USFS National Forest System Trails · Bighorn National Forest · Wyoming · Updated June 2026
Cottonwood Creek (USFS trail 809) is a 1.1 mi trail in Bighorn National Forest, Wyoming. Mountain-bike use here is accepted but discouraged in USFS data, with Class 1 e-bikes also designated.
Can I bike Cottonwood Creek?
| Use | Status | Season on record |
|---|---|---|
| Mountain bike | Accepted but discouraged | — |
| 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 Bighorn National Forest, 4% of rideable trail miles are open to mountain bikes — a Bike Access Grade of F.
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About this trail
Cottonwood Creek (USFS trail 809) is a 1.1 mi trail in Bighorn National Forest, Wyoming. Everything below comes straight from the US Forest Service National Forest System Trails dataset — length, surface, slope-derived difficulty, and the specific bike and e-bike designations on record — so you can check legality before you load up. The tread is mapped as native material. Based on slope, this is a Easy trail (grade band 0-5%); that reflects gentle gradient and is not the same as a technical MTB difficulty 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; 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 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. 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 Bighorn National Forest.
Frequently asked questions
- Can you mountain bike on Cottonwood Creek?
- Mountain-bike use on Cottonwood Creek 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 Cottonwood Creek?
- Class 1, Class 2, Class 3 e-bikes are designated on Cottonwood Creek in the USFS data.
- How long is Cottonwood Creek?
- Cottonwood Creek measures about 1.1 mi in total, summed across its mapped National Forest System segments.
- What is the surface of Cottonwood Creek?
- USFS data records the tread surface of Cottonwood Creek as native material.
- How difficult is Cottonwood Creek?
- Its grade-based difficulty is Easy (grade band 0-5%), 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 Bighorn National Forest (USFS trail geometry isn't mapped).
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