Where to Run · California
Hollister Hills SVRA
State-run OHV park, about 6,800 acres, with the Upper Ranch set aside for 4x4 use. Trails are tight and treed, cut for Jeeps and narrower trucks, so a full-size Raptor will be working the mirrors and rock sliders more than the throttle.
- Difficulty
- Moderate
- Air down
- 18-22 psi
- Season
- Year-round, wet-season closures
- Mapped trail
- 712 mi
- Elevation
- 724 ft
Trail map & conditions
712 miles of motorized routes within twelve kilometres of the anchor point, drawn from OpenStreetMap. Green lines are the network; zoom for detail.
Drive to
Hollister Hills SVRA Main Entrance Station
7800 Cienega Rd, Hollister, CA 95023
- Search in your maps app
- “Hollister Hills SVRA”
- GPS (entry)
- 36.77069, -121.41428
Day-use/gate fee collected at the entrance station; the park has several gated entrances along Cienega Rd but this is the primary one.
Entry info: ohv.parks.ca.gov
The rules of this place
Rain closes sections with zero notice to protect the clay trail base; check the park status page the morning you leave, not the night before.
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.