Trails

[radair]

I've built many miles of trails for mountain bicycling, very similar to hiking & running trails. Many trail runners prefer our trails to typical eastern hiking trails because they are usually laid out at lower grades. In relatively flat terrain, you can get by with trimming branches with loppers or a brush axe. Depending on how much traffic you expect, raking is a popular way to establish the trail tread. In steeper terrain, bench cutting is necessary to avoid creating off-camber trails.

Be sure not to build fall-line trails - trails should traverse across slopes and not go directly up or down them. The general rule is that water is the vehicle that erodes soil, so you have to keep it flowing off the trail. Grade reversals are an effective way to prevent water from flowing down a trail.

There's loads of information available at the International Mountain Bicycling Association's trail building page: http://www.imba.com/resources/trail_building/index.html .

IMBA's new book on how to build singletrack trails is perhaps the most comprehensive trail building manual available. I highly recommend it, see http://www.imba.com/resources/trail_building/trail_solutions.html

Rob

 

[Currmudgeon]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( Thats what I want on my place, some nude hiking trails! I'm hoping my neighbors won't mind too much. They have easement rights to my road, but I'm thinking about putting up some "Caution Nude Hikers" signs. /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif )</font>

Just be sure you eradicate all the poison ivy, first!

 

[catsco]

Here is what my trail in Colorado looks like; drainage, clay, etc. are NOT and issue.

Rocks & gravel are our "soil".

Hmmm. Maybe that's why they're called the Rocky Mountains! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[Chiege]

That looks beautiful.

Wanna trade?

 

[JD3130]

Enjoy looking at all the trails. Guess we can't have everything, moved away from the snow and -30 degrees, and lost most of the trees. My trail just goes around the fence line, just mow it short to keep the stickers off the path. Every thing that's green here, has thorns or needles.
With the constant threat of forest fires, seems to make sense to make the trails wide enough to be a fire break, and protect your trees. My first job was cutting fire trails in the National forests of VA. If a fire started it only burned the 20 sq arces.
They only need be a little wider than the tallest trees.
What did they say back then. (Keep Virgina Green) /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
Just a thought!