Well, plenty of people don’t realize how much goes into building a trail on open space here in town long before anyone picks up a shovel. So I’m sharing the full document I put together to help an Eagle Scout candidate prepare for his presentation and project plan. It gives folks a better look at the work behind the trails we all get to enjoy.
TRAIL BUILDING
MASTER CLASS
Designing a Trail at Koulas Farm
A practical lesson and field guide for Scouts, volunteers, and trail stewards
Phil Stanway
Chelmsford Open Space Stewardship
Working Edition
Contents
01 About This Guide
02 About the Author
03 A Good Trail Starts Long Before the First Cut
04 The Book on the Table Matters
05 Your First Trail Tool Is a Computer
06 Look at the Topography
07 Now Look at the Aerial Photographs
08. See What Trails Already Exist
09 Now Put the Computer Away
10. This Is Why We Like the Leaves Down
11. Learn Something About the History
12. Look for Anchor Points
13. Now Get Some Tape
14. Walk It Both Ways
15. Think About Accessibility While You Still Have Tape Up
16. Now Someone Else Needs to Look at It
17. If This Becomes Your Eagle Project
18. Your Workbook Matters
19. Protect Your Scope
20 Something Will Go Wrong
21. Remember Who Maintains It
22 Water Always Wins
23 Hills Need Thought
24 Bridges and Walkways Are Not Trophies
25. Think About This Particular Koulas Trail
26. When the Trail Is Finished, Put It on the Map
27. A Trail Is Never Really Finished
28. The Real Lesson
29 References to Keep With This Guide
About This Guide
If you are a Scout looking at a possible trail project at Koulas Farm, the first thing I want you to understand is that building the trail is actually one of the last parts of the project.
A lot happens before the first branch is cut. You need to understand what the land looks like, where the wetlands are, how water moves, where the hills are, what trails already exist, and what may have happened on the property a hundred years ago. Then you need to get out there and walk it. You will probably walk it a lot. Somewhere in that process a trail starts to appear.
This guide is meant to teach you that process. It is not intended to design the trail for you, and if this becomes an Eagle Scout project, it certainly is not intended to lead your project for you. Think of this as having a group of people with years of trail experience standing beside you and explaining what we look for and why.
The decisions are still yours to work through within the approved project, and the Conservation Commission, as the land manager, ultimately determines what can be built on the property. That is precisely how it should work.
About the Author
I am Phil Stanway, and I have spent more than twenty years doing volunteer open space and trail work.
My experience includes years of volunteer projects at Star Island and throughout Chelmsford. In 2005, three other people and I formed Chelmsford Open Space Stewardship, better known as COSS.
Since then COSS has built, rebuilt, repaired, or helped maintain trails throughout Chelmsford. We have worked on more than 80 Eagle Scout projects and hundreds of volunteer events involving trails, bridges, walkways, stonework, clearing, restoration, accessibility improvements, and general open space maintenance.
Today I continue that work as a member of COSS Inc., a 501(c)(3) nonprofit.
I have learned a lot in those years, including from things that worked and things that did not. That experience does not mean I should design your trail for you. My role, along with John Ray, is to be available as an adviser and resource when asked.
If you want to know why we did something on another Koulas trail, ask us. If you find something strange in the woods, ask us. If you have several possible ways around a hill and want another set of eyes, ask us. We can tell you what we see and what experience has taught us. You still need to understand the problem and work through the solution.
That is especially important on an Eagle Scout project because leadership is a major part of what the project is supposed to demonstrate.
A Good Trail Starts Long Before the First Cut
People sometimes look at a finished trail and think somebody walked into the woods, picked a direction, and started cutting. Please don’t do that.
A good trail starts with understanding the property. You are trying to find a route that is safe, interesting, environmentally responsible, and reasonably easy to maintain. You also want the trail to feel like it belongs there.
The shortest route is not automatically the best route. A straight line through the woods might take someone from Point A to Point B, but fifty feet away there might be an old stone wall, a huge tree, or an old farm road. The straight route might also cross wet ground that will become a maintenance problem for the next twenty years.
Trail design is really about learning enough about the property that the route begins to make sense.
The current Koulas trails were developed using this same basic process. Some members of the core group have more than twenty years of trail and open space experience, and most have five to ten years of hands-on experience.
