Where to Run · California
Alabama Hills
BLM land outside Lone Pine, free to enter, easy graded dirt through the boulder formations along Movie Road and out to Mobius Arch. Not technical — this is a scenery run under the Sierra crest, not a trail rig test.
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Air down
- 20-25 psi
- Season
- Year-round
- Mapped trail
- 432 mi
- Elevation
- 4,558 ft
Trail map & conditions
432 miles of motorized routes within twelve kilometres of the anchor point, drawn from OpenStreetMap. Green lines are the network; zoom for detail.
Drive to
Movie Road entrance (Alabama Hills Recreation Area, BLM)
Movie Road at Whitney Portal Road, Lone Pine, CA 93545 (from Hwy 395 in Lone Pine, go west on Whitney Portal Road ~2.5-2.7 mi to Movie Road, turn right)
- Search in your maps app
- “Movie Road, Lone Pine, CA”
- GPS (entry)
- 36.53754, -118.10875
Free camping permit now required for designated sites; Whitney Portal Road access has been subject to seasonal closures with Lubken Canyon Road as an alternate route; last fuel/services in Lone Pine.
Entry info: blm.gov
The rules of this place
Dispersed camping now requires a separate permit under the newer BLM rules; day driving does not, but do not assume you can just pitch a tent.
Also worth the trailer miles
Glamis / Imperial Sand Dunes Recreation Area
The proving ground. Oldsmobile Hill, Razorback, Comp Hill, and China Wall separate the trucks from the trailer queens. Gecko Road and Wash Road are the mellow on-ramps if you are new to sand.
Johnson Valley OHV Area
Home of King of the Hammers, roughly 96,000 acres of open BLM land, free, no permit. The fast desert washes and graded roads out of Hammertown are Raptor territory; Backdoor, Sledgehammer, and Chocolate Thunder are built for buggies on 40s, not full-size trucks.
Ocotillo Wells SVRA
Free, no permit, mixed sand and desert terrain in one of the largest state vehicular recreation areas in California. Blow Sand Hill, Shell Reef, Gas Domes, and Pumpkin Patch cover everything from whooped-out washes to soft dune faces.