The Mt Pinos / Frazier Park country in northern Los Padres, near Gorman and I-5 about an hour from LA, is the strongest green-sticker OHV complex in this guide. You get high pine roads around Alamo and Frazier Mountains, the colorful Cuyama sandstone badlands of Apache and Quatal Canyons, and the Ballinger Canyon OHV area, plus scenic plated ridge roads. (The adjacent Hungry Valley SVRA is California State land and isn't covered here.) Much of the high country is typically snowbound and closed from roughly December into April, though the timing swings year to year with the snowpack. Route geometry and elevation come from the Forest Service MVUM and SRTM.
Mt Pinos, California · Los Padres National Forest · 9 routes
Plated street-legal bikes are fine on every route here. The badges below show where green-sticker (non-street-legal) OHVs are allowed — that's the part that varies, sometimes segment by segment.
Non-street-legal (green-sticker) OHVs allowed on the route.
Green-sticker allowed on some segments only — read the note.
Street-legal, plated vehicles only — no green-sticker OHVs.
Couldn't verify green-sticker access — confirm on the MVUM.
Electric bikes are OHVs now: under California's SB 586, off-road electric motorcycles count as OHVs. A Sur-Ron or a race-bred Stark Varg (MX) needs a green sticker, a helmet, and visible ID — and like any green-sticker bike, it's restricted to OHV-designated areas. So they follow the same green-sticker access shown on each route, and they can't be plated.
The exception is the road-going Stark Varg EX: it's fully road-homologated in the US (lights, indicators, foot rear brake), so it registers and plates like a street-legal dual-sport — and can ride every route here, including plate-only roads.
Sticker note: since Jan 1 2025, red and green stickers are treated as equally valid year-round in OHV-designated areas; model-year 2022+ non-compliant gas bikes use the new tan sticker. Always carry current registration and a working spark arrestor.
Every legal motorized road and trail in the Mt Pinos area, straight from the Forest Service's Motor Vehicle Use Map. Most numbered roads are open to street-legal plated bikes only — the green routes are the comparatively few where a green-sticker (non-street-legal) bike is allowed. Hover any line for its road number and access.
What can ride here
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.
A green-sticker pine-country day on the high roads above Lockwood Valley.
Session the Alamo Mountain loop (8N01) and link into the Scott Russell network (9N21) for a full day in the high pines — both green-sticker, with loose, rocky, rutted climbs and big ridgeline views. This is high country that holds snow: it's a May–October ride, and the upper roads can stay closed late into spring in a heavy-snow year.
Colorful sandstone canyons on the desert side — the cool-season counterpart to the high country.
Run Apache Canyon (8N06) and neighboring Quatal Canyon (9N09) through the banded Cuyama sandstone badlands. Lower, hotter, and best fall through spring when the high country is snowed in. Apache is green-sticker; Quatal is partial — green-sticker on part of it only, so read the note before you drop in.
Per the MVUM, 8N01.3 is designated open to all vehicles, so green-sticker (non-street-legal) bikes are allowed. Registration + spark arrestor required. This route has a seasonal (wet-weather) closure, so confirm it's open before you go.
Source: USFS Motor Vehicle Use Map (MVUM), 2026
High green-sticker loop around 8,000-foot Alamo Mountain.
8N01.3 is the OHV-designated upper loop around Alamo Mountain, climbing toward 8,000 feet through pine forest in the headwaters of Piru Creek. A long, rocky, high-clearance green-sticker road with big high-country views, the marquee OHV ride of the Mt Pinos / Frazier Park complex. Snow closes it seasonally up high.
Per the MVUM, trail 19W04 is a designated OHV trail open to motorcycles, so green-sticker (non-street-legal) bikes are allowed. Being narrow-gauge singletrack, it's a true OHV trail, not a road. Registration + spark arrestor required. This route has a seasonal (wet-weather) closure, so confirm it's open before you go.
Source: USFS Motor Vehicle Use Map (MVUM), 2026
Long designated motorcycle singletrack, the area's premier trail ride.
Trail 19W04 is one of the longest designated motorcycle trails in the Mt Pinos area, miles of narrow, technical green-sticker singletrack winding through the backcountry well away from the OHV roads. This is the kind of riding the area is really known for among dirt-bikers: true singletrack, motorcycles only, and seasonal.
