Mendocino National Forest OHV
The Mendocino National Forest encompasses 913,000 acres of the Inner Coast Ranges in Lake, Mendocino, Glenn, and Colusa counties, the only national forest in California with no paved road crossing its interior, making it the most remote forested landscape accessible from the Bay Area and Sacramento Valley and one of the least-known OHV destinations in a state more associated with desert SVRAs. The forest OHV system operates from the communities of Covelo (Round Valley), Upper Lake, and Stonyford as primary staging points, with the interior accessible only via gravel forest roads that themselves constitute part of the riding experience. The terrain is Northern California's Inner Coast Range character: chaparral-covered ridges on the drier south and west aspects, mixed-conifer forest of ponderosa pine, Douglas fir, and Pacific madrone on the moister north and east slopes, and the open oak woodland and grass parks of the valley floors. The Black Butte Lake area, the Snow Mountain Wilderness edges, and the Yolla Bolly-Middle Eel Wilderness boundaries define the forest's outer limits and provide the most dramatic OHV-adjacent backcountry in this part of California. The Mendocino's OHV system includes designated single-track motorcycle routes, wider ATV corridors, and the forest road network accessible to full-size 4x4 trucks. California OHV registration required. The Covelo/Dos Rios Ranger District (707-983-6118) manages the northern forest OHV routes and current road condition information.