Where to Run · California
Oceano Dunes SVRA
The only California beach you can still legally drive on, at Pismo. A day-use fee gets you onto sand that runs straight into the surf line, which is a different kind of terrain than any inland dune field. Riding acreage has been shrinking for years under ongoing closure litigation, so check current boundaries before you tow down.
- Difficulty
- Moderate
- Air down
- 15-18 psi
- Season
- Year-round, tide-dependent
- Mapped trail
- 386 mi
- Elevation
- 30 ft
Trail map & conditions
386 miles of motorized routes within twelve kilometres of the anchor point, drawn from OpenStreetMap. Green lines are the network; zoom for detail.
Drive to
Pier Avenue Entrance (main vehicle entry kiosk)
100 Pier Ave, Oceano, CA 93445 (end of Pier Avenue)
- Search in your maps app
- “100 Pier Ave, Oceano, CA 93445”
- GPS (entry)
- 35.10590, -120.62831
$5 per vehicle day-use fee sold at the beach entry kiosk, first-come first-served; open 7am-10pm daily for vehicle access.
Entry info: ohv.parks.ca.gov
The rules of this place
Get your timing wrong on the tide table and the ocean will bury a truck up to the doors; rinse the salt off everything underneath before it drives home the rust.
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.