Re[2]: [at-l] skirting the puddles

[lwbooher@halifax.com (Leslie Booher)]

Four feet?!  I would have sworn that it was 18".  There have been many
places that I've been that I would have killed for 4'.  I always love when
the trail is on old logging roads.  They seem sufficiently spacious.
anklebear

----- Original Message -----
From: Bob C. <ellen@clinic.net>
To: <at-l@backcountry.net>
Sent: Wednesday, March 06, 2002 10:06 PM
Subject: Re[2]: [at-l] skirting the puddles


> "...Whence comes the notion that there's a "proper" width to the actual
hiking
> path?"
>
>  It's part of the ATC trail maintenance manual. The cleared path is to be
four
>  feet wide. Branches that intrude into that area are to be cut to a height
of 8
>  feet.... There's a whole book of rules designed to create a safe path
through
>  the woods and mountains, while minimizing the environmental impact.
>
>    A new manual came out a year or so ago. The changes are mostly to
increase
>    maintainer understanding but their are some minor changes in techniques
to
>    reflect the two decades of experience since the last edition.
>
>    Hikers obviously choose the easy route through this four foot cleared
>    section, so the footpath tends to be that narrow bit of pounded and
eroded
>    earth with little or no vegetation.
>
>    When puddles develop in these pounded and eroded areas, unthinking
hikers
>    using seeking to escape the wet gradually widen until it reaches the
edge of
>    the woods. In open meadows this spreading of the trail can be 25 feet
wide in
>    places, unless maintainers find ways to restrict the wandering.
>
>    Does all the trail meet the rules? Of course not. We are all
volunteers. We
>    do what we can, based on our knowledge, experience, commitment and time
>    available.
>
>    Weary
>
>
>
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>


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