USFS National Forest System Trails · Eldorado National Forest · California · Updated June 2026
Soapweed Trail (USFS trail 11E49) is a 2.6 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 Soapweed Trail?
| 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
Soapweed Trail (USFS trail 11E49) runs 2.6 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 Intermediate band (grade band 10-12%), meaning a moderate climb — keep in mind this measures steepness, not trail technicality. Bike use is designated as allowed year-round. The record additionally permits Class 1, Class 2, Class 3 e-bike use; recall that Class 1 is pedal-assist, while Class 2 adds a throttle and Class 3 a higher cutoff 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 Soapweed Trail?
- Yes. Mountain bikes are designated as allowed on Soapweed Trail in Eldorado National Forest, year-round, per USFS data.
- Are e-bikes allowed on Soapweed Trail?
- Class 1, Class 2, Class 3 e-bikes are designated on Soapweed Trail in the USFS data.
- How long is Soapweed Trail?
- Soapweed Trail measures about 2.6 mi in total, summed across its mapped National Forest System segments.
- What is the surface of Soapweed Trail?
- USFS data records the tread surface of Soapweed Trail as native material.
- How difficult is Soapweed Trail?
- 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 Eldorado National Forest (USFS trail geometry isn't mapped).
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