Los Padres National Forest OHV
The Los Padres National Forest encompasses 1.75 million acres of the Coast Ranges and Transverse Ranges in Ventura, Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, Monterey, and Kern counties, the coastal mountain terrain stretching 220 miles from the Santa Monica Mountains north of Los Angeles to the Carmel Highlands south of Monterey, forming the rugged backdrop to the California Central Coast and providing the closest national forest recreation for the Los Angeles metropolitan area's 13 million residents. The OHV trail system operates on designated routes across the forest's five ranger districts, with the Santa Barbara, Mt. Pinos, Ojai, and Monterey districts providing the primary riding terrain accessible from the Santa Barbara, Ventura, San Luis Obispo, and Paso Robles gateways. The Figueroa Mountain and Santa Ynez River corridor in the Santa Barbara District provides the most popular OHV terrain: the rolling sandstone and chaparral ridges above the Santa Ynez Valley climb to 4,500 feet on Figueroa Mountain, with forest roads and designated OHV routes threading through the chaparral, pine, and oak woodland of the coast range above the wine country below. The Mt. Pinos area at the forest's eastern margin reaches 8,831 feet at the summit of Mt. Pinos, the highest point in Ventura County, and provides high-elevation pine forest riding accessible from the Frazier Park corridor off I-5 in the Tejon Pass country between Los Angeles and the Central Valley. The Ventana Wilderness and Dick Smith Wilderness designations close significant portions of the forest interior to motorized use; the OHV network operates on the designated routes in the accessible forest outside wilderness boundaries. The forest serves both the Los Angeles market to the south and the San Francisco Bay Area market to the north, with the Big Sur and Carmel area providing the northernmost Monterey District access. California OHV registration required. Santa Barbara Ranger District (805-968-6640) manages current OHV route conditions.