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Appalachian Trail Design, Construction, and Maintenance
This is the definitive handbook on trail work, from landscape values to the nitty-gritty of moving rock. Don’t forget to pair this with the key supplement, A.T. Maintenance and Rehabilitation Guidelines for Volunteers .
From the back
Here are eight decades of experience gathered by the citizen-volunteers who help design, build and maintain the world-famous Appalachian Trail. How can a two-thousand-mile footpath through a fourteen-state area with a population of more than eighty million people, that attracts more than three million visitors each year, still manage to provide a primitive hiking and camping experience? By the art and science of "wearing lightly on the land."
From the back
Here are eight decades of experience gathered by the citizen-volunteers who help design, build and maintain the world-famous Appalachian Trail. How can a two-thousand-mile footpath through a fourteen-state area with a population of more than eighty million people, that attracts more than three million visitors each year, still manage to provide a primitive hiking and camping experience? By the art and science of "wearing lightly on the land."
248 pages, Paperback
First published March 1, 2000
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July 17, 2020
There are several problems with this guide to hiking trail design, construction, and maintenance, not the least of which is that the authors, while extremely knowledgeable, don't seem to know who their audience is. Who are they addressing? Professional trail designers? Construction crew chiefs? Maintenance volunteers? The book is all over the place with advice but on many different levels.
I don't know how I acquired this book, but I suppose that sometime in the past twenty years, I thought I'd like to volunteer to work on constructing and maintaining some of the trails my husband and I hike. Since the book's been on my shelf for many years, I guess I never got quite around to it. This book would not have helped me a great deal in any event, since the writing is somewhat confused, the illustrations are amateurish and confusing, and the photos are not much better.
All the above being said, this manual does present a lot of valuable information on just what goes into developing a really good hiking trail such as the AT, which traverses all manner of habitats and obstacles. All the work laying out trails, constructing stone staircases and bridges, clearing brush and fallen trees, however, are clearly the job of trained professionals, not amateur volunteers, unless they function as mere worker bees. But maybe that's the point.
While somewhat haphazard in its presentation, this is an interesting book that gives hikers a sense of what it takes to design, construct, and maintain the trails they enjoy so much.
I don't know how I acquired this book, but I suppose that sometime in the past twenty years, I thought I'd like to volunteer to work on constructing and maintaining some of the trails my husband and I hike. Since the book's been on my shelf for many years, I guess I never got quite around to it. This book would not have helped me a great deal in any event, since the writing is somewhat confused, the illustrations are amateurish and confusing, and the photos are not much better.
All the above being said, this manual does present a lot of valuable information on just what goes into developing a really good hiking trail such as the AT, which traverses all manner of habitats and obstacles. All the work laying out trails, constructing stone staircases and bridges, clearing brush and fallen trees, however, are clearly the job of trained professionals, not amateur volunteers, unless they function as mere worker bees. But maybe that's the point.
While somewhat haphazard in its presentation, this is an interesting book that gives hikers a sense of what it takes to design, construct, and maintain the trails they enjoy so much.
Displaying 1 of 1 review