USFS National Forest System Trails · Caribou-Targhee National Forest · Idaho · Updated June 2026
Little Elk Mountain (USFS trail 4270) is a 3.8 mi trail in Caribou-Targhee National Forest, Idaho. Mountain bikes are designated as allowed year-round, with Class 1 e-bikes also designated.
Can I bike Little Elk Mountain?
| 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 Caribou-Targhee National Forest, 98% of rideable trail miles are open to mountain bikes — a Bike Access Grade of A.
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About this trail
In Caribou-Targhee National Forest, Idaho, Little Elk Mountain (USFS trail 4270) covers 3.8 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. Underfoot, the trail is recorded 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. On the electric side, Class 1, Class 2, Class 3 e-bikes are also designated — Class 1 being pedal-assist only, Classes 2 and 3 adding a throttle and higher assisted 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 Caribou-Targhee National Forest.
Frequently asked questions
- Can you mountain bike on Little Elk Mountain?
- Yes. Mountain bikes are designated as allowed on Little Elk Mountain in Caribou-Targhee National Forest, year-round, per USFS data.
- Are e-bikes allowed on Little Elk Mountain?
- Class 1, Class 2, Class 3 e-bikes are designated on Little Elk Mountain in the USFS data.
- How long is Little Elk Mountain?
- Little Elk Mountain measures about 3.8 mi in total, summed across its mapped National Forest System segments.
- What is the surface of Little Elk Mountain?
- USFS data records the tread surface of Little Elk Mountain as native material.
- How difficult is Little Elk Mountain?
- 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 Caribou-Targhee National Forest (USFS trail geometry isn't mapped).
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