USFS National Forest System Trails · Stanislaus National Forest · California · Updated June 2026
N. Fork Merced River (Lower) (USFS trail 18E71) is a 5.8 mi trail in Stanislaus National Forest, California. Mountain bikes are designated as allowed year-round, with no Class 1 e-bike designation on record.
Can I bike N. Fork Merced River (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 Stanislaus National Forest, 84% of rideable trail miles are open to mountain bikes — a Bike Access Grade of A.
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About this trail
N. Fork Merced River (Lower) (USFS trail 18E71) runs 5.8 mi through Stanislaus National Forest in 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. The tread is mapped as native material. Based on slope, this is a Advanced trail (grade band +12-20%); that reflects steep gradient and is not the same as a technical MTB difficulty rating. 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. 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 N. Fork Merced River (Lower)?
- Yes. Mountain bikes are designated as allowed on N. Fork Merced River (Lower) in Stanislaus National Forest, year-round, per USFS data.
- Are e-bikes allowed on N. Fork Merced River (Lower)?
- No e-bike class (1, 2 or 3) is designated on N. Fork Merced River (Lower) in the USFS data.
- How long is N. Fork Merced River (Lower)?
- N. Fork Merced River (Lower) measures about 5.8 mi in total, summed across its mapped National Forest System segments.
- What is the surface of N. Fork Merced River (Lower)?
- USFS data records the tread surface of N. Fork Merced River (Lower) as native material.
- How difficult is N. Fork Merced River (Lower)?
- 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 Stanislaus National Forest (USFS trail geometry isn't mapped).
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