This workshop focuses on teaching the principles of sustainable trail design and the concept of the rolling contour trail. The workshop covers:
- The difference between legacy trails and sustainably designed trail
- Water and erosion dynamics
- How landform shape can be used to the advantage of the trail
- Trail slope/tread grade, outslope, cross slope, side hill slope, backslope
- The half rule and Trail Slope Alignment
- Importance of soil type
- Grade reversals
- Tread watershed
- Design elements such as gateways, edges, anchors and go/no-go areas
- Designing the trail to meet user needs and designing the trail to go where users want to go
- Importance of avoiding flat areas
- User-driven design
- Sinuosity, undulation, harmonious material
- Maps and layout tools
Time: Two days. Generally one day in the class room with a slide show and maps, then actual flagging of a trail on the second day.
Facilities and site features needed: Classroom space (indoors for projector use) and hillside on which to layout a trail
Class size: Up to twelve