Professionally Designed Trails

It takes significant time and resources to get trails approved and built.  This is why trail design and trail system layout is so important.  Even down to pin-flagging the exact route is absolutely essential.  This is an often overlooked aspect that has devastating effects for years to come if done improperly. Resulting in high maintenance, realignment expenses and unhappy users.

Most people wouldn't build a nice house on a poor foundation and without detailed well thought out plans.  Everyone has ridden on a trail that is eroded, straight and boring, way to steep or doesn't flow very well.  Poorly designed trail systems are messy and lack an intuitive flow resulting in navigation challenges.  There are many subtle designs incorporated into a route that make the difference between creating something users enjoy and something that will fall apart and get neglected.  There is a big difference between a fun trail and one that can merely be navigated.

After designing and building trails on a volunteer level for a couple decades, and as word got out about how fun and well built these trails are, I started receiving inquires about doing it on a professional level.  Your desired trail can benefit from the years of experience designing successful trails including some in the BLM's top 20 rated national trail system.  Popular trail routes have been designed on both public land (BLM and USFS) and private land.  Here are some of the services offered to make your trail successful.

• On site terrain analysis and spatial data gathering to identify natural geographic features to include and sensitive areas to avoid.
• Designing a trail that is fun, scenic, sustainable and has a minimal environmental impact.
• Analyzing user group needs, desires and overcoming potential conflicts.
• Identify the most rideable routes in challenging terrain considering topography and grades so the desired technical level and flow is achieved.
• Incorporate natural topography into trail designs minimizing and simplifying trail construction efforts.
• Develop a trail route or trail system plan that is intuitive, flows well and easy to navigate.  Including logical options for varying user challenges. 
• Create conceptual GIS route layout for a single trail or a complete trail system.  
• Pin-flag precise final routes for the best possible flow and incorporating subtle drainage features.
• Creating printed and digital navigation maps for plans and stakeholder interaction.
• Creating concept plans for building support and funding efforts
• Making build-ready proposals for project approval.