Trail Building Framework

By Brooke Scatchard

I am hoping to develop a framework for trail days that will keep people productively occupied and reduce the time spent leaning on their rakes, scratching their heads. There needs to be a more clear sequence of construction when we have the large Fellowship trail days. We should show the entire group a map of the area with the trail we will be working on included. It will also help to identify group leaders before the trail day and walk the trail with them to make micro-route decisions and place additional flags (pin flags) on the route. I’d like to organize ourselves into small groups at the trailhead and stay with these groups to work effectively. These crews of around 4 people with one leader will focus on specific aspects of trail construction. The groups should include:

Blazers: This group will work with one crew leader familiar with the flagged trail and capable of making good micro-route decisions. The tools used will be chain saws, hands to move dead fall, saws and lopers for saplings and branches.

Rakers: The next group will be use rakers and lopers to more clearly define the trail tread and expose the surface that the Benchers will be working with. This group will follow closely behind the Blazers and is a good place for new trail builders to learn the basics and watch both trail routing and construction.

Benchers: This group should be rather large and able to split into smaller groups for tackling multiple sections of an area. One or two experienced people are needed to help determine how and where to bench or berm the trail. They will use plenty of grub hoes and a pair of lopers for the roots.

Rockers: This group should consist of experienced trail builders led by an expert rock worker. Ideally there are no more than 3 workers and 1 leader in this group to keep things safe. They will tackle the tough spots and help the Benchers to determine where rock work is necessary. This groups uses grub hoes, strong backs, and attention to detail.

Buffers: This last group needs a couple people to do finish raking and clipping of the trail. This is where the trail gets the finishing touches as all of the benching is lightly raked smooth and little branches, roots, or saplings that were missed earlier are taken out.

This format should really help people understand the entire trail building process, develop trail building skills, and take less time to crank out some killer new trails. Please come out to more trail days this summer and help us put these plans into action.