The main loop was designed and built in roughly two months. That happened not because we rushed, but because many experienced people did the planning first. Good planning makes the actual construction much easier.
The book on the table matters.
One of the books I want available during this process is AMC’s Complete Guide to Trail Building & Maintenance, 5th Edition. I don’t expect you to memorize it. Use it.
The reason is pretty simple. Eventually somebody is going to ask, “Why did you do that?” Experience can certainly be part of the answer, but whenever possible, I want you to have a better answer than “because it looked right” or “because that is how we have always done it.”
If you put a switchback on a hill, for example, you should be able to explain what you saw on that hill and why you made that decision. Then you should be able to open the AMC book and show the accepted trail-building practice that supports the method you used.
The same thing applies to drainage, tread construction, side-hill trails, bridges, water crossings, corridor clearing, blazing, and maintenance.
There is nothing wrong with developing a new solution when the land presents a problem that does not fit neatly into a book. Every property is different, and trail design requires judgment. But if an accepted method already exists and has been used successfully for decades, there is usually a lot of value in starting there instead of reinventing it.
That is why this master class points you toward sections of the AMC guide when the technical parts of trail building come up. This document teaches the process and the way we think through a trail. The AMC book gives you a deeper technical reference when you need it.
When somebody asks why something was done, nothing beats being able to explain what you found on the ground, why you made the decision, and then show the accepted reference that supports it.
Your First Trail Tool Is a Computer
Before heading into the woods, start with maps.
For a Chelmsford project, one of the first places I would look is the town GIS. Turn on the wetlands information and get an idea of what environmental areas may affect your project.
Do not treat that map as the final answer. It is a planning tool. The conservation agent is the person who can help determine what environmental requirements actually apply on the ground. But the GIS tells you where to start asking questions.
As a general design principle, I try to keep trails away from wetlands when there is a reasonable way to do it. There are environmental reasons for that, but there is also a very practical trail-maintenance reason. Wet trails become muddy trails.
People don’t like walking through mud. They go around it. Then the next person goes a little farther around it, and eventually your narrow trail becomes a wide damaged area.
If you cannot reasonably avoid a wet area, don’t simply decide how you are going to get across it. That is the point where you stop and get the appropriate conservation review. Maybe a different route is better. That is why we are doing this work before we start cutting.
Look at the Topography
Next I want to see a topo map.
You do not need to become a surveyor to learn something from one. The contour lines tell you a tremendous amount about the shape of the land. Lines close together generally mean steeper ground. Lines farther apart generally mean a more gradual slope.
That can immediately change how you look at a possible route. Something that looks perfect on an aerial photograph may actually go straight up a substantial hill. Move the route, and there may be a much easier way around it.
This is significant for the walker, but it also is relevant for water. A steep trail running directly downhill can become a drainage channel. Once water starts using your trail as the easiest way downhill, you are going to spend a lot of time trying to resolve a problem that might have been avoided during design.
Now Look at the Aerial Photographs
After wetlands and topography, look at aerial photographs. Now you are looking for different clues.
Look for changes in vegetation, old fields, tree lines, possible roads, and other patterns that do not seem natural. Large mature trees can sometimes give you clues about higher or drier ground. A line of old trees may follow a former road, field edge, or stone wall.
None of these things proves anything by itself. You are collecting clues. By the time you finally walk into the woods, you should already have questions you want the land to answer.
See What Trails Already Exist
OpenStreetMap is another tool I use regularly. For trail work it can contain information you will not find on Google Maps, including paths and trails that people have mapped over time.
Be careful with what that means. A line on OpenStreetMap does not automatically mean it is an official public trail. It could be an old path or an informal route.
But I still want to know if it is there. The question is why. Maybe people have naturally followed the easiest way through that part of the property for years. Maybe what looks like a path is actually an old road. Maybe there is a good crossing there, or maybe it connects to something we did not know existed.
It could also be a terrible route that we want nothing to do with. Either way, it is information. Before inventing a new way across the property, understand what is already there.
Now Put the Computer Away
This is where the fun part begins. Get your boots on and go walk the property.
After you have done trail work for a long time, you start learning what I call reading the earth. It is difficult to teach because experience is a big part of it, but you can learn to start looking.
