Chiang Mai Dirt Bike Trails Update - September 2026
Red clay, green rice fields, great trails and wet weither!
Welcome to the first Chiang Mai Dirt Bikes newsletter. Each month we’ll round up the latest routes, ride reports, and articles from our dirt bile travels across Northern Thailand.
If you missed any of the routes we've published, or the ride reports, you can check them out here.
Our aim is to build a stronger community of dirt bikers here in Northern Thailand and we encourage members to contribute their routes, review existing routes, add pictures, tell current conditions, and otherwise enrich the experience of your fellow dirt biker.
New routes
GPX tracks added to the site since the last issue.
Samoeng to Mae Win Offroad
An excellent ride through the farm trails and village connectors. Gorgeous scenery, especially late in the rainy season when the rice fields are green. Careful of the red clay and large puddles, which can be deeper than they look. Ridgelines, steep ascents, farm views and elephants.
Download the GPX
Mae Sariang to Mae Chaem via Village Roads
An excellent ride starting near Mae Sariang and heading North into the farm lands of Mae Hong Son. Green, scenic, and with some excellent riding. In the rainy season the red clay can be quite treacherous, so drive carefully. There are many villages for fuel, food and accommodation. In addition, there are many side routes here to head to Khun Yuam, Mae La Noi or Mae Hong Son.
Download the GPX
Doi Pha Hom Pok Burmese Border Route
A fun, challenging, and incredibly scenic route just North of Fang and Thaton. Riding through small hill tribe villages before taking a farming road connector to the border. Careful, this connecting trail is not for the faint of heart. Featuring bogs, large culverts, steep muddy descents, red clay with green moss, and more. The border road is amazing. Deserted and all but abandoned, the road is fun but deeply rutted and worn. Exercise caution. Again, this is a border zone and conditions can change without warning.
Download the GPX
Doi Mae Salong Burma Border Ridgeline Ride
An incredibly scenic dirt ride from Doi Mae Salong up towards the Burmese border. Starting as very rideable 4x4 and then, after riding along the Burmese border for a while, it devolves into rutted, narrow and at times trecherous single track. After riding the brakes down the slippery red-clay single track, the trail opens back up into a 4x4 trail at a coffee planation, where we found mountain chestnut harvesters. An excellent ride, if you are in the mood for a challenging though scenic ride.
Download the GPX
Chiang Dao Rocky Ridge to San Pak Kia
A fun and relatively beginner friendly ride through the forests and hills between Mae Taeng and Chiang Dao. Featuring a rocky ascent to practice balance, throttle control and how to pick lines. Red clay is also prominent here, so be aware that it can become quite slick during periods of prolonged rain.
Download the GPXRide reports
Write-ups from recent rides, with the track we took.
Samoeng to Mae Win, the Long Way Round — 81 km of Village Tracks and Red Clay
An 81 km green-season day ride from Samoeng Tai out west to Ban Mae Hae Nuea and then south into Mae Win — farm roads, Karen village connectors, a stream ford, a log bridge over the river, and enough slick red clay to put all four of us down at some point. A Ténéré 700, two CRF300Ls and a CRF250L.
Read the report
Every Time I Thought the Dirt Was Done: Mae Sariang to Mae Chaem
An experimental Sunday built off a Gaia GPS map scroll: 118 km of red clay, Karen villages and full rice fields between Mae Sariang and Mae Chaem. Four separate times the dirt looked finished, and four separate times it wasn't. Solo, on a CRF250L, in the back half of the rainy season.
Read the report
Two Days on the Burma Border: Fang, Thaton and Doi Mae Salong
Two days from Chiang Mai to the Myanmar border and back, on a CRF250L and a CRF300L. Turned back twice on day one — then a park ranger pointed us at the road that made the trip.
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Mae Taeng to Chiang Dao Dirt Bike Day Ride — Rocky Ridge to San Pak Kia
A 71 km green-season day ride between Mae Taeng and Chiang Dao — red clay two-track up to a 1,460 m ridge, a tree down across the trail, cloud and rain over the top, then coffee at Ma Doo Doi under the Doi Luang Chiang Dao massif and a long lunch at Jerns. Two riders, a CRF250L and a CRF300L.
Read the reportNew guides
Longer reads on seasons, gear and getting around.
Exploring and Route Finding: How Adventures Evolve
159 km, five hours, four turn-arounds in the Mae Wang headwaters — a solo scouting day for a loop that doesn’t exist yet. How a 135-gram drone and one rule (eyes-on before wheels-on) turn “does it go?” into “come back with friends.”
Read the guide
Looking for people to ride with?
We meet every Wednesday at 7pm at Rider's Corner — turn up, no sign-up, any bike. Some weeks it is two people and a coffee, some weeks it is a dozen and a plan for Saturday.
Get directionsRide footage from these routes goes up on YouTube, usually a week or two behind the write-ups.
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