USFS National Forest System Trails · National Forests in North Carolina · North Carolina · Updated June 2026
Bear Branch (USFS trail TR328) is a 1.2 mi trail in National Forests in North Carolina, North Carolina. Mountain bikes are designated as allowed year-round, with no Class 1 e-bike designation on record.
Can I bike Bear Branch?
| 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 National Forests in North Carolina, 88% of rideable trail miles are open to mountain bikes — a Bike Access Grade of A.
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About this trail
In National Forests in North Carolina, North Carolina, Bear Branch (USFS trail TR328) covers 1.2 mi of National Forest System trail. The figures here are pulled from the official US Forest Service trail data for National Forests in North Carolina, 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. 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. 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. 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 National Forests in North Carolina.
Frequently asked questions
- Can you mountain bike on Bear Branch?
- Yes. Mountain bikes are designated as allowed on Bear Branch in National Forests in North Carolina, year-round, per USFS data.
- Are e-bikes allowed on Bear Branch?
- No e-bike class (1, 2 or 3) is designated on Bear Branch in the USFS data.
- How long is Bear Branch?
- Bear Branch measures about 1.2 mi in total, summed across its mapped National Forest System segments.
- What is the surface of Bear Branch?
- USFS data records the tread surface of Bear Branch as native material.
- How difficult is Bear Branch?
- 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 National Forests in North Carolina (USFS trail geometry isn't mapped).
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