USFS National Forest System Trails · Rio Grande National Forest · Colorado · Updated June 2026
Fern Creek (USFS trail 815) is a 13.7 mi trail in Rio Grande National Forest, Colorado. Mountain-bike use here is accepted but discouraged in USFS data, with Class 1 e-bikes also designated.
Can I bike Fern Creek?
| Use | Status | Season on record |
|---|---|---|
| Mountain bike | Accepted but discouraged | — |
| 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 Rio Grande National Forest, 0% of rideable trail miles are open to mountain bikes — a Bike Access Grade of F.
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About this trail
Fern Creek (USFS trail 815) is a 13.7 mi trail in Rio Grande National Forest, Colorado. 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. USFS records list its surface 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. For traditional mountain bikes, use is discouraged according to USFS data. 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 2 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 Rio Grande National Forest.
Frequently asked questions
- Can you mountain bike on Fern Creek?
- Mountain-bike use on Fern Creek is discouraged in USFS records, though Class 1 e-bike use is designated. Confirm current rules with the managing ranger district.
- Are e-bikes allowed on Fern Creek?
- Class 1, Class 2, Class 3 e-bikes are designated on Fern Creek in the USFS data.
- How long is Fern Creek?
- Fern Creek measures about 13.7 mi in total, summed across its mapped National Forest System segments.
- What is the surface of Fern Creek?
- USFS data records the tread surface of Fern Creek as native material.
- How difficult is Fern 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 Rio Grande National Forest (USFS trail geometry isn't mapped).
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