Where to Run · California
Stoddard Valley OHV Area
BLM land outside Barstow, free, open year-round. Fast desert washes and rolling hills close enough to I-15 for an after-work run. Good, honest Raptor terrain without the crowds of Glamis or Johnson Valley.
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Air down
- 18-20 psi
- Season
- Year-round
- Mapped trail
- 744 mi
- Elevation
- 2,906 ft
Trail map & conditions
744 miles of motorized routes within twelve kilometres of the anchor point, drawn from OpenStreetMap. Green lines are the network; zoom for detail.
Drive to
Stoddard Valley OHV Main Staging Area (Hodge Road)
Hodge Road staging area, off I-15 Exit 169, near Barstow, CA 92311
- Search in your maps app
- “Stoddard Valley OHV Area”
- GPS (entry)
- 34.75910, -117.06518
Graveled staging area with informational kiosks and a vault toilet near a rock quarry off Hodge Road; free BLM land, last fuel in Barstow.
Entry info: blm.gov
The rules of this place
Summer daytime temps in the desert here will overheat a truck and a driver alike; run it early morning June through September.
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.