USFS National Forest System Trails · Payette National Forest · Idaho · Updated June 2026
Loon Creek/Loon Lake (USFS trail 081) is a 14.5 mi trail in Payette National Forest, Idaho. Mountain-bike use here is accepted but discouraged in USFS data, with Class 1 e-bikes also designated.
Can I bike Loon Creek/Loon Lake?
| 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 Payette National Forest, 20% of rideable trail miles are open to mountain bikes — a Bike Access Grade of D.
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About this trail
In Payette National Forest, Idaho, Loon Creek/Loon Lake (USFS trail 081) covers 14.5 mi of National Forest System trail. The figures here are pulled from the official US Forest Service trail data for Payette National Forest, covering the trail's mileage, tread, grade band, and the bike and e-bike uses the agency lists as designated. The tread is mapped as native material. No grade band is recorded, so a steepness-based difficulty isn't available for this trail. 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 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 Payette National Forest.
Frequently asked questions
- Can you mountain bike on Loon Creek/Loon Lake?
- Mountain-bike use on Loon Creek/Loon Lake 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 Loon Creek/Loon Lake?
- Class 1, Class 2, Class 3 e-bikes are designated on Loon Creek/Loon Lake in the USFS data.
- How long is Loon Creek/Loon Lake?
- Loon Creek/Loon Lake measures about 14.5 mi in total, summed across its mapped National Forest System segments.
- What is the surface of Loon Creek/Loon Lake?
- USFS data records the tread surface of Loon Creek/Loon Lake as native material.
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 Payette National Forest (USFS trail geometry isn't mapped).
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