Instead of seeing a woods full of trees, start asking questions about why things look the way they do. A shallow depression that keeps running through the woods may turn out to be an old road. A stone wall that suddenly changes direction may be showing you an old property line or field edge. Two large stones with a gap between them may have once marked a gateway. A row of unusually large trees may be telling you something about where a field or road used to be.
You may find something and have absolutely no idea what it is. That is fine. Take a picture. Mark the location. Research it later. The important thing is that you noticed it.
This Is Why We Like the Leaves Down
If you are wondering why we often do this work late in the year, there is a good reason. You can see.
Walk the same property in July and after the leaves come down, and it can look like two different places. Old roads become easier to see. Stone walls stand out. You can see the shape of the ground much farther away, and field edges or drainage areas that were hidden all summer suddenly become obvious.
You also see things we need to know about before putting the public there. Old barbed wire is a good example. So are dumped metal, broken glass, holes, trash, and dead or damaged trees.
These are not things you want to discover after you have built the trail. Winter and late fall are some of the best times to understand a New England property.
Learn Something About the History
This is one of my favorite parts of trail design. A trail should not simply take someone through the land. When possible, it should help them experience it.
Look at old maps and photographs. Check with the Chelmsford Historical Society and Library. Talk to people who remember the property.
Koulas has a lot of history still sitting on the ground. We already know about cut stones, stone walls, old roads, a stone walk, a silage pit, a strange circle of rocks, and the history of the Koulas family itself. There are probably other things on the property that have not been fully understood yet.
If your proposed trail passes near something interesting and moving the trail slightly allows people to experience it without harming the feature or creating another problem, think seriously about doing that.
But don’t invent history. If you find a strange stone structure and nobody knows what it is, say exactly that: “We don’t know what this was.” Then research it. That is much better than making up an interesting story that eventually becomes accepted as fact.
Look for Anchor Points
When I am designing a trail, I call these interesting or important places anchor points.
An anchor point could be a huge tree, an old road, a stone wall, a glacial boulder, an overlook, a historic feature, or simply a place the trail needs to connect to. Anchor points help give the trail a reason to go where it goes.
This is one of the differences between simply cutting a path and designing an experience. You don’t want to twist a trail all over the property just to hit every rock and tree. But if two routes work equally well and one gives people something interesting to see, I am probably going to take a serious look at that route.
Now Get Some Tape
Once you think you have a possible route, put up removable flagging tape. Do not start cutting. The tape is your trail for now.
Walk it, stand back and look at it, and then come back another day and walk it again. Have somebody else walk it. You may find that a line that looked great the first day does not work nearly as well once you see it from another direction or in different conditions.
If another route looks better, move the tape. I have absolutely no problem moving tape five times. Tape is cheap. Cutting the wrong trail isn’t.
Once you remove trees and clear a corridor, changing your mind becomes much harder. This stage gives you the freedom to be wrong, and that is useful.
Walk It Both Ways
This sounds almost too simple to put in a trail-building guide, but it is important.
When you think you have the route, walk it from beginning to end. Then turn around and walk it back.
A hill can feel wholly different from the other direction. A turn that seems obvious one way can be confusing coming back. Something interesting that stands out approaching from one direction may be invisible from the other.
Now try something harder. Pretend you have never been to Koulas. You know where the trail goes because you just designed it. A visitor doesn’t.
At an intersection, where would that person naturally go? Does the trail accidentally lead them toward private property? Is there a confusing turn? A good trail should not need you standing at every intersection explaining it.
After enough walking and moving tape, one route usually starts to feel right. The grades work, it avoids the places we want to avoid, it connects properly, and it takes advantage of some of the interesting features we found.
At that point we still do not have a trail. We have a preferred route that is ready for review.
Think About Accessibility While You Still Have Tape Up
Accessibility is another reason not to rush into construction.
Massachusetts is putting much more emphasis on thinking about accessibility from the beginning of trail planning. That is the right way to approach it.
Don’t automatically assume that because you are building a natural woodland trail, there is nothing you can do. A small route change may reduce a grade. A different alignment may make an interesting feature easier for more people to reach. A resting place may fit naturally into the design. A portion of the trail may be able to provide a much more accessible experience even when the entire loop cannot.
You also need to be honest when describing the finished trail. Don’t casually call something an “ADA trail” because it looks fairly flat.
