Field GuideSouthern California

SoCal
Dirt Bike Routes

The best OHV and dual-sport rides across Southern California's national forests and BLM desert, with real route maps and elevation built from the Forest Service and BLM travel maps plus public terrain data, the details that matter, and exactly where you need a street-legal plate versus where green-sticker bikes are allowed.

13 riding areas · 90 curated routes

New to this? Where you can ride comes down to how your bike is registered. A street-legal (plated) bike rides every route here. A green-sticker bike (dirt only, now including electric bikes like a Surron or Stark Varg) rides only the routes flagged for it. Full sticker & access guide ↓

Scope: federal public land only. National forests are mostly designated roads where access flips between plated and green-sticker route by route. BLM desert like Jawbone Canyon is open green-sticker country. Federal OHV areas like Rowher Flats count too. It does not cover California's state-run OHV parks (Ocotillo Wells, Hungry Valley), which charge a fee and run on their own maps and rules.

Where to ride

13 areas

What can ride there

  • Green-sticker OHV riding
  • Street-legal plate only
Loading area map…

Hover a pin, or pick an area below, for routes, distance, and access.

Which sticker do you need?

California · 2026

One thing decides where you can legally ride: how your bike is registered. OHV means off-highway vehicle, and a public OHV area is public land, usually national forest or BLM desert, with routes marked open to off-road bikes. Your registration is a green sticker, red sticker, tan sticker, or a street-legal plate. Here is what each one actually means in 2026, including the new rule for electric bikes, written for people who are new to this and pulled straight from California's own pages.

RegistrationWhere you can ride
Green stickerDirt bikes that meet California emissions standards, plus every electric dirt bike.Any public OHV area, all year.
Red stickerModel year 2003–2021 bikes that do not meet emissions standards (a 3 or C in the 8th VIN digit).Same public OHV areas as green, now all year too.
Tan stickerModel year 2022 and newer non-compliant competition bikes.Closed-course events or private land only. Not public trails.
Street-legal plateDual-sport bikes registered for the road, with a license plate.Everything: pavement, connectors, and OHV routes alike.

How do I tell which sticker a bike needs?

Two things decide it: the bike's model year, and whether its engine meets California's emissions standards.

  • Buying used? Check the sticker it already wears. A green or red sticker means it is good for public trails. A tan sticker means closed-course only. That is the fastest check, no VIN decoding needed.
  • The VIN is the 17-character vehicle identification number stamped on the frame (usually at the steering head) and printed on the title. On an off-road bike, a 3 or a C in the 8th character means the engine does not meet California's emissions standards.
  • New or unregistered? Emissions-compliant gets a green sticker. Non-compliant from 2003 to 2021 gets red (no longer issued). Non-compliant from 2022 on gets tan, which is closed-course only.

Rule of thumb: if you want to ride public trails in California, buy a bike that can get a green sticker or a street-legal plate.

Green sticker

The green sticker is the normal off-road registration. It is for dirt bikes that are not street-legal but do meet California's emissions standards. It is officially an OHV identification plate, not a license plate, and it lets you ride any public land that is open to off-highway vehicles, all year long.

  • Cost: $54 for two years (includes $2 to the Highway Patrol).
  • Expires: June 30 of the second year, then you renew and get a fresh sticker.
  • Electric bikes: a Surron, Talaria, Stark Varg, or similar e-moto gets a green sticker too. See the electric section below.

Red sticker

The red sticker covers older bikes that do not meet emissions standards: model years 2003 through 2021 with a 3 or a C in the eighth character of the VIN. For years these bikes were limited to a seasonal riding calendar that changed by location.

That season limit is gone. As of January 1, 2025, the state treats red and green stickers as equally valid year-round in every public OHV area. So in practice, a red-sticker bike now rides the same places and times a green-sticker bike does. The DMV stopped issuing new red stickers after model year 2021, so this is a fixed pool of bikes that only shrinks over time.

Tan sticker (competition only)

This is the one that trips up new buyers. Starting with model year 2022, a dirt bike that does not meet emissions standards can no longer get a green or a red sticker. The DMV registers it with a tan sticker and labels it a competition vehicle.

A tan-sticker bike cannot be ridden on public recreational trails. On public land it is limited to sanctioned closed-course competition. Otherwise it is a private-property bike. This is why a brand-new closed-course race bike can be illegal on the same trail an older bike rides legally. If you are shopping for a newer bike and you want to ride public OHV land, you need either a model that earns a green sticker or a street-legal dual-sport.

