Surely there aren’t enough people walking them constantly to mash the grass to death, is there some kind of membrane placed under the dirt to stop grass growth?
Here is a pic of worn path from walking on, rough edges, clearly not intentional.
Will post pic after walking the dog of the trail that I’m speccifically curious about.
Obligatory reference to desire paths: !desire_paths@sh.itjust.works
Traffic – under foot or otherwise – is one way to keep a path in decent shape
laughs in New England accent
Absolutely not.
“Rock before root and root before dirt - and never touch the mud if you can help it.”
Literally hiking 101 out here. What we teach the children for trail preservation.
Is also why ~5 miles in ADK, the greens, or the whites, is like ~10 miles anywhere else. But yeah… No. Traffic definitely does not keep a trail in shape.
Can you please elaborate? What is that children’s rhyme meant to teach? What are green and white ADKs?
Google was not very helpful.
ADK is short for ADirondacK mountain range. The others are the Green Mountain range and White Mountain range. All start in New England. The saying describes how step on the trail without causing it to erode into a gully.
ADK = Adirondacks.
Green (Mountains), White (Mountains).
It teaches kids to preserve trails by not walking on them, if at all possible. While walking on trails in New York and New England, you should aim for a rock first. If there is no rock to step on, aim for a root. If there is no root, then dirt is ok to step on. But avoid mud at all costs.
This highlights the ruggedness of the terrain out there. Where many hikes elsewhere provide such an ample amount of dirt with so little rock and root to aim for first, it is not a well known trail maintenance practice outside of the region. However, in the region, it is essential. When ignored, large patches of mud that will last all season long start to form. When this happens, trail maintainers either:
Close the trail until it’s restored
Reroute the trail permanently
Lay down wooden planks to minimize further damage (least sustainable option).
This maintenance is tax dollars, and they don’t have a lot of them, so education is the most effective use of that dollar. And that’s why we teach the kids:
Rock before root and root before dirt, and never step in mud if you can avoid it! 🤠