Imagine a place with dozens of trails varying in difficulties with mud pits, rock crawling obstacles, steep hills and campgrounds all in one place - like a Disneyland for off-roaders. Sounds too good to be true right? Wipe the drool off your face because the Happiest Trail on Earth does exist! Located in the Gabilan Mountains, Hollister Hills OHV offers nearly 4,000 acres of off-road recreation areas only about an hour south of San Jose, CA; and for the ladies, it's half an hour from a Lululemon outlet. While the lower ranch is reserved for motorcycles and ATVs, the upper ranch contains 24 miles of trails within 800-acres for 4-wheel drive vehicles. With elevation changes from 660 feet to 2,425 feet, you might be thinking to yourself, "Am I still on the trail or did I somehow get trapped in the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror?" You can go to Disneyland for either the churros or the rides and still have fun. Hollister Hills is the same with trail difficulties varying from tame to hardcore; perfect whether you drive a mall crawler or a KOH built rig. Steep trails, rocky trails and varying terrain, you can find a mix of sand, mud and water thus providing the perfect place to play around before you start hitting the big stuff like Rubicon or Moab. I headed out to Hollister Hills with some friends and a JK Wrangler, V8 4Runner and a 4x4 Toyota Van. Not trying to go too extreme, and making sure the van could keep up, we explored more of the easy-to-moderate trails around the park. Being an off-road park with a campsite, you can make the best of it by wheeling on almost anything...like this tree, just make sure the tree doesn't get the best of you! We took the McCray Road Trail, which criss-crossed between rock crawling obstacles, as we made our way to the top of Hollister Hills. Just like brushing shoulders with crowds of tourists and families vacationing at Disneyland, this trail is pretty popular as you can see the close traffic we came across on the way to the top - where you are able to lookout across the whole OHV area. One of the trails we could see from the top was Truck Hill. It doesn’t look very intimidating from above, but its rated as difficult. The steep and long hill climb starts off with a soft sand base, killing your momentum. If you make it past that, there are ruts on both sides of the road all the way to the top. Bonanza Glutch Road looks inviting at first, just like Splash Mountain with all of the furry woodland creatures, but the drop reminded me of the climatic big drop at the end of the Disneyland ride! Only, instead of getting soaked with water, you get sand everywhere as your tires dig for traction. We were told that not many make it through the trail and that some trucks have rolled. The 4x4 Obstacle Course area featured a whoop section and rock crawling areas much like a real life Indiana Jones Adventure ride. The only difference is there are no blow darts being shot at you and you're more likely to need to dodge a truck instead of dodging a truck-sized boulder. The course also has a water and mud pit, but due to the California drought both sections were bone dry. These were just a few of the trails we checked out but there are plenty more within the park. Like Disneyland, its tough to experience the whole park in just one trip. I’ll definitely be coming back to explore more.
