoiler: share a NotSoDifferent moment, causing the latter to stay behind in self-imposed exile.]]

* Brutha crossed the desert from Ephebe to Om with Vorbis on his back in ''Literature/SmallGods''. Om continually insists on dumping Vorbis, because it's what Vorbis would do and also what he deserves. Brutha refuses, "because I'm ''me''." There is also the metaphysical crossing of the desert; dead souls are taken to the black desert by [[GrimReaper Death]], and they then must cross it and they then go to the afterlife they believed in.

* The very first adventure in ''Webnovel/ColdObsidian''.

* The entire second half of ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVI'' may qualify, since the face of the planet has become a barren wasteland due to the actions of an AxeCrazy [[AGodAmI power mad lunatic.]] Applies most literally when the heroes have to make their way to the VeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon. Fortunately, they are able to procure a CoolAirship fairly quickly, significantly reducing the usual headaches associated with this trope.

** ''Literature/TempleOfDoom'': The titular Temple is located in the ruins of the destroyed city of Vatos, which is located in the heart of the Desert of Skulls. Your quest entails you to cross said desert - filled with giant {{Sand Worm}}s, sandstorms, and all kinds of hazards.