How to Groom a Hiking Trail

Hiking trails should provide hikers with an opportunity to experience the outdoors safely and respectfully, offering a view of the wilderness while also conserving it. Both hikers and the surrounding wilderness benefit from a stretch of trail that you maintain year-round, where you clearly mark the trail and erosion is kept at bay. Read on to learn how to groom a hiking trail.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

1. Assess areas of the trail that need better erosion control. In areas with switchbacks, make sure that the turns are not building up sediment that has made its way downhill. In areas of steep uphill, install stone or log steps if not already in place.

2. Maintain areas where water collects and contributes to erosion. Hikers walking through a small puddle or muddy patch may quickly cause more extensive erosion, and hikers who walk around the patch to avoid it can damage surrounding wilderness.

3. Keep the trail itself free of debris. Pick up loose rocks that have fallen onto the path, and fill in dirt where roots are exposed.

4. Put up trail blazes at small intervals to ensure that hikers don't lose track of the trail and venture off of it mistakenly.

5. Consult a forest ranger before removing foliage. Make sure that when you cut back plants you are not damaging the wilderness environment. Even small underbrush plants may be endangered or protected. Know what you're cutting.

Tips & Warnings

• Lay logs or stepping stones on areas where small patches of mud collect, and construct wooden plank bridges or boardwalks for larger, more extensive areas.
• To cut down on the amount of maintenance trash pick-up you must do, install trash cans at trail heads or at regular intervals along the trail. You can house a metal or wire trash can in a wooden barrel for a more natural aesthetic.
• For a more elaborate trail experience, you may construct and maintain small picnic or camping shelters or periodic benches. A fun and easy form of bench to put on a trail is the split log bench--a split log with the flat side up for people to sit on.

Resources

• Trail Care Information
• Learn How a Trail is Built

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