{"id":1931,"date":"2017-06-09T16:35:26","date_gmt":"2017-06-09T23:35:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vancouvertrails.com\/blog\/?p=1931"},"modified":"2023-09-04T21:11:44","modified_gmt":"2023-09-05T04:11:44","slug":"trail-building-maintenance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vancouvertrails.com\/blog\/trail-building-maintenance\/","title":{"rendered":"What Goes into Building and Maintaining a Hiking Trail?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I have been building and maintaining trails since the early 1990\u2019s in the Coast Mountains with the B.C. Mountaineering Club<\/a>. Many of the trail building skills and techniques I have learned and developed over the years have been passed down from member to member in the field. In this article, I wanted to share with you some of what is involved in creating and maintaining a trail in the Coast Mountains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Firstly, you cannot simply park your truck at the end of a logging road and start building a new trail. For any new trail, I first begin by carefully studying numerous topographic maps, and inspect satellite imagery closely to pre-plan the route. A reconnaissance trip to flag the planned route usually follows next. Once the proposed route for the new trail has been chosen, I must consult with Government officials and obtain permission for any trail to be constructed on crown land. This is known as obtaining a \u201cSection 57\u201d from the Ministry of Forest Lands and Natural Resource Operations. There are in fact very few official Section 57 backcountry hiking trails in the Sea to Sky Region (around 5 in fact<\/a>). Obtaining a section 57 can be difficult. A written application is required with extensive mapping. After the application is submitted, consultation must happen with all parties who have an interest or stake in the area in which the trail will travel through (including and especially all First Nations).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A post shared by BC Mountaineering Club (@bcmountaineeringclub)<\/a><\/p><\/div><\/blockquote>