USFS National Forest System Trails · Black Hills National Forest · South Dakota · Updated June 2026
Pretty Vulture (USFS trail 54D) is a 1.3 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 Pretty Vulture?
| 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
Pretty Vulture (USFS trail 54D) is a 1.3 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. Underfoot, the trail is recorded as native material. USFS slope data puts it in the Intermediate band (grade band 10-12%), meaning a moderate climb — keep in mind this measures steepness, not trail technicality. Bike use is designated as allowed, typically Apr–Oct. 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. 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 Pretty Vulture?
- Yes. Mountain bikes are designated as allowed on Pretty Vulture in Black Hills National Forest, typically Apr–Oct, per USFS data.
- Are e-bikes allowed on Pretty Vulture?
- No e-bike class (1, 2 or 3) is designated on Pretty Vulture in the USFS data.
- How long is Pretty Vulture?
- Pretty Vulture measures about 1.3 mi in total, summed across its mapped National Forest System segments.
- What is the surface of Pretty Vulture?
- USFS data records the tread surface of Pretty Vulture as native material.
- How difficult is Pretty Vulture?
- Its grade-based difficulty is Intermediate (grade band 10-12%), 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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