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Trail Construction and Maintenance Notebook

Figure 56

Drawing of a shallow stream ford.

Drawing of a trail that uses a ford in order for hikers to cross a stream entitled 'Shallow Stream Ford'. The drawing is a plan view and is not to scale. Various items are labeled in the drawing which are as follows:

  • The 'Downgrade' of the trail going into the stream is labeled on both sides of the stream with arrows showing the length of the downgrade.

  • The top of the downgrade is labeled with the text 'Grade reversal above the high-water line on both banks.' and an arrow is used to show the location.

  • Rocks that were stacked to create a dam are labeled with an arrow and the text 'Embed rock dam into each bank at least 300 mm (12 in). The rocks for the dam are also labeled with the text 'Hand-placed rocks, 60 kg (130lb min).
  • The bank of the stream is labeled with the text 'Streambank'.

  • The 'Streamflow' is labeled with text and an arrow showing the direction of flow.

  • The 'High-water line' is labeled with text and an arrow.

  • The bottom layer of rocks for the ford are labeled with an arrow showing their location and the text 'Construct tread of gravel and rock smaller than 75 mm (3 in).'

  • Larger rocks are used as stepping stone for hikers to get past the stream. They are shown with an arrow and labeled with the text 'Install 60 kg (130 lb) stepping rocks on upstream edge of tread.