I am looking for online, city, state or federal trail standards which
list appropriate trail surface for multi-purpose trail standards.
These would be trails which allow horses, bikers and hikers.
Specifically I am looking for several sources which show that gravel
is an approved surface.

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Request for Question Clarification by tutuzdad-ga on 04 Jan 2006 08:35 PST

In any state or city?

Dear dzobrist-ga;

Thank you for allowing me to answer your interesting question. I?ve
rounded up a number of links that I think will benefit you. Some of
them are quite lengthy so you?ll need to carefully examine each one:

The preeminent authority on trail standards appears to be the Whistler
Cycling Committee that has developed a standard that is almost
universally recognized in the United States and Canada.
The Whistler Cycling Committee offers the Whistler Trail Standards
guide that is being used by IMBA and thousands of trail builders
around the world as the new international benchmark.

Whistler Trail Standards. Environmental and Technical Trail Features.
http://www.whistlercycling.org/pdf/trail-standards.pdf
Whistler Off-Road Cycling Association
http://www.worca.com/itoolkit.asp?pg=links

This document from the University of Minnesota specially addresses gravel surfaces
http://www.extension.umn.edu/distribution/naturalresources/DD6371.html

Here is another document that gives an overview of biking trail
standards in Denver Colorado.

Trail standards.pdf (3398K)
http://www.denvergov.org/admin/template3/forms/Trail%20standards.pdf

Here?s one from the New England Mountain Bike Association

Whistler Trail Standards. Environmental and Technical Trail Features.
http://www.whistlercycling.org/pdf/trail-standards.pdf

Here is one from Virginia:

The Virginia Greenways and Trails Toolbox
http://prodwww.albemarle.org/upload/images/forms_center/departments/community_development/forms/Greenways/Virginia_Greenways_&_Trail_Toolbox_Section04_7.pdf

Here?s another one entitled MULTIPURPOSE AND EQUESTRIAN TRAIL STANDARDS
http://www.applevalley.org/develop/planning/Multi-Use%20and%20EQ%20Trails%20Standards.pdf

Here?s yet another one from the University of Florida School of Forest
Resources and Conservation that addresses mulch, chips, gravel or
other surfaces
http://www.sfrc.ufl.edu/Extension/pubtxt/for5c.htm

This brief overview and .pdf document if from the city of Colorado
Springs, Colorado
http://www.springsgov.com/Page.asp?NavID=5528

And still another one from American Trails
http://www.americantrails.org/resources/accessible/CharetteCA.html


I hope you find that my answer exceeds your expectations. If you have
any questions about my research please post a clarification request
prior to rating the answer. Otherwise I welcome your rating and your
final comments and I look forward to working with you again in the
near future. Thank you for bringing your question to us.

Best regards;
Tutuzdad-ga ? Google Answers Researcher



INFORMATION SOURCES

Defined above


SEARCH STRATEGY


SEARCH ENGINE USED:

Google ://www.google.com


SEARCH TERMS USED:

Trail

Standards

Surface

Construction

Design

Gravel

Biking

Walking

Multipurpose

If your riding on gravel then it's no longer mountain biking. Your
riding on a gravel path; more like road riding really.
While in many places peds and bikes share trails well enough there are
quite a few problems due to difference in speed and peds tend to walk
abreast of each other, thus blocking the whole trail.
Adding horses to the mix is very troublesome since everything else on
the trail must come to a stop with a horse present. They are beautiful
animals but they spook easily and leave their manure everywhere. While
dog owners are expected to scoop their poop, equestrians don't.
Of course then there are the dogs who come along for the ride or walk.
Multiuse trails, if they have any amount of traffic simply become
pedestrian pathways. The first to get pushed out are the bikes, since
let's face it who wants to ride at a walking pace behind several
people walking side by side who refuse to let you by, getting chased
by their dogs, hopping around dog and horse manure, and stopping
altogether everytime you encounter a horse.
Conversely, taking a stroll with bikes wizzing by at close quarters,
from both directions and stepping in manure isn't much fun either.
While everyone has a right to be accomodated, putting this diverse
crowd all on the same trail is asking for trouble, and will probably
generate some animosity between the various groups.
Gravel is ugly and boring to ride on, but perhaps it would work for
the other trail users, I'm not sure. Any equestrians out there care to
comment?
Perhaps there is a local mtb club or group who could tell you what
they would like to see. Maybe even some trail builders who could take
advantage of the terrain and design something more challenging and
fun.
Check out NSMB.COM, in the forums there is a section on trail building
discussing many of the issues involved. The trails here on the north
shore are world famous because they're built by riders for riders and
the hikers and equestrians have their trails for themselves for the
most part. Many of the hiking trails are also maintainede by the
riders since they have developed the expertise to deal with the issues
involved.
Just my humble opinion,
Cheers!