Short answer. Three free tools will show you legal dirt bike trails near you in about five minutes. Start with OHV Trail Finder, which is built from official Forest Service maps and has a trails near me button. Then check your own state's OHV programme. Then check RiderPlanet USA for tracks and riding areas other riders have added.
The thing nobody tells you is that "near me" almost never means a trail five minutes away. For most people the honest answer is private land you have permission to use, or a drive of 30 to 90 minutes to the nearest legal riding area. Below is how to find both, and what to check before you load the bike.
Tool 1: OHV Trail Finder
This is the one to start with. It pulls from the US Forest Service Motor Vehicle Use Map, which is the document that legally says which routes are open to which vehicles. At the time of writing it covers 448 ranger districts across 40 states and well over 200,000 miles of route.
What makes it useful for you specifically:
- There is a trails near me option that sorts districts by distance from where you are standing.
- You can filter by vehicle type, and dirt bike is one of them. That matters, because plenty of routes are open to full size 4x4s and closed to motorcycles, or the other way around.
- Each district shows a season for each vehicle type. A lot of riding areas close in winter or in fire season, and that is where people get caught out.
- You can download a GPX file and put the route on your phone or GPS.
One caveat the site states itself and we will repeat: it is informational, not the legal document. The MVUM is. Carry the MVUM.
Tool 2: your own state's OHV programme
Every state runs one, usually under the department of natural resources, state parks, or fish and game. This is where you find state trails, state parks that allow riding, registration rules and day use fees.
The quickest way in is to search your state name plus OHV trails and take the result ending in .gov. Minnesota runs its map through the DNR, Montana through Fish Wildlife and Parks, New Mexico through Game and Fish. Yours will be similar.
Your state page is also where you find the thing most people miss: whether your bike needs a decal, sticker or off highway registration before it is allowed on public land, and what a non resident has to do if you are driving in from out of state.
Tool 3: RiderPlanet USA
A long running directory of riding areas and motocross tracks, added and reviewed by riders. It is weaker than the Forest Service data on what is strictly legal, and stronger on the practical stuff: whether a track has a beginner section, whether it is open to the public or members only, whether it is still there at all.
Use it to find tracks, which is where most parents with a young kid actually end up. A groomed beginner track with a fence around it is a far better first ride than open desert.
The option that beats all three
Private land you have permission to use. A relative with acreage, a friend with a field, a farmer who does not mind. No decal, no season, no day use fee, no drive.
If you have that option, it is better than anything on a map, and it is how most kids learn to ride. Get the permission in words you can both remember, keep off anything planted, and do not ride near livestock.
How to read a Motor Vehicle Use Map
The MVUM is free, published by each national forest, and it is the legal answer for federal land. It is not pretty, but it is simple once you know what you are looking at.
- Find the MVUM for the forest you are going to, on that forest's own page on the Forest Service site.
- Routes are marked by what is allowed. Look for the symbol for motorcycles, not just the general vehicle symbol.
- Check the season dates next to the route. Open in July does not mean open in February.
- If a route is not on the map, it is not open. That is the part people get wrong. On national forest land you ride what is designated, not whatever track you can see on the ground.
What to check before you load the bike
- Is a dirt bike allowed on that route, not just vehicles in general.
- Season dates. Many areas close for winter, mud season or fire danger.
- Registration or decal. Most states want something on an off road bike before it touches public land.
- Spark arrestor. Federal land generally requires one. That is a real citation, not a formality.
- Sound limits. Some areas test. A stock exhaust is almost always fine.
- Helmet rules for minors. Many states require one for riders under a certain age on public land. Your kid should be in one regardless.
- Day use fee, and whether the pay station takes cards.
- Who else is on it. A route shared with full size 4x4s is a different ride for a nine year old than a motorcycle only trail.
Places that are never legal, wherever you are
Streets, sidewalks, bike paths, canal banks, school fields, city parks and empty lots you do not own. None of our bikes are street legal, and riding one on a road is how a bike gets impounded.
Off road use only. Not street legal and does not come with a title.
If you are in Arizona
We are in Tempe, so we wrote the local version up properly: where to ride a dirt bike in Arizona, including what the state asks for before you ride on public land.
If you want the legal rules rather than the map
The full breakdown of what is allowed state by state, and what is never allowed anywhere, is in where can you legally ride a dirt bike.
Questions
Is there anywhere I can ride for free?
Often yes. A lot of national forest and BLM routes have no fee, and some state areas are free with a registration decal you buy once a year. The paid places are usually private motocross tracks and some state parks. Free does not mean unregulated, so the MVUM check still applies.
Can my kid ride at a motocross track?
Most tracks have a beginner or peewee section and set days for young riders. Call first and ask what age they allow and whether they need a signed waiver from a parent. Many also want a helmet, goggles, gloves, boots and long sleeves, which your kid should have on anyway.
How far will I actually have to drive?
Depends entirely on where you live. In the west it is often under an hour. In parts of the east and midwest it can be two. That is the single biggest reason to check before you buy, not after.
Do I need a truck to get there?
A 50cc mini weighs about 70 lbs and goes in the back of most SUVs with the seats down, or on a hitch carrier. The bigger bikes need a truck bed, a trailer or a proper carrier.
What if there is genuinely nowhere near me?
Then be honest with yourself before you spend the money. A bike that only gets ridden twice a year is an expensive thing to store. Private land, a nearby track, or waiting until you have somewhere are all better answers than a bike under a tarp.
Which bike suits where you will actually ride
If it is a yard or a field, our 50cc gas minis are $300 and the governor screw lets you hold a new rider at walking pace. For a bigger kid on real trails, the 60cc double exhaust is $380. If noise is the thing stopping you riding at home, the electrics are near silent and start at $975.
All of them ship free to all 50 states and go out the same day. Not sure which fits where you ride, text us at 623 320 8984 with the rider's height and weight and where you plan to go. We answer the same day.