Mendocino National Forest / M1 Road
Upper Lake / Covelo — Lake & Glenn Counties · near Upper Lake / Willows · North Coast
Off-Road
At a glance
- Skill level
- intermediate
- Size
- 900,000+ acres · 200+ miles of OHV trails · No paved through-road in the entire forest
- Best season
- May–October · Winter rains close many forest roads · Spring wildflowers (April–May) in surrounding oak hills exceptional
Permits and booking
- Permit
- No entry fee. California OHV registration (Green Sticker) required for off-highway vehicles. Motor Vehicle Use Map (MVUM) required — download at fs.usda.gov/mendocino. Some trails still closed following the 2018 Ranch Fire. Dispersed camping free, 14-day limit. Campfire permits required in dry season.
What is here
- Terrain
- forest-roads · overland
Worth knowing
- Good for a first timer
- No
Off-Road detail
- Nickname
- California's Only Roadless National Forest
- Vehicles
- 4x4-jeep · overland · atv-utv · dirt-bike
- Signature routes
- M1 / Elk Mountain Road (spine route) · Snow Mountain / Hull Mountain Road · Upper Lake OHV Area
- Intl tip
- Mendocino NF is 2.5 hours north of San Francisco via Hwy 101 to Upper Lake. Clear Lake — California's largest natural lake — is 20 minutes from Upper Lake and has bass fishing, camping, and resort services as a natural base. A spring or fall visit pairs OHV riding with the Mendocino Coast (Highway 1, one of the finest drives in California) for a complete NorCal road trip.
The guide
Mendocino National Forest is arguably the most distinctive national forest in California: 900,000+ rugged acres in the interior…
In the Guidebook
Everything above is yours for free. The written guide to Mendocino National Forest / M1 Road — what it is actually like, and what we would tell a friend before they went — comes with the Guidebook.
Getting there
- Coordinates
- 39.267, -122.831