Great trails and trail systems do not happen by accident. Instead, they are the result of good planning, design and construction as well as a good on-going maintenance and management program.

This 2 day field visit workshop will explore many local trail systems which have been heavily influenced by PTBA members. This is a great follow up workshop for anyone who has taken the Art and Sciences of Trails workshop or any other comprehensive trail design workshop.

We will look at public trails as well as private trails in local gated communities. With 2 full days to explore, we should be able to cover a lot of ground and hit some real trail highlights. Plenty of time to explore the following:

A Segway trail allows visitors of the Biltmore to explore with little effort.



Boardwalk and limestone screenings trail in Pinnacle Falls.



Curved bridge made of rustic native materials.



Appalachian Armored trail tread in DuPont State Forest.

The education value of this 2 day field visit workshop can not be over stated. You will spend time interacting with some of the area’s key land managers, visit just about every kind of trail there is, look at many trail structures and discuss planning and design of these, learn by observing many trail techniques such as Appalachian Armoring (innovated in DuPont State Forest) and have plenty of time (2 full days) for Q+A. This could be called learning through osmosis. Perhaps the greatest value is spending a significant amount of time in the woods and on trails with one of the leading trail architects and an excellent trail educator.

Schedule
Friday, March 20, 2009, 8:45 AM - 5 PM (lunch provided)
Sat, March 21, 2009, 8:45 AM - 5 PM (lunch provided)

Day 1

Morning- The Biltmore Estate

We will meet with Outdoor Program Manager Lee Reading for an over view of the trails program on this 8,000 acre private working estate. The Biltmore offers a large equestrian program including guided rides, and we will discuss and observe the difficulties of offering trails for high amounts of horse traffic. Other trail opportunities on property include: a paved greenway style trail, hiking trails, off road Segway tours, mountain bike trails and a Land Rover Driving School. Follow the footsteps of Fredrick Law Olmstead and the legacy of some recreational trail corridors dating back to the late 1800’s.

  http://www.biltmore.com/visit/activities/default.asp

Lunch will be in the van traveling to another site.

Afternoon- Gated community trail systems.

We will explore and learn about several local gated communities with a strong conservation element including green-space and trails. Discussion will focus on the planning, design and implementation of the trail systems and integrating such into other built infrastructure. There are many challenges in working sustainable trails into any given landscape, and this task becomes more complicated when there are many other competing uses of the land (sellable lots).

  http://www.southcliffasheville.com/amenities/index.aspx

  http://www.pinnaclefalls.com/index.php

Day 2

We will spend the full day exploring different trails in DuPont State Forest.

  http://www.dupontforest.com/

Forest Supervisor David Brown will meet with us briefly and give an overview of managing a high use trail system for hikers, mountain bikers and equestrians. Many challenges had to be over come as the trail system was adopted from many old timber extraction routes and social trails that lacked good design elements. After the over view in the morning, we will visit some of the many highlights this popular trail system has to offer. First stop will be extremely high use trails leading to waterfalls featured in the 1992 movie “The Last of the Mohicans”. Other parts of the 80+ mile road and trail system will allow for comparison of newer purpose built trail (PBT) vs. older roads that have had formal road to trail conversions. The kid’s mountain bike trail and skills area will be another highlight of our stops. DuPont has hosted many trail building workshops in past years and this can be somewhat considered an outdoor laboratory for testing different trail machines as well as old and new techniques. Several post conference workshops will be hosted at DuPont, and we will be able to peek in on rigging and working with rock workshops and see some machines in action. Our final hike for this day will be on a 1 mile trail on private lands just outside of DSF built on a very steep landscape (60-90% sideslopes) with lots of rock obstacles.

Lunch and transportation are included in the workshop price. Please bring good footwear, appropriate clothing (including good rain gear, just in case) and a small pack for water and snacks.

Workshop presenter
Woody Keen is the president of Trail Dynamics LLC and serves as President for the Professional Trailbuilders Association. He earned BS degrees in Outdoor Recreation Management and Outdoor Education and has over 30 years working in those fields. He is considered by many to be a master educator and first earned this reputation during his 5 year tenure with the Outward Bound School.

Woody has over 15 years experience working on trails and has been an avid trail user all his life.

Trail Dynamics is a leading southeastern trail contractor located in North Carolina. Services provided by Trail Dynamics include: Trail Feasibility Studies, Trail Master Plans, trail design and layout, trail construction, trail structure design and build (bridges, switchbacks, steps etc.), trail maintenance and re-construction, volunteer crew leadership and training and trail education.

Woody combines many lifetime experiences to maximize the learning process including background as an outdoor educator, extensive experience designing and building new trails, creating solutions for problems on existing trails, and extensive travel studying many great trail systems. The photo library used in PowerPoint presentations comes from not only trails produced by Trail Dynamics, but also many great trails (and some really bad ones) throughout the US in a range of different eco-systems (from arid desert to rain forest).

This workshop promises to be educational, inspirational and fun. Isn’t that what trails are suppose to be all about? We invite you to join us and learn how to provide better trails for your users.

Fee
$250 early registration (through Feb. 27), $275 late registration (after Feb. 27). Includes lunch on both days.

Attendance limit: 14
To make sure that exercises can work, a decision has been made to cap enrollment at 14. Check current availability

For more information, contact Woody Keen at (828) 862-5613 or woody@traildynamics.com