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E-bike rules in national parks
Each national park sets its own e-bike rules in a document called the Superintendent's Compendium. We read the current one for 26 parks that spell out e-bike rules and put them in plain English below, with a link to the park's page. Checked . Rules change and trails close, so check the link and the signs before you ride.
The rules almost every park shares
An e-bike is a two- or three-wheeled cycle with working pedals and a motor under 750 watts. Anything stronger is treated as a motor vehicle.
E-bikes can go only where regular bikes can. That usually means park roads, parking areas and a few named paths. Most hiking trails and all wilderness areas are off limits.
Away from roads open to cars, the motor can only help you pedal. No riding on the throttle alone.
Where the park doesn't say otherwise, the state's e-bike law applies. See our state law pages.
Some parks narrow it down by class: Zion allows only Class 1, Great Basin bans Class 3, and Acadia keeps Class 2 and 3 off the carriage roads.
Class 1 on carriage roads; Class 1, 2 and 3 on park roads
Class 1 e-bikes may use the carriage road network, the Schoodic bike paths, Hio Road, Marshall Brook Fire Road, Western Mountain Connector Road, Sand Beach Connector Road and Western Head Road on Isle au Haut.
Class 2 and 3 e-bikes are limited to the park roads, including when those roads are closed to cars for the season.
The whole carriage road network closes to e-bikes during the seasonal thaw.
No e-bikes on the carriage road stretch from Wildwood Stables to the network near intersection 17, the main route for horses and carriages.
All classes on roads; Class 1 only on the two paved paths
Bikes and e-bikes may use park roads and parking areas that are open to cars.
Only Class 1 e-bikes may use the paved trails: the 0.26-mile visitor center connector and the two short pieces of the Moab Canyon Pathway inside the park along US 191.
E-bikes of any class may use paved and unpaved roads and parking lots open to public traffic.
E-bikes are banned on every trail, including the two trails regular bikes can use (visitor center to campground, and the Fremont River Trail), and on all administrative roads.
Bikes and e-bikes may use public roads plus Shark Valley Tram Road, the L-67 Extension trail, Snake Bight Canal Trail, Rowdy Bend Trail and the Long Pine Key nature trail.
No e-bikes in wilderness.
Speed limit 10 mph on trails and 15 mph on Shark Valley Tram Road. Stop and yield to trams at Shark Valley.
E-bikes are allowed wherever regular bikes are, including the multi-use pathways, in the park and on the John D. Rockefeller, Jr. Memorial Parkway.
They're banned where regular bikes are, including Teton Park Road, Moose-Wilson Road and Signal Mountain Summit Road once those switch to winter over-snow access.
Great Smoky Mountains National Park Tennessee and North Carolina
All classes on open roads; Class 1 and 2 on trails and seasonally closed roads
Bikes and e-bikes may use park roads and parking areas open to cars.
Class 1 and 2 e-bikes may keep using these roads year-round when they close to cars: Heintooga Ridge, Kuwohi, Forge Creek, Balsam Mountain/Straight Fork, Little Greenbrier, Parson Branch, Rich Mountain, Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail, Upper Tremont and Cades Cove Loop (including the Wednesday morning car-free days, May through September).
Class 1 and 2 e-bikes may use the Gatlinburg Trail, the Oconaluftee River Trail, and the gravel parts of the Indian Creek and Deep Creek trails.
Bikes and e-bikes may use park roads, parking areas and these trails: Calumet, Marquette, Marquette Greenway, Porter Brickyard, and the West Beach trail from Ogden Dunes to the Long Lake lot.
15 mph speed limit on trails, and it applies to e-bikes too.
E-bikes are allowed wherever regular bikes are. The compendium opens the Mammoth Cave Bike and Hike trail and the Big Hollow to Maple Springs connector to three-wheeled e-bikes.
Great Onyx, Crystal Cave and Union City Three Springs administrative roads are open to bikes and e-bikes.
15 mph limit unless posted; yield to horses and hikers.
Even having an e-bike on a trail that isn't open to bikes is banned.
Pedal-assist only off roads; no Class 3 on Spruce Railroad Trail
Pedal-assist e-bikes are banned except on park roads and a short list of routes: Deer Park, Obstruction Point and Hurricane Hill roads when closed to cars and not being plowed; Dosewallips Road to the ranger station; the Elwha bypass trail (walk the bike); and the Spruce Railroad Trail.
E-bikes may use these administrative roads: Geneva Road (Lost Man Creek), Holter Ridge, West Side Access, Davison Road and Trail, Rock Fork, C-Line East (Tall Trees Access), Wolf Creek, Wolf Creek Spur, B-Line North, Lyons Ranch roads, and Hiouchi Flat Trail.
E-bikes are banned on the park trails that regular bikes can use. The park says this matches the California state parks it manages jointly.
If a park isn't here, we didn't find written e-bike rules in its current compendium, or it's only in a format we haven't checked yet. That doesn't mean e-bikes are allowed. Call the park or ask a ranger.
Some parks, such as Sequoia & Kings Canyon, let people with disabilities use an e-bike as a mobility device. If that applies to you, ask the park.
This is a summary, not legal advice. The compendium and posted signs are what count.