Per the MVUM, 7N03.2 is designated open to all vehicles, so green-sticker (non-street-legal) bikes are allowed. Registration + spark arrestor required. This route has a seasonal (wet-weather) closure, so confirm it's open before you go.
Source: USFS Motor Vehicle Use Map (MVUM), 2026
Long, remote green-sticker road toward Mutau Flat.
7N03 (Mutau) runs deep toward Mutau Flat on the edge of the Sespe backcountry, a long open-to-all-vehicles road mixing forest and meadow with sandy and rocky stretches. Remote, quiet green-sticker mileage. Go prepared; seasonal.
Per the MVUM, 8N06 is designated open to all vehicles, so green-sticker (non-street-legal) bikes are allowed. Registration + spark arrestor required.
Source: USFS Motor Vehicle Use Map (MVUM), 2026
Green-sticker road through the colorful Cuyama badlands.
8N06 threads Apache Canyon in the sandstone badlands on the Cuyama side of the range, an open-to-all-vehicles road with sandy washes, rocky benches, and striking eroded rock. A fun, scenic green-sticker ride that pairs with neighboring Quatal Canyon.
Per the MVUM, 9N21.1 is designated open to all vehicles, so green-sticker (non-street-legal) bikes are allowed. Registration + spark arrestor required. This route has a seasonal (wet-weather) closure, so confirm it's open before you go.
Source: USFS Motor Vehicle Use Map (MVUM), 2026
Green-sticker OHV road in the Frazier high country.
9N21 (Scott Russell) is an open-to-all-vehicles road in the forested country between Frazier Mountain and Lockwood Valley, mixing graded and rockier stretches through pine and oak. A solid intermediate green-sticker ride linking the area's OHV network; seasonal.
Per the MVUM, 8N04.2 is designated open to all vehicles, so green-sticker (non-street-legal) bikes are allowed. Registration + spark arrestor required. This route has a seasonal (wet-weather) closure, so confirm it's open before you go.
Source: USFS Motor Vehicle Use Map (MVUM), 2026
Green-sticker climb to the Frazier Mountain lookout.
8N04.2 is the OHV-designated climb up Frazier Mountain toward the lookout and summit antennas near 8,000 feet, with sweeping views over Lockwood Valley, Mt Pinos, and the high desert. A rocky, high-clearance green-sticker road; seasonal up top.
Per the MVUM, Quatal Canyon OHV is mixed: some segments are open to all vehicles (green-sticker OK) and others are highway-legal-only, so access goes segment by segment. Read the signs at each junction; registration + spark arrestor required.
Source: USFS Motor Vehicle Use Map (MVUM), 2026
Sandstone-badlands OHV road, green-sticker on part of it.
Quatal Canyon (9N09) is the classic Cuyama-badlands sand-wash ride, winding through dramatic eroded sandstone. Part of it is designated open to all vehicles and part is highway-legal-only, so green-sticker access is segment-by-segment; read the signs at each junction. Sandy and exposed; best in cool weather.
Per the MVUM, 6N06.1 is open to highway-legal vehicles only: plated, street-legal bikes only, no green-sticker (non-street-legal) bikes. This route has a seasonal (wet-weather) closure, so confirm it's open before you go.
Source: USFS Motor Vehicle Use Map (MVUM), 2026
Scenic plated ridge road along Pine Mountain.
6N06 runs the Pine Mountain ridge east of Mt Pinos, a high conifer road near 7,500 feet past campgrounds and trailheads with enormous views toward the Sespe and, on clear days, the Channel Islands. Highway-legal-only, a scenic plated cruise; seasonal.
Per the MVUM, 9N10.1 is open to highway-legal vehicles only: plated, street-legal bikes only, no green-sticker (non-street-legal) bikes.
Source: USFS Motor Vehicle Use Map (MVUM), 2026
Plated staging road into the Ballinger Canyon OHV area.
9N10 is the graded access road into the Ballinger Canyon OHV area on the Cuyama side, an easy plated ride to the staging area and campground that anchors a big network of OHV trails. The road itself is highway-legal-only; the OHV trail riding branches off it.