USFS National Forest System Trails · San Juan National Forest · Colorado · Updated June 2026
Little Bean Canyon (USFS trail 198) is a 11.8 mi trail in San Juan National Forest, Colorado. Mountain bikes are designated as allowed, Jun–Oct, with no Class 1 e-bike designation on record.
Can I bike Little Bean Canyon?
| Use | Status | Season on record |
|---|---|---|
| Mountain bike | Allowed | Jun–Oct |
| Class 1 e-bike (pedal-assist, 20 mph) | Restricted | — |
| Class 2 e-bike (throttle, 20 mph) | Restricted | — |
| Class 3 e-bike (pedal-assist, 28 mph) | Restricted | — |
Zooming out: across San Juan National Forest, 29% of rideable trail miles are open to mountain bikes — a Bike Access Grade of C.
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About this trail
In San Juan National Forest, Colorado, Little Bean Canyon (USFS trail 198) covers 11.8 mi of National Forest System trail. 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. USFS records list its surface 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. Mountain bikes are allowed, with a Jun–Oct season 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 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. 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 Little Bean Canyon?
- Yes. Mountain bikes are designated as allowed on Little Bean Canyon in San Juan National Forest, typically Jun–Oct, per USFS data.
- Are e-bikes allowed on Little Bean Canyon?
- No e-bike class (1, 2 or 3) is designated on Little Bean Canyon in the USFS data.
- How long is Little Bean Canyon?
- Little Bean Canyon measures about 11.8 mi in total, summed across its mapped National Forest System segments.
- What is the surface of Little Bean Canyon?
- USFS data records the tread surface of Little Bean Canyon as native material.
- How difficult is Little Bean 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 San Juan National Forest (USFS trail geometry isn't mapped).
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