USFS National Forest System Trails · Angeles National Forest · California · Updated June 2026
Sam Merrill Trail (Lower) (USFS trail 1312W14.1) is a 2.3 mi trail in Angeles National Forest, California. Mountain bikes are designated as allowed year-round, with no Class 1 e-bike designation on record.
Can I bike Sam Merrill Trail (Lower)?
| Use | Status | Season on record |
|---|---|---|
| Mountain bike | Allowed | year-round |
| Class 1 e-bike (pedal-assist, 20 mph) | — | |
| Class 2 e-bike (throttle, 20 mph) | — | |
| Class 3 e-bike (pedal-assist, 28 mph) | — |
Zooming out: across Angeles National Forest, 56% of rideable trail miles are open to mountain bikes — a Bike Access Grade of B.
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About this trail
Sam Merrill Trail (Lower) (USFS trail 1312W14.1) is a 2.3 mi trail in Angeles National Forest, California. 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. Its grade-based difficulty is Intermediate (grade band 10-12%) — a moderate steepness profile derived from USFS slope data, not a technical mountain-bike rating. Mountain bikes are allowed, open year-round in the data. The agency lists no Class 1, 2 or 3 e-bike designation here; absent a local order to the contrary, that means e-bikes are not an allowed use on this trail. The route is mapped as USFS Trail Class 4 on the agency's 1-to-5 development scale, where 1 is the most primitive, minimally maintained tread and 5 is the most developed. For day-of certainty on closures or seasonal orders, check directly with the ranger district, since this reflects the USFS data as of the latest refresh.
Frequently asked questions
- Can you mountain bike on Sam Merrill Trail (Lower)?
- Yes. Mountain bikes are designated as allowed on Sam Merrill Trail (Lower) in Angeles National Forest, year-round, per USFS data.
- Are e-bikes allowed on Sam Merrill Trail (Lower)?
- No e-bike class (1, 2 or 3) is designated on Sam Merrill Trail (Lower) in the USFS data.
- How long is Sam Merrill Trail (Lower)?
- Sam Merrill Trail (Lower) measures about 2.3 mi in total, summed across its mapped National Forest System segments.
- What is the surface of Sam Merrill Trail (Lower)?
- USFS data records the tread surface of Sam Merrill Trail (Lower) as native material.
- How difficult is Sam Merrill Trail (Lower)?
- Its grade-based difficulty is Intermediate (grade band 10-12%), 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 Angeles National Forest (USFS trail geometry isn't mapped).
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