USFS National Forest System Trails · Custer Gallatin National Forest · Montana · Updated June 2026
Elkhorn Ridge (USFS trail 522) is a 8.3 mi trail in Custer Gallatin National Forest, Montana. Mountain bikes are designated as allowed year-round, with no Class 1 e-bike designation on record.
Can I bike Elkhorn Ridge?
| Use | Status | Season on record |
|---|---|---|
| Mountain bike | Allowed | year-round |
| 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 Custer Gallatin 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
Elkhorn Ridge (USFS trail 522) is a 8.3 mi trail in Custer Gallatin National Forest, Montana. The figures here are pulled from the official US Forest Service trail data for Custer Gallatin National Forest, covering the trail's mileage, tread, grade band, and the bike and e-bike uses the agency lists as designated. 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 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. 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 Custer Gallatin National Forest.
Frequently asked questions
- Can you mountain bike on Elkhorn Ridge?
- Yes. Mountain bikes are designated as allowed on Elkhorn Ridge in Custer Gallatin National Forest, year-round, per USFS data.
- Are e-bikes allowed on Elkhorn Ridge?
- No e-bike class (1, 2 or 3) is designated on Elkhorn Ridge in the USFS data.
- How long is Elkhorn Ridge?
- Elkhorn Ridge measures about 8.3 mi in total, summed across its mapped National Forest System segments.
- What is the surface of Elkhorn Ridge?
- USFS data records the tread surface of Elkhorn Ridge as native material.
- How difficult is Elkhorn Ridge?
- 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 Custer Gallatin National Forest (USFS trail geometry isn't mapped).
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