USFS National Forest System Trails · Kootenai National Forest · Montana · Updated June 2026
Swisher Lake (USFS trail 470) is a 1.3 mi trail in Kootenai National Forest, Montana. Mountain bikes are designated as allowed, Jun–Oct, with no Class 1 e-bike designation on record.
Can I bike Swisher Lake?
| Use | Status | Season on record |
|---|---|---|
| Mountain bike | Allowed | Jun–Oct |
| 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 Kootenai National Forest, 55% of rideable trail miles are open to mountain bikes — a Bike Access Grade of B.
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About this trail
Swisher Lake (USFS trail 470) is a 1.3 mi trail in Kootenai National Forest, Montana. This profile summarizes what the official US Forest Service trail record says about riding it: how long the trail is, what it's built on, how steep the route grades out, and which forms of bike use the agency has designated. USFS records list its surface as native material. USFS slope data puts it in the Easy band (grade band 0-5%), meaning a gentle climb — keep in mind this measures steepness, not trail technicality. Bike use is designated as allowed, typically Jun–Oct. 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 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. For day-of certainty on closures or seasonal orders, check directly with the ranger district, since this reflects the USFS data as of the latest refresh.
Frequently asked questions
- Can you mountain bike on Swisher Lake?
- Yes. Mountain bikes are designated as allowed on Swisher Lake in Kootenai National Forest, typically Jun–Oct, per USFS data.
- Are e-bikes allowed on Swisher Lake?
- No e-bike class (1, 2 or 3) is designated on Swisher Lake in the USFS data.
- How long is Swisher Lake?
- Swisher Lake measures about 1.3 mi in total, summed across its mapped National Forest System segments.
- What is the surface of Swisher Lake?
- USFS data records the tread surface of Swisher Lake as native material.
- How difficult is Swisher Lake?
- Its grade-based difficulty is Easy (grade band 0-5%), 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 Kootenai National Forest (USFS trail geometry isn't mapped).
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