USFS National Forest System Trails · Flathead National Forest · Montana · Updated June 2026
Freebird (USFS trail 817) is a 2.3 mi trail in Flathead National Forest, Montana. Mountain bikes are designated as allowed, Jun–Sep, with no Class 1 e-bike designation on record.
Can I bike Freebird?
| Use | Status | Season on record |
|---|---|---|
| Mountain bike | Allowed | Jun–Sep |
| 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 Flathead National Forest, 27% of rideable trail miles are open to mountain bikes — a Bike Access Grade of C.
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About this trail
Freebird (USFS trail 817) runs 2.3 mi through Flathead National Forest in Montana. The figures here are pulled from the official US Forest Service trail data for Flathead National Forest, covering the trail's mileage, tread, grade band, and the bike and e-bike uses the agency lists as designated. Underfoot, the trail is recorded as native material. Its grade-based difficulty is Easy (grade band 5-8%) — a gentle steepness profile derived from USFS slope data, not a technical mountain-bike rating. Bike use is designated as allowed, typically Jun–Sep. 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 4 on the agency's 1-to-5 development scale, where 1 is the most primitive, minimally maintained tread and 5 is the most developed. Because conditions, closures, and local orders change between data refreshes, confirm the current status with the managing ranger district before you ride.
Frequently asked questions
- Can you mountain bike on Freebird?
- Yes. Mountain bikes are designated as allowed on Freebird in Flathead National Forest, typically Jun–Sep, per USFS data.
- Are e-bikes allowed on Freebird?
- No e-bike class (1, 2 or 3) is designated on Freebird in the USFS data.
- How long is Freebird?
- Freebird measures about 2.3 mi in total, summed across its mapped National Forest System segments.
- What is the surface of Freebird?
- USFS data records the tread surface of Freebird as native material.
- How difficult is Freebird?
- Its grade-based difficulty is Easy (grade band 5-8%), 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 Flathead National Forest (USFS trail geometry isn't mapped).
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