Street-legal plate (dual-sport)

A dual-sport or plated bike is registered for the road, the same as a car or a street motorcycle, and wears a real license plate. It has the equipment the road requires: lights, turn signals, mirror, horn, a DOT tire, and a street-legal exhaust.

A plated bike does not need an OHV sticker. It is the most flexible registration there is: it can ride everything, paved roads, the connectors between trails, and the dirt routes themselves. That is why every route in this guide is open to plated bikes, while green-sticker access is the part that varies road by road. One catch: the plate has to stay on and visible even off-road.

Electric bikes (the 2026 rule)

Before 2026, electric off-road bikes sat in a legal grey area. Now they have to be registered like any other dirt bike. A 2025 law settled it: an off-highway electric motorcycle is an OHV, full stop. (SB 586, signed October 10, 2025, in effect January 1, 2026.)

  • It registers with a green sticker through the DMV. With no exhaust, an electric bike automatically meets the emissions side of the rules. After that it follows the same green-sticker rules as a gas dirt bike: a helmet, a visible sticker, and riding only in OHV-designated areas.
  • The law is specific about what counts: an off-road electric motorcycle with handlebars, a straddle seat, two wheels, and no pedals from the factory. That is a Surron, Talaria, or Stark Varg style bike, not a pedal e-bike.
  • You cannot convert one to street-legal. It stays an off-road bike for good, so it can only be ridden in OHV areas, never on a public street, sidewalk, or bike path. A plated dual-sport is the only way to ride pavement legally.

Spark arrester (required on every gas bike)

Riding electric? You can skip this section. An electric bike has no exhaust, so the spark arrester rule does not apply to it. For every gas bike, read on.

A spark arrester is a small screen built into the exhaust that catches the hot carbon specks an engine throws out, so your bike cannot spit a spark into dry brush and start a fire. It is a separate requirement from your sticker, and it applies to every gas bike, no matter how it is registered.

  • The rule: California Vehicle Code section 38366 requires a working spark arrester on any forest, brush, or grass covered land. It has to be a model qualified and rated by the US Forest Service, and kept in working order.
  • All year: there is no season for it. It is required every day, not just during fire season.
  • At the gate: rangers check for it, and no spark arrester is a common reason to be turned away or cited.
  • Watch the exhaust: most dirt bikes come with one from the factory, but a loud aftermarket pipe often deletes it. If you swapped exhausts, confirm yours still has an approved arrester.
  • Exception: sanctioned closed-course races run under a fire permit are exempt, the same competition carve-out you see with the tan sticker.

Adventure Pass (parking, not riding)

The Adventure Pass is a Forest Service parking fee, and people mix it up with their registration all the time even though the two have nothing to do with each other. It does not decide where you can ride. It just covers parking and day use at the four Southern California national forests: Angeles, San Bernardino, Cleveland, and Los Padres.

  • Cost: $5 per day or $30 for the year, with a second vehicle pass for $5 a year.
  • Where: only those four forests, and only where it is posted at developed sites. A national interagency pass (America the Beautiful) works in its place.
  • Not the desert: BLM land like Jawbone Canyon does not use the Adventure Pass. Check the specific area before you go.

What happens if you get it wrong

Enforcement is real. Rangers and patrols check stickers at OHV areas, and getting it wrong means a citation, not a warning.

  • No sticker, or an expired one. Every off-road bike on public land has to display a current OHV identification (Vehicle Code section 38020). Riding without it is an infraction, and the citation plus court fees typically runs well past the cost of just registering the bike.
  • A tan, competition bike on a recreation trail. That bike is not legal there at all. Expect to be cited and turned around at the gate, because the registration itself says competition-only.
  • No spark arrester. California requires an approved spark arrester on the exhaust year-round. No spark arrester is a common reason to be denied entry at the gate and cited, on top of the fire risk it exists to prevent.
  • A plated bike with the plate removed off-road. The plate has to stay displayed even in the dirt. Taking it off to save it is its own violation.

Exact fine amounts vary by county and by how many penalty assessments get tacked on, so take any single dollar figure you see online with a grain of salt. The takeaway that holds: registering correctly is far cheaper than a citation, and a tan, competition bike on the wrong land is not a problem you can pay your way out of and keep riding.

Sources

Everything here comes from California government pages, not other explainers. Rules change, so confirm the current version with the DMV or State Parks before you ride.