If you’ve done a fair chunk of hiking on both the East Coast and in the West, you’ve probably noted the difference between trail styles that seems to exist. Not just the type of mountains, features, and tree coverage, but the actually direction of the trail. Many New England mountain trails, for example, seem to take the most direct path possible to the summit, regardless of how steep that winds up being, while mountain trails in Colorado tend meander and manage the altitude gain in a gentler manner.
So why are some trails different from others, and how are hiking trails actually designed? Greenbelly took a look at just that, exploring the difference between engineered trails and inherited trails, how trails manage destinations and obstacles, and the actual process that goes into designing these trails.
