I did some research today. Here in Washington state, the answer to the question “where can you trail ride your emtb” is “pretty much no where.”
WA’s new law basically bans ebikes from all “natural surface” trails, unless specifically allowed by a local jurisdiction governing entity. Evergreen MBA had a lot to do with the legislation, and they don’t allow ebikes on any of the trail networks they manage (Duthie, Tiger, Collinade, many more.) Another great riding area we have, Tokul, also prohibits ebikes. However, we’ve seen emtbs riding there.
Basically it kills the idea of having an e-mtb in this state, for the time being. I could drive to an ohv area to ride an e-mountain bike, but I ride dirt bikes already, and if I’m trucking a bike to my local spot you’d better believe I’m going to be riding my 40 horsepower 2–stroke
I get it. Mountain bikers don’t want ebikes on the trails, for reasons both good and totally stupid. At the end of the day, mountain bike advocates are the reason we have some of these amazing networks, so I respect their views. I do ride a human powered mtb too, after all, and I’m super grateful for all the work that evergreen and groups like them have done.
Emtb riders/advocates are going to have to start forming orgs, going to meetings, talking to local reps, building alliances, etc if they want to change things. Maybe it will happen, maybe not.