AMC: Publications - Dealing with heavy use

Toughening Trails for Trudge and Trample: Dealing With Heavy Use

Trail crew builds ladder. By Carl Demrow

Hiking and backpacking are as popular as ever. Since the mid-1980s, the reported number of people hiking the entire Appalachian Trail at one time has gone from 124 to almost 500, and use at AMC shelters and tentsites in the White Mountains has doubled. In places where maintenance efforts have not kept pace with increased use, the trails bear the scars.

Most people are good about minimizing their impact. But even if everyone hiked cautiously, thousands of pairs of boots would still trample soil, kick away rocks, and kill supporting roots and the protective living veneer of duff. The impact of such a volume of hikers, even if well managed, when coupled with natural erosion can dramatically change a trail’s treadway from a soft, narrow path through the woods to a wide, washed-out rut.

Heavy use on a trail can cause soil compaction and contribute to erosion. When soil compacts, it loses its ability to absorb water, which means any water on the trail will puddle or run down the trail rather than get absorbed into the ground. Those wide puddles of standing water on a trail are often caused by the trail becoming lower than the surrounding ground due to compaction.

One way to prevent soil compaction is to "harden" the part you walk on—the treadway—with rock. On steep slopes, hardening takes the form of rock steps. Through a wet bog, bridges protect the soil from feet. The problem with that mud puddle could also be solved by planting some stable flat rocks in the puddle for people to step on. Turnpikes, which have existed on the Mizpah Cut-off in the White Mountains for more than 30 years, are treadways built up with a combination of soil and rock and secured on the edges with logs or large rocks. They provide an elevated treadway above a wet area.

Improvements like these enable trails to withstand their own popularity and to ensure that they’re around for years to come.