Los Padres NF / Mt. Pinos District
Frazier Park / Mt. Pinos — Ventura & Kern Counties · near Frazier Park / Lebec · Los Angeles / SoCal
Off-Road
At a glance
- Skill level
- intermediate
- Size
- 11 designated 4WD roads · 12 ATV trails · 14 motorcycle trails in the Mt. Pinos / Ballinger area
- Best season
- May–October · Snow closes high-elevation routes in winter · Spring is green and excellent
Permits and booking
- Permit
- Los Padres National Forest — no entry fee. Adventure Pass or America the Beautiful Pass may be required for parking. OHV registration required. Motor Vehicle Use Map (MVUM) required. Some routes subject to seasonal or fire closure — verify current status.
What is here
- Terrain
- forest-roads · mountain-4x4 · overland
Worth knowing
- Good for a first timer
- Yes
Off-Road detail
- Nickname
- The Mountain Riding Area Between LA and the Valley
- Vehicles
- 4x4-jeep · overland · atv-utv · dirt-bike
- Signature routes
- Mt. Pinos / Cerro Noroeste Ridge Road · Ballinger Canyon OHV Area · Figueroa Mountain Road (Santa Barbara District)
- Intl tip
- Mt. Pinos is at Frazier Park off I-5 — the same corridor as Hungry Valley SVRA (15 minutes north, also in this guide). Combine the two for a complete Tejon Pass OHV weekend. Frazier Park has basic services; Bakersfield (45 minutes north) has everything. In winter, Mt. Pinos is a snow play area and the highest driveable point in the Transverse Ranges.
The guide
Los Padres National Forest spans the Coast Ranges from Ventura County north to Monterey — the forested interior of California's…
In the Guidebook
Everything above is yours for free. The written guide to Los Padres NF / Mt. Pinos District — what it is actually like, and what we would tell a friend before they went — comes with the Guidebook.
Getting there
- Coordinates
- 34.8199, -119.1393