History Main / RidiculouslyDifficultRoute

** In ''Film/ThePhantomMenace'', Qui-gon, Obi-Wan, and Jar Jar Binks have to take a submarine through the planet Naboo's core (which is [[ArtisticLicenseGeology made of water for some reason]]), in order to get to Naboo's capitol in time. While this may not be as dangerous as traveling through a core of molten rock, they still almost get eaten by many giant sea monsters on the way.

** In ''Film/ThePhantomMenace'', Qui-gon, Obi-Wan, and Jar Jar Binks have to take a submarine through the planet Naboo's core (which is [[ArtisticLicenseGeology made of water for some reason]], in order to get to Naboo's capitol in time. While this may not be as dangerous as traveling through a core of molten rock, they still almost get eaten by many giant sea monsters on the way.

** During the US Civil War the Union quickly captured and took control of almost everything between Harper's Ferry, West Virginia, and the Mississippi River to the north of the Tennessee River and west of the Appalachian Mountains. The Union offensive then stalled because there weren't enough railroads or navigable waterways in that part of the US to go much further. The number of railroad lines from Tennessee to the deep South could be counted on one hand.

* Hannibal during the Second Punic War famously marched his army, elephants and all, through the Alps to get them behind the Roman defense. No one saw this coming.

** ''Film/ThorTheDarkWorld'': Loki and Thor use a secret "back door" to travel from Asgard to Svartalfheim. This involves flying a ship at top speed into a tiny crevice inside a very rocky mountain, with, one can imagine, disastrous consequences if one misses. Even with Loki's [[AcePilot expert piloting skills]], they ''barely'' avoid crashing on their way out.

'''Barbosa:''' For certain [[TalkLikeAPirate ye]] have to be lost to find a place as can't be found. Elseways everyone would know where it was.
* The Fire Swamp in ''Film/ThePrincessBride''. Blasts of fire, [[QuicksandSucks lightning sand]] and [[RodentsOfUnusualSize R.O.U.S.'s]]. Though Westley and Buttercup seem to survive fairly easily all things considered.

* {{Lampshade|Hanging}}d in ''Film/RoadTrip'', in which the characters take a back country road to try to shave some time off the titular trek. It soon becomes obvious why more people don't go that way: a wooden bridge (which obviously was not intended for car travel in the first place) is out. The characters decide to jump it.

* Invoked in the H. Rider Haggard novel ''Literature/KingSolomonsMines''. The heroes follow a route given in an old account that turns out to be barely survivable; at the end of the novel they discover the natives know of a longer but less risky alternative.
* ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings''. Here are a few:

** Frodo and Sam have to get into Mordor. How? By climbing up hundreds of "stairs" on an almost vertical mountain and crawling through a giant spider's lair. Because they obviously can't use the front gate.

* ''Literature/TheObernewtynChronicles'': In ''The Farseekers'' Elspeth's expedition can't travel on the main roads due to the CorruptChurch's BurnTheWitch policy. They, therefore, decide to take an "olden way" through the mountains instead of the main pass. It turns out the reason no one uses that route anymore is that it is now (after the Great White) extremely difficult to travel due to multiple landscape obstacles plus dangerous levels of radiation. When they can't at first find the olden way they TakeAThirdOption. By rafting down a river swollen by torrential rains, through a radioactive GhostCity, and down a waterfall.
* In Creator/ElspethCooper's book ''Literature/SongsOfTheEarth'', Whistlers Pass is this because of freezing temperatures and, well, the whistlers (ghosts).

* A rare TV series example is seen in ''Series/{{Firefly}}''. In "[[Recap/FireflyE12TheMessage The Message]]", Mal invokes the trope by having Wash fly the ship through a very narrow, twisty, and uneven canyon (which even AcePilot Wash visibly finds difficult) in order to escape the (larger) ship that is chasing them. However, [[spoiler:the police aboard that ship defy the trope by simply flying their ship ''above'' the canyon and shooting at them from there]].

* ''VideoGame/DeadSpace2'' has this combined with TemptingFate. Isaac's MissionControl mentions that the Medical Bay has a ''massive'' Necromorph infestation, and makes the mistake of saying aloud that Isaac won't have to go through it. So of course the tram route ''around'' the Medical Bay is blocked, forcing it to park there.
* ''VideoGame/GhostOfTsushima'': Are we really supposed to believe that the only way to any shrine on Tsushima Island involves long stretches of platforming involving long-distance jumping, scrambling across gaps with tiny handholds, and precise leaps onto tree branches, with some of these routes being ''flatly impossible'' without a grappling hook? One wonders how many worshipers the shrines actually ''get'', and how they stay in such pristine condition.

'''Barbosa:''' For certain [[TalkLikeAPirate ye]] have to be lost to find a place as can't be found. Always everyone would know where it was.

* Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse:

* In the 2012 adaption of ''Film/{{Les Miserables|2012}}'' the escape route through the sewers is this. Valjean has to force himself and Marius through a tiny tunnel, and the parts where the ceiling is high enough to stand are so filled with gunk that it's easier to drown.

* {{Lampshaded}} in ''Film/RoadTrip'', in which the characters take a back country road to try to shave some time off the titular trek. It soon becomes obvious why more people don't go that way: a wooden bridge (which obviously was not intended for car travel in the first place) is out. The characters decide to jump it.
-->'''Rubin:''' It's supposed to be a challenge, that's why they call it a shortcut. If it was easy it would just be "the way."

* A rare TV series example is seen in ''Series/{{Firefly}}''. In "The Message" Mal invokes the trope by having Wash fly the ship through a very narrow, twisty, and uneven canyon (which even AcePilot Wash visibly finds difficult) in order to escape the (larger) ship that is chasing them. However, [[spoiler:the police aboard that ship defy the trope by simply flying their ship ''above'' the canyon and shooting at them from there.]]
* ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'': Captain Janeway is so intent on taking Voyager home she has a habit of barging through territory that it would be safer to go around. Radioactive nebulas ("One"), xenophobic alien species ("The Swarm", "Counterpoint"), a warzone between aliens with superior technology bent on conquest ("Scorpion", "Year of Hell") -- nothing stops her! However in the first episode, the crew estimates that even in a straight line it would take Voyager seventy years to get home, so Janeway is taking every shortcut she can find. [[spoiler:She makes it in seven.]]

** The Southern Shiverpeaks are reached by portal after completing a majority of the campaign's story. The ground route runs through Lornar's Pass and two other zones, with the travel time made even worse by the curvy path. This is on top of the mobs being ''twice'' the level of most players who might attempt this skip and having a limited part size.
*** The armor crafters in the Southern Shiverpeaks make the best armor in the game which can be worn at any level. As such many players pay max-level characters to escort them through Lornar's Pass to the southern city.