USFS National Forest System Trails · Eldorado National Forest · California · Updated June 2026
Slate Canyon (USFS trail 12E50) is a 12 mi trail in Eldorado National Forest, California. Mountain bikes are designated as allowed year-round, with Class 1 e-bikes also designated.
Can I bike Slate Canyon?
| 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 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
Slate Canyon (USFS trail 12E50) runs 12 mi through Eldorado National Forest in California. 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. 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 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 Slate Canyon?
- Yes. Mountain bikes are designated as allowed on Slate Canyon in Eldorado National Forest, year-round, per USFS data.
- Are e-bikes allowed on Slate Canyon?
- Class 1, Class 2, Class 3 e-bikes are designated on Slate Canyon in the USFS data.
- How long is Slate Canyon?
- Slate Canyon measures about 12 mi in total, summed across its mapped National Forest System segments.
- What is the surface of Slate Canyon?
- USFS data records the tread surface of Slate Canyon as native material.
- How difficult is Slate Canyon?
- 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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