USFS National Forest System Trails · Cibola National Forest · New Mexico · Updated June 2026
Switchback (USFS trail 05271) is a 1.6 mi trail in Cibola National Forest, New Mexico. Mountain bikes are designated as allowed, Apr–Nov, with no Class 1 e-bike designation on record.
Can I bike Switchback?
| Use | Status | Season on record |
|---|---|---|
| Mountain bike | Allowed | Apr–Nov |
| 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 Cibola National Forest, 53% of rideable trail miles are open to mountain bikes — a Bike Access Grade of B.
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About this trail
Switchback (USFS trail 05271) is a 1.6 mi trail in Cibola National Forest, New Mexico. 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. Based on slope, this is a Intermediate trail (grade band 8-10%); that reflects moderate gradient and is not the same as a technical MTB difficulty rating. Mountain bikes are allowed, with a Apr–Nov season in the data. 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 Cibola National Forest.
Frequently asked questions
- Can you mountain bike on Switchback?
- Yes. Mountain bikes are designated as allowed on Switchback in Cibola National Forest, typically Apr–Nov, per USFS data.
- Are e-bikes allowed on Switchback?
- No e-bike class (1, 2 or 3) is designated on Switchback in the USFS data.
- How long is Switchback?
- Switchback measures about 1.6 mi in total, summed across its mapped National Forest System segments.
- What is the surface of Switchback?
- USFS data records the tread surface of Switchback as native material.
- How difficult is Switchback?
- Its grade-based difficulty is Intermediate (grade band 8-10%), 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 Cibola National Forest (USFS trail geometry isn't mapped).
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