USFS National Forest System Trails · Medicine Bow-Routt National Forest · Colorado · Updated June 2026
Why Not Road (USFS trail 1016.1) is a 3.3 mi trail in Medicine Bow-Routt National Forest, Colorado. Mountain bikes are designated as allowed year-round, with no Class 1 e-bike designation on record.
Can I bike Why Not Road?
| 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 Medicine Bow-Routt National Forest, 14% of rideable trail miles are open to mountain bikes — a Bike Access Grade of D.
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About this trail
Why Not Road (USFS trail 1016.1) runs 3.3 mi through Medicine Bow-Routt National Forest in Colorado. 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 imported compacted material. Its grade-based difficulty is Easy (grade band 5-8%) — a gentle 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 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 Why Not Road?
- Yes. Mountain bikes are designated as allowed on Why Not Road in Medicine Bow-Routt National Forest, year-round, per USFS data.
- Are e-bikes allowed on Why Not Road?
- No e-bike class (1, 2 or 3) is designated on Why Not Road in the USFS data.
- How long is Why Not Road?
- Why Not Road measures about 3.3 mi in total, summed across its mapped National Forest System segments.
- What is the surface of Why Not Road?
- USFS data records the tread surface of Why Not Road as imported compacted material.
- How difficult is Why Not Road?
- Its grade-based difficulty is Easy (grade band 5-8%), 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 Medicine Bow-Routt National Forest (USFS trail geometry isn't mapped).
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