Ride Spot – Johnson Valley OHV Park, California
- Updated: December 1, 2014
The fall desert riding season is well underway. Of the many off road areas in the desert, southwest Johnson Valley is one of the largest and most diverse. With a total of 189,000 acres, the Johnson Valley OHV area is just plain huge!
There are three main access points for OHV staging & primitive camping at Johnson Valley. All three of these are RV accessible and located along State Highway 247 between the towns of Lucerne Valley & Yucca Valley. Along the western edge of the OHV area is Camp Rock rd which allows access to the popular areas known as Cougar Buttes & Anderson Dry Lake. Bessemer Mine rd provides access to the middle part of the OHV area including Soggy Dry Lake & Melville Dry Lake.
The eastern boundary is accessed via Boone rd and leads to Means Dry Lake. The Means Dry Lake area is home to the very popular extreme rock trails known as “The Hammers”.
Johnson Valley’s landscape runs the full range of desert terrain, from large sand hills & small sand dunes to wide open dry lake beds. In between all of that there are hundreds of miles of trails.
This place has it all, from loose silty sandy dirt trails to huge rock and boulder strewn draws and canyons. The rock & boulder trails are famous for the challenge and difficulty they present. Trail names such as “Jack Hammer”, “Sledge Hammer”, & “Claw Hammer” warn riders of the challenge they present.
Due to the fact that it’s geographically located in the desert the prime usage for the area is from late fall to late spring.
For the most part the landscape is extremely rugged and can be at times very inhospitable so go prepared.
There are no improved camping areas within Johnson Valley OHV but most services are available in the towns of Lucerne Valley and Yucca Valley. Our recent trip to the area was to the Means Dry Lake area. We were greeted by near perfect weather conditions with temps in the 70s and light breezes.
We enjoyed three great days of all of the many different types of terrain the area offers. We recommend a visit to all those looking to enjoy everything from easy to moderate riding & trails, to those looking for an extreme challenge of their ability and that of their UTV.
