USFS National Forest System Trails · Caribou-Targhee National Forest · Idaho · Updated June 2026
South Fork Bear Creek (USFS trail 4274) is a 8.1 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 South Fork Bear Creek?
| 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
South Fork Bear Creek (USFS trail 4274) runs 8.1 mi through Caribou-Targhee National Forest in Idaho. 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. Its grade-based difficulty is Advanced (grade band +12-20%) — a steep steepness profile derived from USFS slope data, not a technical mountain-bike rating. Bike use is designated as allowed year-round. 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 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. For day-of certainty on closures or seasonal orders, check directly with the ranger district, since this reflects the USFS data as of the latest refresh.
Frequently asked questions
- Can you mountain bike on South Fork Bear Creek?
- Yes. Mountain bikes are designated as allowed on South Fork Bear Creek in Caribou-Targhee National Forest, year-round, per USFS data.
- Are e-bikes allowed on South Fork Bear Creek?
- Class 1, Class 2, Class 3 e-bikes are designated on South Fork Bear Creek in the USFS data.
- How long is South Fork Bear Creek?
- South Fork Bear Creek measures about 8.1 mi in total, summed across its mapped National Forest System segments.
- What is the surface of South Fork Bear Creek?
- USFS data records the tread surface of South Fork Bear Creek as native material.
- How difficult is South Fork Bear 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 Caribou-Targhee National Forest (USFS trail geometry isn't mapped).
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