Here in Port Townsend, we are fortunate to have our public trail system. There is over 35 miles of singletrack, or public multi-use trails, available to all. It is important as a user of the trails to help keep them maintained. That can mean anything from carrying a saw to cut and move fallen trees, to brushing little sticks to the side of the trail. There are a lot of resources available both on the web and in books to learn more about building and maintaining multi-use trails. Below is a couple of articles found on
International Mountain Bicycling Association's website. Keep your eye out for opportunities to volunteer for local trail maintenance days. Let's keep our trails riding smoothly.
Designing and Building Sustainable Trails
2006 World Summit Resource: Building Sustainable Trails
Speakers: Rich Edwards, IMBA; Woody Keen, Trail Dynamics; Tony Boone, Arrowhead Trails
Facilitators: Kristin Butcher and Ryan Schutz, IMBA
The speakers, all master trailbuilders, began by offering three goals
they all strive for when designing and building trails: 1) limit
environmental impacts; 2) keep maintenance requirements to a minimum; 3)
avoid user conflicts.
They continued by offering a checklist for building sustainable
contour trails. A contour trail is a path that gently traverses a hill
or sideslope. It's characterized by a gentle grade, undulations called
grade reversals, and a tread that usually tilts or outslopes slightly
toward the outer edge. These features minimize tread erosion by allowing
water to drain in a gentle, non-erosive manner called sheet flow. When
water drains in thin, dispersed sheets, dirt stays where it belongs - on
the trail.
Contour Trail Tips:
- Do everything you can to keep the water off the tread, and users on it
- Build on the contour and use frequent grade reversals - surf the hillside
- Follow the half-rule: A trail's grade shouldn't exceed half the grade of the sideslope
- Maximum grade should be 15 percent (except for natural or built rock structures)
- Average grade should stay under 10 percent (with grade reversals)
- Route trails to positive control points (viewpoints, water, other attractions)
- Use bench-cut construction, and excavate soil from the hillside
- For reroutes, reclaim old trail thoroughly - the visual corridor as well as the trail tread
- For highly technical trails where grade will sometimes exceed 15
percent, use natural rock, rock armoring or other rock features to add
challenge and improve sustainability.
Two Critical Trailbuilding Tips
- Avoid the Fall Line
Fall-line trails usually follow the
shortest route down a hill - the same path that water flows. The problem
with fall-line trails is that they focus water down their length. The
speeding water strips the trail of soil, exposing roots, creating
gullies, and scarring the environment.
- Avoid Flat Areas
Flat terrain lures many trailbuilders
with the initial ease of trail construction. However, if a trail is not
located on a slope, there is the potential for the trail to become a
collection basin for water. The trail tread must always be slightly
higher than the ground on at least one side of it so that water can
drain properly.
An ideal trail will simultaneously incorporate all five sustainable trail principles.
- The Half Rule
- The 10-Percent Average Guideline
- Maximum Sustainable Grade
- Grade Reversals
- Outslope
IMBA's books offer our most comprehensive advice on trail building and other topics. Consider picking up copies of
Trail Solutions: IMBA's Guide to Building Sweet Singletrack and
Managing Mountain Biking: IMBA's Guide to Providing Sweet Riding at IMBA's online store.
