3.10 Prepare Trail Design Drawings

Mark the location of the trail on a prepared topographic base map of the trail area. Use a scale of 1:50,000 as a bare minimum for longer backcountry trails, use scales of 1:5,000 or better if possible. Where suitable map scales are not available, consider using air photo enlargements to prepare trail design plans.

  • Show specific recreation and landscape features on the plans to assist the construction team, but also to assist with interpretive planning.
  • Show the specific location of all construction requirements, such as bridges, grade dips, right-of-way clearing and switchbacks. Match these to distance markers in the field.
  • Show trail construction requirements as straight-line diagrams, log records, or notes on the plan.
  • Include any notations on environmental conditions and limitations to trail use, to facilitate future design or construction changes.
Table 1 shows an example of a hypothetical construction log report.

Table 1 Construction Log - Black Tusk Trail

Km + m Work Item Remarks
0+0 begin project
0+40+0+80 remove outslope
1+50 sand and gravel site see map for borrow location
2+80+3+10 install log rounds use local logs
4 +00 grade dip

Figure 3 shows a trail design drawing complete with construction notes from Chilkoot Trail National Historic park.