The comedown from a long weekend can be a real bummer.

If you feel like escaping from behind your desk, if only to think about some of the world’s most extreme adventures, we feel your pain.

Now the word ‘extreme’ is going to mean something different to everybody, but CNN have broken their list down into some rather handy sections.

Take for example the section titled “most extreme experience involving man’s best friend” – that would be the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race (pictured above), which is a 1 600 kilometre race run through gruelling Alaskan conditions.

The temperature can drop to a rather icy -50 Celsius, in case you didn’t think it was quite extreme enough for your liking.

Let’s run through some of those other sections:

Most extreme experience involving an inferno – the Door to Hell, Turkmenistan:

Also known as the Gates of Hell or, less colorfully, the Darvaza crater. You won’t find anything else like it in Central Asia (or anywhere else on Earth for that matter).

It was created more than 40 years ago when the ground collapsed in the desert during a Soviet drilling mishap.

Then scientists set the gas cavern on fire.

Decades later, it still burns like… let’s just say the name is apt.

Most extreme experience involving high temperatures – Death Valley, USA:

If you insist, “It’s not the heat, it’s the humidity,” this may put your belief to the test.

While there is debate over the authenticity of Death Valley’s alleged record high of 56.7 C (134 F), this California desert also holds the record among temperatures that are generally accepted as legitimate at 54 C (129.2 F).

Which is frankly warm enough.

Most extreme experience involving dairy – cheese rolling at Coopers Hill in Gloucestershire, England:

Thousands gather to watch a group chase a cheese as it rolls down the hill, continuing a tradition that’s lasted 200 years.

OK, not as glamorous as some events on this list but that’s a lot of history and it’s both unexpectedly exciting and dangerous.

Indeed, it was canceled [sic]over safety concerns in 2010 before resuming.

Most extreme experience involving Jaws – great white shark diving in Gansbaai:

It fully blurs the gap between a dream and a nightmare, as you sit in a cage underwater — which, when you think about it, is fairly terrifying itself — and then Great Whites enter the picture.

CNN do offer a less extreme alternative to each of those adventures, and if sharks don’t rattle your cage you could always go swimming with manatees:

One of the few places in the United States where you can interact with manatees, the warm waters of the Crystal River provide warm refuge for about 400 of these “sea cows,” which migrate from the cold of the Gulf of Mexico into nearby King’s Bay and up the river every winter.

Clear and calm, the Crystal is also home to a resident population of manatees (called dugongs in some parts of the world), and these conditions make it possible for even inexpert swimmers to interact with these whiskered, almost comical creatures.

Comical? How dare you.

We’ll do one more extreme adventure.

Most extreme experience involving spelunking – Chevé Cave, Mexico:

While still being explored, it’s believed this cave in Oaxaca is your chance to go more than 1.5 miles underground.

If you suffer from claustrophobia or a fear of the dark, head elsewhere. Spelunking, since you ask, is the exploration of caves.

I’ll take a close encounter with a shark over being trapped kilometres underground any day of the week.

Happy spelunking if that’s your vibe, though.

[source:cnn]