Special Structures (continued)

Steps

Steps and stairways are used to gain a lot of elevation in a short distance. Steps are common on steep hiking trails in New England and elsewhere, less common (but not unheard of) on western trails used by horses and mules. Wooden steps of all configurations are common in coastal Alaska (Figure 65).

Figure 65—Step and run stairs in Alaska
(plank boardwalk in foreground).

Sometimes steps are used in an existing trail to fix a problem caused by poor trail location or design. The result often is out of character with the desired experience and esthetics of the trail. Before you construct steps, make sure they are consistent with the expectations of those the trail is designed to serve.

Your goal is to design the height (rise) and depth (run) of the steps to match the level of challenge desired. Steps are harder to negotiate as the rise increases. The difficulty also increases as the steps are closer together. Yet, as the trail becomes steeper, the step must either be higher or the distance between steps must be shorter. Steps can be built into a trail that traverses the slope. This allows the traveler to gain elevation rapidly, without the scary steepness of a stairway.

 E-mail: wo_mtdc_webmaster@fs.fed.us