National parks that have good off road trails?

Roam_CO85

Roam_CO85

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BB90609D-58E5-4C1C-BAD3-F99B504DE8DB.jpeg EDF626FC-DA34-47DB-9825-7C8E8B0665B9.jpeg 55FAAE63-0384-4CB5-A081-0B184BD8A449.jpeg So I live 3o miles from Rocky Mountain National Park. They Dont have much for off road trails. Been to the ones around Moab and have great trails. The ram is in the shop this weekend so we took the Herve into the park this weekend ans went on a nice hike. But wished Rocky Mountain National Park had more of exploring on dirt than they do.


What are the parks that they let you off road in besides the ones near moab. Anyone have any cool storys?
 
Capitol Reef NP has a few trails within the park and is surrounded by National Forest and BLM land. Most of it I saw was maintained gravel but there's some interesting sections.

Grand Teton doesn't have much in the park but the surrounding National Forests have gravel trails as well.

Badlands entire South district is off-road vehicle only, didn't get to explore it much but it's on my list to return.

Death Valley has a ton of trails from what I've found online, yet to go but will be this winter.

Hope that helps.
 
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Blackmtnram said:
View attachment 68998 View attachment 68999 View attachment 69000 So I live 3o miles from Rocky Mountain National Park. They Dont have much for off road trails. Been to the ones around Moab and have great trails. The ram is in the shop this weekend so we took the Herve into the park this weekend ans went on a nice hike. But wished Rocky Mountain National Park had more of exploring on dirt than they do.


What are the parks that they let you off road in besides the ones near moab. Anyone have any cool storys?
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Joshua Tree NP has a few good off road trails.
Cool stories?? Well sure, I guess. This was somewhere around 1990 or 91 when JT was a National Monument and I had my 2nd 4-Runner a Gen2. It was completely stock. We were out at the very far end of the geology road tour, a beautiful looping dirt road, when I realized that we forgot to top the tank off before we went into the park from the town of Joshua Tree. We didn’t have enough fuel to make it out. But there was another dirt road that forked off from where we were. Just then a ranger comes by (very rare in those days). He stops and I ask him “Hey can we make it out of the park on this road?” He walks around the car then looks under it and says yeah you should be able to make it. So off we went. The road is now called the Berdoo Canyon Road. I knew nothing about airing down. We drove down the road a few miles and the road just disappears and there is nothing but descending rocks. This road is now called the Berdoo Canyon Road and I’ve looked at recent YouTube videos and I don’t see it. But it was a rock garden. I walk around to look for a bypass - nothing. We couldn’t go back so off we went. Nobody got out and spotted. I just remember it felt like I was walking my car rock by rock and the wheels were my feet. It had a skid plate, but I was still scared of missing a rock and slamming down on my oil pan. But we made it. Though I had done a lot of trips off roading in Anza Borrego in my Gen1 4Runner this was a whole new level of adrenaline. I was hooked.
 
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The only dirt you will find in Rocky Mtn National Park is Fall River Road.
 
old_man said:
The only dirt you will find in Rocky Mtn National Park is Fall River Road.
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Yeah fall river is about it for Rocky Mountain National Park. There are a couple dirt spurs along highway 7 that take back into Park trail heads. That fall river road is fun when it has just about enough mud to make things slick.


jimmynotjim said:
Capitol Reef NP has a few trails within the park and is surrounded by National Forest and BLM land. Most of it I saw was maintained gravel but there's some interesting sections.

Grand Teton doesn't have much in the park but the surrounding National Forests have gravel trails as well.

Badlands entire South district is off-road vehicle only, didn't get to explore it much but it's on my list to return.

Death Valley has a ton of trails from what I've found online, yet to go but will be this winter.

Hope that helps.
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Captial Reef is fun too has some neat exploring like canyon lands and arches along with the forest and blm around moab. Those places are endless to where you can go. Last time I was in moab the hemi was stock with street tires on it so didnt do much off road.
 
can we get illustrations outlined on google earth. Point of entry, and exit. Level of trail, pictures of reference for the best view and where. Planning on heading west again in 2019. Want to start planning the trip.
 
Medano Pass is a fun one (as mentioned above). There is a lot of sand driving and water crossings. The dunes are awesome, but can get hot and crowded. The "preserve" portion of the park, however, is an excellent place to find cooler weather and solitude. This summer we made a fun day trip of taking Medano Pass to the preserve portion of the park for a day hike, then back over Medano Pass to camp.
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jimmynotjim said:
Capitol Reef NP has a few trails within the park and is surrounded by National Forest and BLM land. Most of it I saw was maintained gravel but there's some interesting sections.

Grand Teton doesn't have much in the park but the surrounding National Forests have gravel trails as well.

Badlands entire South district is off-road vehicle only, didn't get to explore it much but it's on my list to return.

Death Valley has a ton of trails from what I've found online, yet to go but will be this winter.

Hope that helps.
Click to expand...

I drove through Badlands and completely missed that they have an off-road area. Thanks for the tip! I am going to have to find my way back there.
 
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Big Bend National Park has a good handfull of gravel roads that dont get maintained often. Sometimes they require a little attention, depending on the season.
 
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Years ago I burned up my clutch on Berdoo Canyon Road in my stock 1984 Toyota pickup! Joshua Tree also has a big area north of the park with many miles of dirt roads, the Dale Mining District. I had a flat tire on 3 of 4 trips there a few years ago. The Mojave National Preserve has many miles of dirt, including the Mojave Road, I’ve spent plenty of time there exploring old mines and such. The best National Park for exploring dirt roads though, is Death Valley. Lots of great trails. I haven’t come close to doing them all, but I have done the racetrack road to the Lippencott grade to Saline Valley, and Warm Springs Canyon to Mengel Pass, and out Goler Canyon. I did that one November when the Death Valley 49ers has a big gathering and watched a group of about 40 people on horseback coming up the opposite way. They were amazed that I was doing the trail in a stock Toyota, and I was amazed that they were doing it on horseback! I plan on doing Steele Pass sometime this winter.
 
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