USFS National Forest System Trails · Helena-Lewis and Clark National Forest · Montana · Updated June 2026
Neil Connection (USFS trail 653) is a 5.8 mi trail in Helena-Lewis and Clark National Forest, Montana. Mountain bikes are designated as allowed year-round, with Class 1 e-bikes also designated.
Can I bike Neil Connection?
| 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 Helena-Lewis and Clark National Forest, 91% of rideable trail miles are open to mountain bikes — a Bike Access Grade of A.
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About this trail
In Helena-Lewis and Clark National Forest, Montana, Neil Connection (USFS trail 653) covers 5.8 mi of National Forest System trail. The figures here are pulled from the official US Forest Service trail data for Helena-Lewis and Clark 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. Bike use is designated as allowed year-round. On the electric side, Class 1, Class 2, Class 3 e-bikes are also designated — Class 1 being pedal-assist only, Classes 2 and 3 adding a throttle and higher assisted 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. 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 Neil Connection?
- Yes. Mountain bikes are designated as allowed on Neil Connection in Helena-Lewis and Clark National Forest, year-round, per USFS data.
- Are e-bikes allowed on Neil Connection?
- Class 1, Class 2, Class 3 e-bikes are designated on Neil Connection in the USFS data.
- How long is Neil Connection?
- Neil Connection measures about 5.8 mi in total, summed across its mapped National Forest System segments.
- What is the surface of Neil Connection?
- USFS data records the tread surface of Neil Connection 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 Helena-Lewis and Clark National Forest (USFS trail geometry isn't mapped).
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