USFS National Forest System Trails · Black Hills National Forest · South Dakota · Updated June 2026
Cliff Swallow (USFS trail 91) is a 3.6 mi trail in Black Hills National Forest, South Dakota. Mountain bikes are designated as allowed, Apr–Oct, with no Class 1 e-bike designation on record.
Can I bike Cliff Swallow?
| Use | Status | Season on record |
|---|---|---|
| Mountain bike | Allowed | Apr–Oct |
| Class 1 e-bike (pedal-assist, 20 mph) | — | |
| Class 2 e-bike (throttle, 20 mph) | — | |
| Class 3 e-bike (pedal-assist, 28 mph) | — |
Zooming out: across Black Hills National Forest, 34% of rideable trail miles are open to mountain bikes — a Bike Access Grade of C.
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About this trail
Cliff Swallow (USFS trail 91) is a 3.6 mi trail in Black Hills National Forest, South Dakota. The figures here are pulled from the official US Forest Service trail data for Black Hills 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. USFS slope data puts it in the Advanced band (grade band 12-20%), meaning a steep climb — keep in mind this measures steepness, not trail technicality. Bike use is designated as allowed, typically Apr–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 Cliff Swallow?
- Yes. Mountain bikes are designated as allowed on Cliff Swallow in Black Hills National Forest, typically Apr–Oct, per USFS data.
- Are e-bikes allowed on Cliff Swallow?
- No e-bike class (1, 2 or 3) is designated on Cliff Swallow in the USFS data.
- How long is Cliff Swallow?
- Cliff Swallow measures about 3.6 mi in total, summed across its mapped National Forest System segments.
- What is the surface of Cliff Swallow?
- USFS data records the tread surface of Cliff Swallow as native material.
- How difficult is Cliff Swallow?
- 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 Black Hills National Forest (USFS trail geometry isn't mapped).
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