USFS National Forest System Trails · George Washington and Jefferson National Forest · Virginia · Updated June 2026
North River Gorge (USFS trail 538) is a 4.7 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 North River Gorge?
| 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
North River Gorge (USFS trail 538) is a 4.7 mi trail in George Washington and Jefferson National Forest, 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. The tread is mapped as native material. Its grade-based difficulty is Easy (grade band +5-8%) — a gentle steepness profile derived from USFS slope data, not a technical mountain-bike 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. 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 North River Gorge?
- Yes. Mountain bikes are designated as allowed on North River Gorge in George Washington and Jefferson National Forest, year-round, per USFS data.
- Are e-bikes allowed on North River Gorge?
- No e-bike class (1, 2 or 3) is designated on North River Gorge in the USFS data.
- How long is North River Gorge?
- North River Gorge measures about 4.7 mi in total, summed across its mapped National Forest System segments.
- What is the surface of North River Gorge?
- USFS data records the tread surface of North River Gorge as native material.
- How difficult is North River Gorge?
- Its grade-based difficulty is Easy (grade band +5-8%), 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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