This is a well graded road, an easy route for a beginner, that will take you through an ascent of 4864 feet from the sandy high desert floor at Jawbone Station up into the cool trees of Sequoia National Forest where one can find dispersed camping. A long, and very scenic route, that provides a variety of travel through open OHV areas, past huge graceful windmills on a ridge, up steep sandy switchbacks that challenge 2WD vehicles to find traction, to the high elevation of the shady Sequoia forest, and past an interesting historic chip burner. The road ends at the location of the old, long gone, mining town of Claraville, which is now an area of private ranches where Longhorn cattle can be spotted.
Trail Difficulty and Assessment
Exclusive for our All-Access Members
Easily identify whether the trail is stock friendly
or not.
View 14 specific concerns along the trail such as
height and width restrictions.
Upgrade from free to our All-Access Membership and get
every detail, waypoint, photo, and more on every single
trail guide.
When you are an All-Access member, our trail guides
come with a short video of the author running the trail
to give you a visual understanding of what to expect.
Nice drive from 14 up jawbone canyon road. There were two locations that my truck would not be able to clear. There were side shoots to get around them.
Me and a buddy went out today we got all the way to the sequoia forest sign after that there is a down tree that fell over the road it was cut to fit a jeep or tacoma full size rigs will get pinstripe. Then afterwards the snow is still present and road is washed out and heavly rutted not passable. A guy was stuck on the road as well. The switchbacks are heavily rutted
Great easy trail with spots for dispersed camping either down at Jawbone Canyon OHV area or Sequoia National forest. Did this trail all in 2WD on my Tacoma and also with a 2WD 4Runner all in low gear and some momentum. Might’ve been possible because of the dry weather, definitely not possible in 2WD with wet weather.
Just did this trail with the wife and we ended up at Landers camp for the night. Some of the trail is covered in snow after you enter the Sequoia National forrest. When we were going up we ran into a caravan of 8 vehicles Jeeps/Toyotas and 1 Nissan. The drive in the snow was awesome had fun sliding a bit. The views once you get to higher elevation are amazing.
Needed to go check out a real estate opportunity in Bakersfield so I took the Exploder, and when finished headed out the 58 east to the 14. I managed to get on the trail before 1:00PM. A nice, mellow trip. I found the route easy other than some sandy spots and incredibly scenic. Great vistas and things to check out from bottom to top.
Took the trip out on this trail tonight... I had a lot of fun taking my Ranger out for the first time. Good trail for something you’re not getting too crazy in. But once I passed S Kelso Valley Rd. I started seeing no motor vehicle signs a bit back off the trail. I assumed they were stating not to leave the trail in your vehicle until I reached a Piute Nature Reserve sign that said no off-road trespassing and I didn’t wish to push my luck with the possibility of getting hit with a trespassing charge, being new to the area and military. So I backed myself down about 3/4 mile til I had enough room to turn around. So if anyone knows whether or not you stil have thoroughfare On this trail please let me know! I’d love to finish this one!
I did this trail looking for my next camping adventure with family and our teardrop trailer. I like to scout trails before I bring the trailer.
The trail has plenty of room to pass throughout, there are only a couple sections of single track, never more than 1-2 minutes. The switchback hill climb would be tough with a heavy trailer as the trail is loose sand and dirt. I have a FJ Cruiser and my trailer is roughly 1600lbs, I would not be concerned about towing it up this trail. I'm sure a stronger truck could handle a heavier trailer.
Once at the top you can make a right, then a left to go to Landers Campground (35.45531, -118.32113). The campground is very large and has 2 pit toilets.
There are no noteworthy land marks or 'things to do' outside of the chip burner at waypoint 9. If you are happy to camp in a beautiful setting without the option to fish, swim etc its a good option.
There are not many opportunities to explore in this area. A large portion of the trail is paralleled with fence. Though the majority of the land on either side is federal, it feels like the majority is private.
This was my 1st Overlanding trip and I couldn't of picked a better trail to start out on. I've been hooked ever since! Now going from jawbone canyon in the Mojave desert to the mountains and forest of Sequoia National Forest makes this trip worth it alone. Over 5000ft in elevation and amazing changes to the scenery. I found this trail to be very easy that any stock SUV with descent tires could do. There's a lot of opportunity to explore various spur roads and some are slightly more difficult. Regardless I highly recommend making the trip if you can make it!
Easy trail very nice to start around 1ish during the Fall/winter to make it back to Jawbone for the beautiful sunset. Ran into a little snow on the trail and made it worth the trip
Led a Trailsoffroad trip to Piute Mountain and it was a crisp day. A little windy and foggy up top but nice and warm in Red Rock Canyon. We ventured up along the LA River piping too and found some mines near the end of the trail.
View More Images
From the Community
Exclusive for our All-Access Members
Ask the author of a trail guide any questions you may have and
get a direct answer from the author and the community! One of
the many perks that come with an All-Access Membership.
A native Californian that has extensively traveled the Pacific Southwest, and now retired from an Engineering career with much time to spend off road. I enjoy off road travel exploring, and camping. Because I have the luxury of spending my days as I want, I am most interested in traveling overland and camping in dispersed sites. One thing I like about TrialsOffroad is the vast information about trails I have not traveled, and, to be able to set up a base camp and visit the nearby published trails.
Thanks for the opportunity to be involved; I look forward to meeting many of you on the Trail.
By clicking "ACCEPT", you agree to be the terms and conditions of each
policy linked to above. You also agree to the storing of cookies on
your device to facilitate the operation and functionality of our site,
enhance and customize your user experience, and to analyze how our
site is used.