USFS National Forest System Trails · George Washington and Jefferson National Forest · Virginia · Updated June 2026
Gerhard Shelter (USFS trail 902) is a 1 mi trail in George Washington and Jefferson National Forest, Virginia. Mountain bikes are designated as allowed year-round, with no Class 1 e-bike designation on record.
Can I bike Gerhard Shelter?
| 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 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
Gerhard Shelter (USFS trail 902) runs 1 mi through George Washington and Jefferson National Forest in Virginia. This profile summarizes what the official US Forest Service trail record says about riding it: how long the trail is, what it's built on, how steep the route grades out, and which forms of bike use the agency has designated. USFS records list its surface as native material. Based on slope, this is a Intermediate trail (grade band +10-12%); that reflects moderate gradient and is not the same as a technical MTB difficulty rating. Mountain bikes are allowed, open year-round in the data. 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 Gerhard Shelter?
- Yes. Mountain bikes are designated as allowed on Gerhard Shelter in George Washington and Jefferson National Forest, year-round, per USFS data.
- Are e-bikes allowed on Gerhard Shelter?
- No e-bike class (1, 2 or 3) is designated on Gerhard Shelter in the USFS data.
- How long is Gerhard Shelter?
- Gerhard Shelter measures about 1 mi in total, summed across its mapped National Forest System segments.
- What is the surface of Gerhard Shelter?
- USFS data records the tread surface of Gerhard Shelter as native material.
- How difficult is Gerhard Shelter?
- 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 George Washington and Jefferson National Forest (USFS trail geometry isn't mapped).
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