Definitely one of my favorite places for offroading. OCO has everything you want! Fast trails, slow trails, campgrounds, bathrooms, a local store, RV Park, ranger stations and even a local motel if you need it. This is a great place to take the family out for a weekend of fun. Keep in mind most of the more crowded campground tend to attract a good amount of teenagers. Also, the legal alcohol age is enforced but only as much as a few Park Rangers can do. Some of the more common areas in Ocotillo Wells are called Blowsand, Devil Slide and Shell Reef. All three areas are typicall crowded during the colder parts of the year. For me its a 2.5 hour drive but always well worth it.
Click on the map for basic directions.
You can enter your address and get more precise information.
Here are some other helpful links:
Trail Map
Rules and Regs
Ocotillo Wells Weather Radar
Home to many MDR and MORE Series Races. The more popular areas you will find people are on the 2 marked race courses off Outlet Center Drive. Unlike Ocotillo Wells this is not where I would take the little kids out for a weekend of fun. Don't get me wrong there is a ton of open land out there to play on but typically you will find alot of high speed racecars and trucks out testing going at very fast speeds. I suggest if bringing your family out stay off the race courses in a confined area. Something great about this area is just one more exit up the freeway at Lenwood Road is an Outlet Mall with 100's of shops and a small tourist type town. Fast Food, Resturants, Holiday Inn Express, etc... It makes for a weekend of racing much more comfortable than other desert locations.
Click on the map for
directions to the Holiday Inn Express just off the race course at Lenwood Road. You can
see the course from the Hotel. Here are some other helpful links:
Holiday Inn Express
Info
Barstow 411 Guide
Barstow Trail Map
MDR
Old Course Map
Barstow Weather Radar
This was one of the first areas I really ever spent time offroading in. JT is enormous! You can spend weeks out there wandering around with your GPS Unit trying to find your way around. You may also run into the Military Bases out there so be careful we dont want you getting shot at! JT is much like Ocotillo when it comes to variety. Fast, slow, rock crawling, you name it. In the national park area you can find campgrounds althrough we always favored camping in tents. Keep in mind when out in JT roaming you can get yourself quite a ways away from any gas stations or emergency services.
Click on the map for
directions. Here are some other links:
National Park Website
Trail Maps
Joshua Tree Weather Radar
Another place that is home to MDR and MORE series racing. The best thing about Lucerne for me is how open it is. Once you get out there you have so much room to play. Much like Barstow you have 2 marked race courses and will find high speed vehicles on them from time to time when there is no racing going on ofcourse, then lots! The area that most people head out to is off Bessimer Mine Road or Camp Rock Road. The land is very open and actually heading through the desert you can connect up to the Barstow race courses within a short time. The terrain here is great for prerunners and racecars but can be a little rough for your average stock truck. When in the popular areas you are about 15 minutes from a small Cafe and Gas Station so keep that in mind when offroading.
This map will take you
to the general area of Lucerne Valley. Here are some more direct direction on how to get
to the race courses.
From the 15 freeway exiting Bear
Valley Road head east into the desert. That means if you are going North on the 15 you
would make a right. Then travel east for quite a while under you hit a dead end and make a
right. That should put you on HWY 247 but I believe it is unmarked most of the way. After
continuing to travel through the desert you will come into a small rural town and hit the
ONLY stop sign you hit at Cafe 247. Depending on which race you are heading to you will
either need to make a left on Camp Rock Road roughly 1.5 miles ahead of Cafe 247 or
Bessimmer Mine Road roughly 3 miles ahead of Cafe 247. Both are well marked with Park
Signs on the left and right sides of the road. If you hit Landers or Yucca Valley signs
you went way too far!
Some Info
Lucerne Valley Weather Radar
