Methodology & Data Sources
Updated June 2026
CanIBikeHere is built entirely from authoritative public data. The current release covers 61 national forests across 8 states — 43,390 mapped trail segments, of which 8,693 carry a bike or e-bike designation (13,490 mi).
Primary data source
All trail facts come from the U.S. Forest Service National Forest System Trails dataset (the EDW Trans_Trail_NFS_Publish layer), the agency's official travel-management data. For every trail segment it records the managed, accepted, accepted-but-discouraged and restricted seasons for each use — including bicycle and e-bike Class 1, 2 and 3 — plus trail class, surface, typical grade, accessibility status and mileage. Forest names and boundaries come from the USFS Administrative Forest Boundaries layer.
How we derive each figure
- Bike / e-bike status. A use is "allowed" when the USFS records a managed or accepted season for it; "discouraged" or "restricted" when only those designations exist; otherwise "not designated."
- Season. The USFS encodes each designation as date ranges (e.g.
06/01–10/31). We union those ranges into the open months and render a plain-language window. - Miles. Summed from each segment's GIS mileage (falling back to recorded segment length where GIS mileage is absent).
- Forest & state. Each trail's 6-digit administrative org code maps to its national forest; forests are assigned to the state where the notable riding sits (a few border-straddling forests are noted as such).
Known limitations
- Grade is not technical difficulty. USFS records trail grade (steepness), not an MTB technical rating. We show grade where present but never infer a green/blue/black rating from it.
- Designation completeness varies by forest. Some forests populated the e-bike fields comprehensively during travel-management amendments while leaving the legacy bicycle field sparse; we present both signals separately rather than conflating them.
- Not live conditions. This is the regulatory and structural layer — designations and seasons — not real-time trail status, closures or weather.
- Federal land only. The current release covers National Forest System trails, not state, county, city or private land.
Not legal advice
E-bike and trail designations change, and forest- or district-level orders can override the published data. Always confirm current rules with the managing ranger district before you ride. CanIBikeHere is informational and is not legal advice, and we do not imply U.S. Forest Service endorsement.
License & how to cite
USFS trail data is a U.S. Government work in the public domain (17 U.S.C. § 105). Our derived figures and analysis are free to reference with attribution:
CanIBikeHere. "[Page Title]." canibikehere.com, 2026. Data source: USFS National Forest System Trails.