USFS National Forest System Trails · Prescott National Forest · Arizona · Updated June 2026
Short Cut (USFS trail 9915) is a 0.5 mi trail in Prescott National Forest, Arizona. Mountain bikes are designated as allowed year-round, with Class 1 e-bikes also designated.
Can I bike Short Cut?
| Use | Status | Season on record |
|---|---|---|
| Mountain bike | Allowed | year-round |
| Class 1 e-bike (pedal-assist, 20 mph) | Allowed | year-round |
| Class 2 e-bike (throttle, 20 mph) | Allowed | year-round |
| Class 3 e-bike (pedal-assist, 28 mph) | Allowed | year-round |
Zooming out: across Prescott National Forest, 85% of rideable trail miles are open to mountain bikes — a Bike Access Grade of A.
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About this trail
In Prescott National Forest, Arizona, Short Cut (USFS trail 9915) covers 0.5 mi of National Forest System trail. Everything below comes straight from the US Forest Service National Forest System Trails dataset — length, surface, slope-derived difficulty, and the specific bike and e-bike designations on record — so you can check legality before you load up. USFS records list its surface as native material. Based on slope, this is a Easy trail (grade band 5-8%); that reflects gentle gradient and is not the same as a technical MTB difficulty rating. Mountain bikes are allowed, open year-round in the data. On the electric side, Class 1, Class 2, Class 3 e-bikes are also designated — Class 1 being pedal-assist only, Classes 2 and 3 adding a throttle and higher assisted speed. The route is mapped as USFS Trail Class 2 on the agency's 1-to-5 development scale, where 1 is the most primitive, minimally maintained tread and 5 is the most developed. Because conditions, closures, and local orders change between data refreshes, confirm the current status with the managing ranger district before you ride.
Frequently asked questions
- Can you mountain bike on Short Cut?
- Yes. Mountain bikes are designated as allowed on Short Cut in Prescott National Forest, year-round, per USFS data.
- Are e-bikes allowed on Short Cut?
- Class 1, Class 2, Class 3 e-bikes are designated on Short Cut in the USFS data.
- How long is Short Cut?
- Short Cut measures about 0.5 mi in total, summed across its mapped National Forest System segments.
- What is the surface of Short Cut?
- USFS data records the tread surface of Short Cut as native material.
- How difficult is Short Cut?
- Its grade-based difficulty is Easy (grade band 5-8%), derived from USFS slope data. This reflects steepness, not technical mountain-bike difficulty.
How we read this data
Grade-based difficulty above is the USFS grade (route steepness), not a technical mountain-bike rating — a gentle-grade trail can still be rocky or technical, and vice versa. Bike and e-bike status come verbatim from the USFS managed-use fields for this trail; we never infer access we can't cite. See our methodology for how the dataset is built and what each field means.
Where it is
Approximate location of Prescott National Forest (USFS trail geometry isn't mapped).
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