Black Rock Canyon Trail

Total Miles 1.7
Technical Rating
4 Moderate
Best Time Spring, Fall, Winter
Trail Type Full-Width Road
Accessible By
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Trail Overview

Black Rock Canyon is a moderate trail that starts off on soft sand and quickly becomes a compact dirt trail with rocks. You are welcomed with gorgeous vistas of the red rock cliffs and even drive right beside volcanic rocks that you can explore. As you reach the middle of the trail, your view opens up to the canyon and valleys all over the park, making this place a beautiful location to explore. Make your way deeper into the trail, and you drive right beside sheer cliffs that look like something out of a movie. Although the majority of the trail is fairly easy, the end is where the real fun begins as you have to carefully climb the black rock hill and navigate your way through a very rocky section that will get anybody's blood pumping.

Photos of Black Rock Canyon Trail

Difficulty

80% Of the trail consists of rocky dirt with a couple of tight shelf roads and hills to climb up and down. The last section of the trail is where the trail earns its 4-Rating as you have to climb up a steep rutted hill that has drop outs on both sides and right after that you will need to navigate through 2 very tight rock crawling sections.

Technical Rating

4

Status Reports

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Lee Zeng
Oct 20, 2025
Open
Red Rock Canyon State Park will be closing down trail. Boulders and signs are placed at the southern entrance and the northern entrance is blocked off with a sand / dirt mound. Was informed, state park is not planning to open back up the trail because it’s not considered an OHV park.
Chris Lee
Jul 18, 2025
Open
Cal trans sign says it’s closed.
nicholas lloyd
Feb 22, 2025
Open
Steep grade in the middle was fine to get up in the bronco but did hit some skid plates going over. Made a mistake with the line I picked and had to back up. Lesson learnt is to walk it first, your nose is up in the air so you can’t see but the front camer did help.
Jim W.
Dec 07, 2024
Open
This trail starts off with quite a bit of loose rocks and some moderately challenging terrain for a 4 x 4 with 33s. Then about a half a mile in, you get black rock, which on December 7, 2024 was mandatory with no other route around. the Jeep got up it pretty easily, but it is a little nerve-racking. The rest of the route was pretty straightforward and took about two hours.
Romain Laboisse
Mar 26, 2024
Open
Ashton Fera
Feb 24, 2024
Open
Ashton Fera
Nov 05, 2023
Open
Travis L
Sep 12, 2023
Open
Colton Franey
Jun 25, 2023
Open

Black Rock Canyon Trail Trail can be accessed by the following ride types:

  • Single Track
  • High Clearance
  • Full Width

Black Rock Canyon Trail Map

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