SUSTAINABLE TRAIL BUILDING 101

Sustainability

We design, build, and maintain to limit erosion. For trails, woods roads, and gravel driveways, it begins with deliberate planning and construction techniques. Seasonal maintenance activity is based on erosion control and minimizing sediment transfer.

Water, Water, Water
We ask where and how surface runoff is collected. In what manner will it be shed away? Trail building borrows on roadbuilding techniques, and also uses its own unique set of guidelines, described below.

Attraction and Control Points A great trail experience begins with intentional design. Look at these huge moss covered marble boulders. We inventory the project landscape and design layouts to showcase the natural environment.	Grade & Layout As much as the layout of the site and building conditions allow, we find grades climbing at an average of less than 8-10% to be more durable. Many builders also follow the half-rule as a general guide, where the grade of the trail must be less than half the grade of the hillside or slope it traverses. The more a trail can be stretched across a side slope, the gentler the climbing grade that may be achieved (resulting in a more durable installation).	Outsloped Tread To minimize our installation footprint, single-track type trails are typically built without ditches or crowns like on a typical automobile roadway. To minimize erosion from stormwater on the tread, the entire surface is tipped or "outsloped" across the trail to dump water in a sheetlike manner.
Grade Reversals When descending a trail, a grade reversal is a section of trail that briefly climbs up hill. With proper outslope in the transition between down and uphill grades, water is forced off the trail in the dip between the grade changes. We install grade reversals as a natural gentle barrier to slow down erosion and the transfer of sediment along a trail. Riding or running down a trail with repeated grade reversals can provide a fun, roller coaster-type feel!	Rolling Contour This construction technique climbs or descends across hillsides using a step-like fashion rather than following along at a continuous grade. The changes in grade allow trail users a chance to rest. The low spot of these undulations provides a place for runoff to escape the trail.	Bike-Optimized Turns Banked and insloped tread is popular in modern construction because they prevent trail runners and bikers from slipping off the turn. A small dip or longer grade reversal before the turn stops runoff from entering the turn. A drain at the bottom dumps stormwater runoff that accumulated within the turn.

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SUSTAINABLE TRAIL BUILDING 101

Attraction and Control Points

A great trail experience begins with intentional design. Look at these huge moss covered marble boulders. We inventory the project landscape and design layouts to showcase the natural environment.

Grade & Layout

Outsloped Tread

To minimize our installation footprint, single-track type trails are typically built without ditches or crowns like on a typical automobile roadway. To minimize erosion from stormwater on the tread, the entire surface is tipped or "outsloped" across the trail to dump water in a sheetlike manner.

Grade Reversals

Rolling Contour

This construction technique climbs or descends across hillsides using a step-like fashion rather than following along at a continuous grade. The changes in grade allow trail users a chance to rest. The low spot of these undulations provides a place for runoff to escape the trail.

Bike-Optimized Turns