Field GuideBLM · El Paso

El Paso Mountains
Dirt Bike Routes

The El Paso Mountains are the colorful, rugged range just east of Jawbone near Randsburg: eroded volcanic badlands threaded with designated motorcycle singletrack, the old Last Chance Canyon mining country, and Burro Schmidt's hand-dug tunnel. Like Jawbone, this is open BLM OHV land, so the designated network is green-sticker terrain end to end. It wraps Red Rock Canyon State Park, which is closed to OHVs, so the boundaries matter here. Route geometry and elevation come from the BLM travel network and public terrain data.

El Paso Mountains, California · BLM Ridgecrest Field Office · Mojave Desert · 4 routes

This is open OHV land. Green-sticker (non-street-legal) bikes and plated bikes alike can ride the designated routes here; the badge on each route flags its BLM access designation.

Green sticker OK

Non-street-legal (green-sticker) OHVs allowed on the route.

New to this, or riding an electric or 2022-plus bike? The sticker & access guide covers green, red, and tan stickers, street-legal plates, electric bikes (SB 586), spark arresters, the Adventure Pass, and the penalties, all sourced from California government pages.

Where can I ride?

BLM Ridgecrest

Every designated motorized route in the El Paso Mountains, from the BLM travel network. This is open OHV land, so the whole designated network here is open to green-sticker (non-street-legal) bikes. Stay on the routes shown; the map leaves out roads closed to OHV recreation, and Red Rock Canyon State Park (to the west) is closed to OHVs entirely. Hover any line for its name.

What can ride here

  • Green-sticker OHV allowed
  • Street-legal plate only
  • Dashed = seasonal access
Loading area map…

Make a day of it

2 suggested loops

Ways to string these routes into a full ride instead of a single road. Mileage is a rough composite; segments overlap and connect, so plan time and fuel with a margin.

Singletrack & Canyons Day

~31mi↓ GPX

The core green-sticker day: the singletrack network plus the canyon routes around it.

Lead with the designated singletrack, the real reason to make the drive, then stretch out on Willis Well Road across the benches and dip into Iron Canyon's colorful eroded rock. It stays mostly in the central El Pasos, sandy and rocky desert, green-sticker the whole way. Composite mileage is rough and the country is exposed and a long way from services, so carry fuel and water and plan a full day.

El Paso Mountains SingletrackWillis Well RoadIron Canyon

Black Mountain & the West Side

~16mi↓ GPX

A road-focused day reaching the Black Mountain high point on the west side.

A longer-format road day. Run Willis Well Road out across the backcountry, then climb Black Mountain Road on the west side toward the high point, with views over the desert and out to the Sierra. Open green-sticker routes, rockier up high. The two ends are a fair way apart, so plan time and fuel, and keep clear of the Red Rock Canyon State Park boundary on the west.

Willis Well RoadBlack Mountain Road

The Routes

4 rides
GPX Track↑ 7,467 ft↓ 7,110 ft
2,822 ft4,337 ft

El Paso Mountains Singletrack

Green sticker OK
Distance
19.5mi
Difficulty
Difficult

Per the BLM travel plan, this is designated motorized singletrack open to motorcycles, so green-sticker (non-street-legal) bikes are allowed; it's motorcycle width only, no ATVs or wider machines. Stay on the designated tread. Registration + spark arrestor required.

Source: BLM Ground Transportation Linear Features (GTLF), 2026

A real moto singletrack network threading the volcanic badlands.

The El Paso Mountains hold one of the better designated singletrack networks in the Ridgecrest desert: miles of narrow motorcycle-only tread twisting through colorful volcanic country, tight and sandy with rocky pitches. For most riders this, not the roads, is the point of coming out here. The line on the map joins the area's designated singletrack segments so you can see roughly where the network runs.

Elevation
2,800–4,350 ft
Best season
October–April (hot in summer)
Surface
Narrow motorcycle-only singletrack, sandy and rocky
  • Designated motorcycle-only singletrack
  • Colorful volcanic badlands country
  • The best dirt-bike riding in the El Pasos
GPX Track↑ 1,877 ft↓ 194 ft
2,175 ft4,108 ft

Willis Well Road

No. R43
Green sticker OK
Distance
9.7mi
Difficulty
Moderate

Per the BLM travel plan, Willis Well Road is a designated route open to motorized use, so green-sticker (non-street-legal) bikes are allowed. The BLM designation carries a limitation (closed to ohv recreation. limited to designated county roads and highways, and all routes needed to provide access for established easements, administrative access, emergency access, and other permitted uses), so check the route signs. Stay on designated routes; registration + spark arrestor required.

Source: BLM Ground Transportation Linear Features (GTLF), 2026

A long designated route across the El Paso backcountry.

R43, the Willis Well Road, is one of the longer routes through the El Paso Mountains, natural-surface two-track running across the benches and washes past old wells and weathered mining ground. The tread trades sandy stretches for rockier pitches as it goes. It reaches a long way into the backcountry, a green-sticker route for covering ground.

Elevation
2,200–4,100 ft
Best season
October–April (hot in summer)
Surface
Natural-surface desert two-track, sand and rock
  • A long route deep into the backcountry
  • Past old wells and mining ground
  • Quiet El Paso desert
GPX Track↑ 472 ft↓ 420 ft
3,071 ft3,517 ft

Black Mountain Road

Green sticker OK
Distance
6.3mi
Difficulty
Moderate

Per the BLM travel plan, Black Mountain Road is a designated route open to motorized use, so green-sticker (non-street-legal) bikes are allowed. Stay on designated routes; registration + spark arrestor required.

Source: BLM Ground Transportation Linear Features (GTLF), 2026

Designated route climbing toward Black Mountain.

Black Mountain Road climbs toward Black Mountain on the north side of the range, a natural-surface grind that gets rockier and more high-clearance as it gains the height. Up top it opens a long look west over the desert toward the Sierra. One of the few routes here that climbs to any real elevation.

Elevation
3,050–3,500 ft
Best season
October–April (hot in summer)
Surface
Natural-surface high-clearance dirt, rocky up high
  • Climbs to real elevation on Black Mountain
  • Long look west toward the Sierra
  • Rockier and high-clearance up high
GPX Track↑ 771 ft↓ 10 ft
2,887 ft3,648 ft

Iron Canyon

Green sticker OK
Distance
2.4mi
Difficulty
Moderate

Per the BLM travel plan, Iron Canyon is a designated route open to motorized use, so green-sticker (non-street-legal) bikes are allowed. Stay on designated routes; registration + spark arrestor required.

Source: BLM Ground Transportation Linear Features (GTLF), 2026

Short, scenic canyon route into the El Paso badlands.

Iron Canyon is a short designated route threading one of the colorful eroded canyons that make the El Pasos worth the drive, sandy in the wash bottom with rockier benches and striking volcanic rock. A scenic add-on rather than a destination on its own, best paired with the longer routes and the singletrack.

Elevation
2,900–3,650 ft
Best season
October–April (hot in summer)
Surface
Sandy canyon bottom with rocky benches
  • Colorful eroded volcanic canyon
  • Sandy-wash riding
  • Pairs with the El Paso network