I was taught that it's best to fly hemisphericals whenever you can, regardless.
Hypothetical.
I'm flying a track of 175deg at 3500ft and approaching a 3000ft plateau, cloud base is 5000ft, so leagally I can punch through there. But, the plateau is covered with tiger country.
I can deviate track to 165deg and follow a valley with a floor of 1500ft around the plateau, but at the southern end I have to track back 6nm on a heading of 200deg before picking up my track of 175deg.
What altitude do I fly that 6nm on 200deg heading at - is it practical to descend to 2500ft and then climb back up when I resume track - the leg is less than 4 minutes.