>>1288654You're going to be looking at front suspension only 'hardtails'.
A mountain bike for not-very technical terrain is called an XC (cross country) bike, but only more expensive bikes will start to be called that.
Your main choice is tire size, between 27.5, 27.5+ and 29er
The 29er will roll the fastest and roll over things, but it's the least agile, and if you're on the small size, be a bit out of proportion. 27.5 is kind of conventional. 27.5+ is like halfway to a fat bike, and can be fun, but tires are more expensive, and it won't roll very quickly. Some 27.5+ bikes come with no suspension, because the tires are so fat, and those are cool too.
Just get something cheap I guess though. The things worth paying for are hydraulic brakes, and 1x gearing. Very cheap mtbs will come with a triple crankset in the front, while all better ones will have 1 or rarely 2 chainrings. A triple is kind of annoying and old tech.
If you want to spend less than $500, post your craigslist and height and i'll make some recs, because older bikes are perfect for that kind of riding.
You could also look at a 'gravel bike' or a 'cyclocross bike' or an 'adventure bike', basically a drop bar road bike with wider tires.
