USFS National Forest System Trails · George Washington and Jefferson National Forest · Virginia · Updated June 2026
Barton Gap (USFS trail 4624) is a 1.7 mi trail in George Washington and Jefferson National Forest, Virginia. Mountain bikes are designated as allowed year-round, with Class 1 e-bikes also designated.
Can I bike Barton Gap?
| Use | Status | Season on record |
|---|---|---|
| Mountain bike | Allowed | year-round |
| Class 1 e-bike (pedal-assist, 20 mph) | Allowed | year-round |
| Class 2 e-bike (throttle, 20 mph) | Allowed | year-round |
| Class 3 e-bike (pedal-assist, 28 mph) | Allowed | year-round |
Zooming out: across George Washington and Jefferson National Forest, 90% of rideable trail miles are open to mountain bikes — a Bike Access Grade of A.
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About this trail
In George Washington and Jefferson National Forest, Virginia, Barton Gap (USFS trail 4624) covers 1.7 mi of National Forest System trail. The figures here are pulled from the official US Forest Service trail data for George Washington and Jefferson 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. 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. Mountain bikes are allowed, open year-round in the data. On the electric side, Class 1, Class 2, Class 3 e-bikes are also designated — Class 1 being pedal-assist only, Classes 2 and 3 adding a throttle and higher assisted speed. 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 Barton Gap?
- Yes. Mountain bikes are designated as allowed on Barton Gap in George Washington and Jefferson National Forest, year-round, per USFS data.
- Are e-bikes allowed on Barton Gap?
- Class 1, Class 2, Class 3 e-bikes are designated on Barton Gap in the USFS data.
- How long is Barton Gap?
- Barton Gap measures about 1.7 mi in total, summed across its mapped National Forest System segments.
- What is the surface of Barton Gap?
- USFS data records the tread surface of Barton Gap as native material.
- How difficult is Barton Gap?
- 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 George Washington and Jefferson National Forest (USFS trail geometry isn't mapped).
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