USFS National Forest System Trails · Custer Gallatin National Forest · Montana · Updated June 2026
Slide Creek (USFS trail 71) is a 5.3 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 Slide Creek?
| 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
Slide Creek (USFS trail 71) runs 5.3 mi through Custer Gallatin National Forest in Montana. 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. Underfoot, the trail is recorded 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 Slide Creek?
- Yes. Mountain bikes are designated as allowed on Slide Creek in Custer Gallatin National Forest, year-round, per USFS data.
- Are e-bikes allowed on Slide Creek?
- No e-bike class (1, 2 or 3) is designated on Slide Creek in the USFS data.
- How long is Slide Creek?
- Slide Creek measures about 5.3 mi in total, summed across its mapped National Forest System segments.
- What is the surface of Slide Creek?
- USFS data records the tread surface of Slide Creek as native material.
- How difficult is Slide 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 Custer Gallatin National Forest (USFS trail geometry isn't mapped).
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