off-road through the desert
 

Hi

What are the rules for the off-road through the desert?

Is it allowed? Are there restrictions where you can not go with the car? Or you can go as far as your car can go if you do not cross any fence or private property? The speed limits are the same as posted on the roads, or are something like 15 mph?

Because I know in Washington State there are regulations for the beach driving.

True off road travel is no more legal in the desert than it is anywhere else...
 

Where, praytell, is this fabulous, unbounded and unvegetated desert you want to go track up?

Re: True off road travel is no more legal in the desert than it is anywhere else...
 

Not exactly unbounded and unvegetated desert, but parts of Arizona/East California/Southern Utah - for example Mexican Hat - would be nice to go through. Even around Las Vegas.

But, yes, you are right; dream on .......

But where are this restrictions stated? I do not mean the national parks. panels or signs? although they must be somewhere, so the bears have free ground for fine hunting (from helicopter in California???????) needed to support McDonald's.

Um, get the memo - mexican hat can be driven around already, on roads.
 

First off, this ain't even my forum. AZ native, meant to click on Rocky Mountain to check on my current-state Colorado threads. I landed here by accident. I stayed because I am an avid "offroader" (really, off-pavement), and spent my youth running around on 2 tracks in the middle of nowhere, Arizona.

First off, um, you can drive around Mexican Hat.... on roads, one of which goes up to an oil rig. You need to stay ON those roads.

Secondly off, the idea that desert is any more passable to an Audi than any other biome is, is ridiculous. True desert is a fully fleshed out vegetated area, like any other. Sure, you could drive around the creosote islands in the alluvial pads of southern California, but you'd leave tire tracks in the fragile soil, and the rest of the desert is much less passable. And, the marks you leave anywhere else are going to be visible for centuries. After all, this is the place where hiking trails from indians 1000 years ago are clear as day.

About the only place you can get away with unbounded travel is sandy washes, but good luck in an Audi.

These restrictions are common sense, and are, in many cases, law. If a road is bounded by private property, then straying from it is trespassing. Most, if not all, gov agencies have rules against motorized travel off track or off road.

Look, man, the desert is no different than any other place, and alot harder on your tires. Don't drive off established roads and tracks. They're not just for convenience.

And this is not a "dream" to drive everywhere. If you think that you're not marring the landscape or damaging your vehicle by driving over every hill and dale, get your head straight. The desert is at once fragile and brutal... the price of laying down some 800-year-lasting tire tracks in crypto soil may just be a big yucca in one of your rig's shoes.

I'm going to get back to my intended forum now. I highly advise you buy an instructional book on offroading, and skip right to the chapter on "treading lightly".