The Ultimate Guide to Trail Difficulty Ratings

Why I Built a Rating System at All

Early in building Offroad Buddy, I considered just letting trail submitters write a text description and call it done. That's what most apps do. The problem is that "moderate" means completely different things to different people. I've seen trails labeled "easy" that I'd call a solid C, and trails labeled "hard" that my stock-ish Tacoma walked through without drama.

The A–F scale in Offroad Buddy is an attempt to add some objectivity to a subjective problem. It's not perfect — the ratings are still community-assigned by humans — but when you combine the rating with the actual telemetry data from the run, you get something much more useful than a word.

A few things worth saying upfront: these ratings reflect conditions when the trail was recorded. A dry-season A can be a B or C after rain. Always read the full trail card, not just the letter.

Rating A — Easy

A trails are accessible to most vehicles, including stock SUVs and even higher-clearance sedans. Groomed gravel forest roads, wide dirt tracks, gentle fire roads. You're unlikely to need 4WD at all.

Low pitch, low roll, no significant obstacles. Good for people new to off-road driving, or for days when you want scenery more than challenge. My kids have been on A trails — it's genuinely that relaxed.

One caveat: A trails get humbling fast in wet conditions. I've seen a wide gravel road turn into a mud trap after two days of rain. Check recent trail conditions if weather has been bad.

Rating B — Moderate

B is where most casual off-road driving lives. Rocky two-tracks, rutted forest roads, occasional water crossings. You'll want 4WD for some sections, and you'll start to care about where your tires are placed.

A stock Wrangler or 4Runner is comfortable here. Grades start getting into the 15–25° range in spots. Line selection matters occasionally — you won't always be able to just point and drive.

B trails are a good benchmark for newer drivers. If something surprises you on a B, that's valuable information about where you are in your learning curve.

Rating C — Difficult

C trails require 4WD, meaningful clearance, and genuine attention. Rocky terrain with ledges, sustained grades above 25°, off-camber sections where a wrong line means body damage. Water crossings get deeper.

I'd say C is the first tier where vehicle preparation actually matters as much as driver skill. Skid plates stop being optional. If you don't have recovery gear (traction boards at minimum, a hi-lift if you're serious), you probably shouldn't run a C trail alone.

I've gotten my truck stuck on C trails twice. Both times were avoidable in hindsight — once because I misjudged a mud section, once because I got overconfident on a shelf road. Having a buddy vehicle both times was the difference between an inconvenience and a bad day.

Rating D — Very Difficult

D is where you need a properly built vehicle. Not just lifted — built. Lockers front and rear, typically 33-inch or larger tires, upgraded axles, real skid protection. A stock vehicle has no business on a D trail.

Driver experience is critical at this level. Large rock steps, extreme grades, deep crossings, narrow ledges. I'd say D trails require that you know your vehicle's rollover threshold not as a number you read somewhere, but as something you've felt and understand. That only comes from time on trail.

Never run D trails alone. Recovery on serious terrain often requires multiple vehicles, a winch, and sometimes professional help. The telemetry data on D trails tends to look dramatic — that's not an accident.

Rating E — Expert

E trails are at the edge of what recreational off-roading means. Extreme rock crawling, sustained high pitch angles, real rollover risk on specific sections. These routes challenge heavily built rigs, not just stock vehicles.

A spotter is often necessary — someone on foot talking the driver through individual moves. I've been a spotter on E trails and it's a completely different experience from being in the truck. You see lines the driver can't see, and you're responsible for telling them when to stop.

Watch your telemetry data constantly on E terrain. If a section is pushing you past 30° of roll and your truck wasn't designed for it, stop and assess before committing.

Rating F — Extreme

F trails are competition-grade or expedition routes. Purpose-built vehicles, professional recovery equipment, winching as a standard part of progress rather than emergency recovery. I've included F in the system mostly as a record-keeping tier — these trails exist, people run them, and the data should be captured.

If you're asking whether your vehicle can handle an F trail, it probably can't, and I mean that non-judgmentally. Most vehicles can't. That's fine — there's a huge range of excellent trails below F.

Reading the Full Trail Card

The letter rating is a summary. Before committing to any trail, look at:

• Clearance class required — tells you what build the person who ran it was driving.
• Terrain type — rocky and sandy trails at the same rating feel nothing alike.
• Max pitch and roll recorded — this is actual sensor data from the run. It tells you more than any description.
• Access — open, permit required, seasonal closures. Always check this before you drive two hours to a trailhead.

Two trails can both be rated C and feel completely different based on terrain type and conditions. The telemetry data narrows that gap. A C trail with max pitch of 28° and max roll of 18° is a different animal than one with max pitch of 33° and max roll of 26°, even though both are "difficult."

One More Thing About Conditions

A trail's effective difficulty can shift by one or two tiers based on conditions. Rain turns traction into a variable. Spring runoff can make water crossings that were listed as shallow genuinely dangerous. Heat isn't usually a terrain factor, but vehicle cooling becomes real on sustained technical climbs.

If a trail was recorded in good summer conditions and you're attempting it in March after a wet week, mentally add a full tier to the rating and plan accordingly. The data tells you what the trail was like when it was recorded — your job is to account for what's changed since then.