Beginner Off-Road Trails Near Susanville, California

This is how you will get from Spaulding Tract out to county road A1, also known as Eagle Lake Road. The route is dusty and a bit rocky, but not hard. Trees will be down…
Learn more about A1

The trail is wide with nice gravel. The entire route has road signs, so you can't really get lost. Up by the actual lake, the gravel road gets steep, but some pavement has been put…
Learn more about Crater Lake

The trail has smooth flowing sections, loose, rocky climbs, and hardpacked rocky roads with seasonal low water crossings. The road up to the lookout is steep with loose rock. Leading up to and past Taylor…
Learn more about Taylor Lake/Lucky S Mine/Kettle Rock Lookout Loop

This route takes you through mostly wide gravel roads. There is a lot of moon dust/thick powder near the town of Westwood. You will be traveling through one of the largest burn scars in California,…
Learn more about Buffalo Chips

Mix of fire roads and old logging roads. The area has been scorched by fire recently. There are a lot of downed trees that cross the trail, be prepared with a chain saw or chain/rope.…
Learn more about Happy Valley Ridgeline

Very easy route given type of vehicle used. While most of it is good place for a beginner to start learning how to use a SXS, be careful on the speed as there are blind…
Learn more about Dooley Creek to Black Mountain Lookout

This is a short trail that connects Kings Crossing to the 4x4 road 10M52. It drops down from Kings Crossing with a few really wide and smooth switchbacks. It weaves through the pine trees with…
Learn more about QTC

This is one of only a couple ATV options within the Mount Hough trail system. It is 1.9 miles long, and starts out on the west end by climbing straight up a hillside on a…
Learn more about Grizzly Ridge

The east end of this easy connector trail starts at the road intersection of 10M25 and 25N10Y, and it goes west to 403. There's a small additional piece of trail that connects to the Mount…
Learn more about Kings Crossing

Mount Hough is the longest trail in the trail system, at 11 miles long, and is popular with downhill mountain bikers as it is a fun and flowy descent, dropping almost 4,000 feet in elevation…
Learn more about Mount Hough

This is one of only a few ATV options in the Mount Hough Trail System. It starts near the Mount Hough Trailhead on the north end at a marked entrance, and descends down several wide…
Learn more about 10M29

This is a fun singletrack accessed from the west side of the trail system that goes through dry and grassy terrain. The trailhead is on the corner of a switchback on 25N14 road, and it…
Learn more about Lower Indian Falls Ridge

This is a 1-mile connecting piece of trail between the upper and lower segments of the Acorn Grotto Trail. This segment is easy, as it climbs up a hillside on a wide smooth path for…
Learn more about Acorn Connector

This is one of only a few ATV trails in the Mount Hough Trail System. It's primitive and overgrown, mostly following the path of an old forest road. It climbs up a hillside next to…
Learn more about Cashman Ridge

This is a short connector trail in the Mount Hough trail system. The south end starts across from the Fireline trail, and after .6 miles it joins the Berry Creek Trail. It's overall very easy…
Learn more about Berry Creek Tie

The MX track is located at the Four Corners Trailhead, and it makes an easy loop that is less than half a mile long. It's a more primitive track with a light layer of small…
Learn more about MX Track

The west end of Fireline starts across the road from the Berry Creek Tie, and it makes a .7 mile long loop to the main road (403) just south of the 4 Corners staging area.…
Learn more about Fireline

Huffleberry is a short connector trail - 1 mile long - that connects the road 10M20 to the Berry Creek Trail. It's mostly a semi-steep descent from south to north, as it side-hills across some…
Learn more about Huffleberry

Bonta Ridge is an occasionally maintained gravel Forest Service road that climbs from Bonta Creek Road above the CA-70 highway up to Penman Saddle and points beyond in this section of the Plumas National Forest.…
Learn more about Bonta Ridge - NF23N05Y

This trail takes you up the side of the canyon on multiple different shelf roads, ending in trees and a wider trail. It stops at Butt Valley Dam/Reservoir. Looks to have a road around it…
Learn more about Caribou

Mainly a nice fire road with some small washes, unless you go early in the season. This trail rides the side of a ridge with good views occasionally, and it also has some spots to…
Learn more about North Branch

Graded Forest Service road above the CA-70 highway in Graeagle, California that accesses Bonta Ridge, Penman Saddle, and other points to the North in the Plumas National Forest. There is a great brewery - the…
Learn more about Bonta Creek - NF23N33

Tight, windy trail that drops down into a small canyon. The original second half of the trail is washed away, so it now ends sooner, but it ends in a nice flat area to disperse…
Learn more about Oak Flat

This is an out-of-the-way off-road area that is not well known to the general public, but it has marked trails spanning 28,598 acres, with newer facilities and plenty of privacy. Most of the trails are…
Learn more about Fort Sage

Dirt Forest Service road accessing a network of roads climbing Beckwourth Mountain just outside of Portola, California. This is one of the primary routes into this section of the forest from town. These roads are…
Learn more about Beckwourth - NF23N03

Trail begins with an easy climb to a high scenic ridge above beautiful Deer Lake. The route then descends into rugged Gold Valley and heads north past mines and lakes. To modify the trip, you…
Learn more about Deer Lake, Gold Valley

Dirt Forest Service Road accesses a network of roads climbing Beckwourth Mountain just outside Portola, California. These roads are seldom maintained and are occasionally clogged with manzanita overgrowth. Pinstriping is likely. These roads start at…
Learn more about Beckwourth Tie - NF23N03Y

Dirt Forest Service road accessing a network of roads climbing Beckwourth Mountain just outside of Portola, California. This looks to be the primary route accessing the summit from town. The road is wider and looks…
Learn more about Sugarpine - NF22N55

Dirt Forest Service road accessing a network of roads climbing Beckwourth Mountain just outside of Portola, California. These roads are seldom maintained and are occasionally clogged with manzanita overgrowth. Pinstriping is likely. These roads start…
Learn more about Beckwourth Tie Spur - NF23N03YB

Dirt Forest Service road accessing a network of roads climbing Beckwourth Mountain just outside of Portola, California. This spur accesses the communications tower equipment on private property at the summit of Beckwourth Peak. There is…
Learn more about Sugarpine Spur A - NF22N55A