USFS National Forest System Trails · Black Hills National Forest · South Dakota · Updated June 2026
Raspberry 8500 (USFS trail 8500) is a 3.6 mi trail in Black Hills National Forest, South Dakota. Mountain-bike use here is accepted but discouraged in USFS data, with Class 1 e-bikes also designated.
Can I bike Raspberry 8500?
| Use | Status | Season on record |
|---|---|---|
| Mountain bike | Accepted but discouraged | — |
| Class 1 e-bike (pedal-assist, 20 mph) | Allowed | May–Dec |
| Class 2 e-bike (throttle, 20 mph) | Allowed | May–Dec |
| Class 3 e-bike (pedal-assist, 28 mph) | Allowed | May–Dec |
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
Raspberry 8500 (USFS trail 8500) runs 3.6 mi through Black Hills National Forest in 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. Its grade-based difficulty is Advanced (grade band 12-20%) — a steep steepness profile derived from USFS slope data, not a technical mountain-bike rating. For traditional mountain bikes, use is discouraged according to USFS data. The record additionally permits Class 1, Class 2, Class 3 e-bike use, May–Dec; recall that Class 1 is pedal-assist, while Class 2 adds a throttle and Class 3 a higher cutoff speed. 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 Black Hills National Forest.
Frequently asked questions
- Can you mountain bike on Raspberry 8500?
- Mountain-bike use on Raspberry 8500 is discouraged in USFS records, though Class 1 e-bike use is designated. Confirm current rules with the managing ranger district.
- Are e-bikes allowed on Raspberry 8500?
- Class 1, Class 2, Class 3 e-bikes are designated on Raspberry 8500 in the USFS data.
- How long is Raspberry 8500?
- Raspberry 8500 measures about 3.6 mi in total, summed across its mapped National Forest System segments.
- What is the surface of Raspberry 8500?
- USFS data records the tread surface of Raspberry 8500 as native material.
- How difficult is Raspberry 8500?
- 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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