USFS National Forest System Trails · Eldorado National Forest · California · Updated June 2026
Caples Creek (USFS trail 17E51) is a 4.3 mi trail in Eldorado National Forest, California. Mountain bikes are designated as allowed year-round, with no Class 1 e-bike designation on record.
Can I bike Caples Creek?
| Use | Status | Season on record |
|---|---|---|
| Mountain bike | Allowed | year-round |
| Class 1 e-bike (pedal-assist, 20 mph) | Restricted | — |
| Class 2 e-bike (throttle, 20 mph) | Restricted | — |
| Class 3 e-bike (pedal-assist, 28 mph) | Restricted | — |
Zooming out: across Eldorado National Forest, 94% of rideable trail miles are open to mountain bikes — a Bike Access Grade of A.
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About this trail
In Eldorado National Forest, California, Caples Creek (USFS trail 17E51) covers 4.3 mi of National Forest System trail. This profile summarizes what the official US Forest Service trail record says about riding it: how long the trail is, what it's built on, how steep the route grades out, and which forms of bike use the agency has designated. The tread is mapped as native material. USFS slope data puts it in the Advanced band (grade band 12-20%), meaning a steep climb — keep in mind this measures steepness, not trail technicality. Bike use is designated as allowed year-round. No e-bike class (1, 2 or 3) is designated on this trail in the USFS data, so treat it as a non-motorized route unless a posted order says otherwise. The route is mapped as USFS Trail Class 3 on the agency's 1-to-5 development scale, where 1 is the most primitive, minimally maintained tread and 5 is the most developed. Treat this as a planning reference rather than a live conditions report, and verify any time-sensitive closure or order with the ranger district that manages Eldorado National Forest.
Frequently asked questions
- Can you mountain bike on Caples Creek?
- Yes. Mountain bikes are designated as allowed on Caples Creek in Eldorado National Forest, year-round, per USFS data.
- Are e-bikes allowed on Caples Creek?
- No e-bike class (1, 2 or 3) is designated on Caples Creek in the USFS data.
- How long is Caples Creek?
- Caples Creek measures about 4.3 mi in total, summed across its mapped National Forest System segments.
- What is the surface of Caples Creek?
- USFS data records the tread surface of Caples Creek as native material.
- How difficult is Caples Creek?
- Its grade-based difficulty is Advanced (grade band 12-20%), 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 Eldorado National Forest (USFS trail geometry isn't mapped).
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