USFS National Forest System Trails · Lincoln National Forest · New Mexico · Updated June 2026
Grindstone Canyon Loop (USFS trail 96) is a 6.8 mi trail in Lincoln National Forest, New Mexico. Mountain bikes are designated as allowed year-round, with no Class 1 e-bike designation on record.
Can I bike Grindstone Canyon Loop?
| 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 Lincoln National Forest, 17% of rideable trail miles are open to mountain bikes — a Bike Access Grade of D.
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About this trail
Grindstone Canyon Loop (USFS trail 96) is a 6.8 mi trail in Lincoln National Forest, New Mexico. 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. Underfoot, the trail is recorded as native material. Based on slope, this is a Advanced trail (grade band 12-20%); that reflects steep gradient and is not the same as a technical MTB difficulty rating. Bike use is designated as allowed year-round. No e-bike class (1, 2 or 3) is designated on this trail in the USFS data, so treat it as a non-motorized route unless a posted order says otherwise. 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 Grindstone Canyon Loop?
- Yes. Mountain bikes are designated as allowed on Grindstone Canyon Loop in Lincoln National Forest, year-round, per USFS data.
- Are e-bikes allowed on Grindstone Canyon Loop?
- No e-bike class (1, 2 or 3) is designated on Grindstone Canyon Loop in the USFS data.
- How long is Grindstone Canyon Loop?
- Grindstone Canyon Loop measures about 6.8 mi in total, summed across its mapped National Forest System segments.
- What is the surface of Grindstone Canyon Loop?
- USFS data records the tread surface of Grindstone Canyon Loop as native material.
- How difficult is Grindstone Canyon Loop?
- 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 Lincoln National Forest (USFS trail geometry isn't mapped).
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