If it has been assessed against a particular accessibility standard, document that. Otherwise, provide people useful information about what is actually there. Surface, width, grades, slopes, roots, rocks, and significant obstacles tell someone far more than a vague label.
For Massachusetts projects, use the current state accessibility guidance rather than relying on terminology somebody remembers from years ago.
Now Someone Else Needs to Look at It
You have studied the maps, walked the property, researched the history, found anchor points, put up tape, moved it, and walked the route in both directions.
You think you have it. Good. Now get another set of eyes on it.
At Koulas, John Ray and I can be available as advisers and resources when asked. We have years of experience on this property and on trails throughout Chelmsford, and we can explain what we see.
But we are not the final approval.
Bill Vines provides the conservation-side project oversight and final project decisions. Environmental or regulatory questions can require review by the conservation agent, and matters requiring commission action go before the full Conservation Commission.
That distinction is important. Experienced volunteers can advise. The scout can develop and lead the project. The land manager reviews and approves what happens on its property.
Nobody should simply walk into conservation land and decide for themselves that a trail is ready to build.
If This Becomes Your Eagle Project
Now we need to talk specifically about an Eagle Scout project, because it works differently from an ordinary volunteer trail day.
The project is yours. That doesn’t mean you are expected to know everything about trail construction. It means you are expected to lead.
There may be people around you who have spent decades building trails. Someone may know carpentry. Someone may know Koulas extremely well. Conservation has environmental expertise. Your Scout leaders and project coach have experience. Use those people.
If you want to know why a trail section was built the way it was, ask. If you want someone to explain a drainage problem, ask. If you have several possible solutions and want another opinion, ask.
The important part is that you are doing the asking and you are making the leadership decisions that belong to you.
That can be sometimes difficult for the adults too. When you have done this work for twenty years, you may see the answer before the scout does. Sometimes the best thing an experienced adult can do is keep their hands in their pockets for a few minutes and let the candidate work through the problem.
Obviously safety comes first. Scouting rules have to be followed. Environmental restrictions and the beneficiary’s requirements have to be followed. But outside those situations, you need room to lead.
That is what the Eagle project is testing.
Your Workbook Matters
This guide is not your Eagle Scout Service Project Workbook.
The workbook is the official Scout project document.
Use this master class to help understand trail design. Use the AMC guide when you need detailed trail-building practices. Use conservation and the people around you to understand the property and its requirements.
Then your Eagle project needs to follow the approved workbook and current Scouting requirements.
This distinction matters because we do not want an experienced trail person accidentally creating extra Eagle requirements.
We can tell you what makes a good trail. Conservation can tell you what it will approve on its land. Scouting determines the advancement requirements. Those are different things.
Protect Your Scope
Once your project is approved, people need to respect the scope.
One of the easiest things for a beneficiary or an experienced volunteer to say during a work day is, “Since everyone is here, can you just do this too?” Be careful with that.
Maybe the extra idea is a good one. It still may not be part of your approved project.
This is another reason the trail design needs to be solid before the Eagle project starts. You should not arrive on your major work day with a large crew and discover nobody has really decided where the trail goes.
The designer should have done that work already. Now you can concentrate on leading the project.
Something Will Go Wrong
I can almost guarantee this. Something will not happen exactly the way you planned it.
Outdoor work has a way of doing that. You may find a rock where you did not expect one, discover the ground is softer than you thought, find that something does not fit, or have weather, materials, volunteers, or tools create a problem you did not expect.
This is not automatically a failure. This is where leadership gets interesting.
Recognize the problem, figure out your options, and ask for advice when you need it, then decide and communicate it to the people you are leading.
Sometimes the correct decision is to stop a part of the work until you can get an answer from the beneficiary or conservation. Knowing when not to continue is also leadership.
Remember Who Maintains It
There is another question I want you thinking about while designing: Who takes care of this ten years from now?
Once an Eagle project is completed and accepted, the Scout and troop do not become the lifetime maintenance crew. The beneficiary takes responsibility for the project.
That matters during design. Every bridge eventually needs work. Every walkway eventually needs work. Signs need replacement, vegetation grows, and drainage changes.
If moving your trail twenty feet eliminates the need for a structure, that may be a much better long-term design.
Don’t build something simply because it would make an impressive project. Build it because the trail actually needs it.
Water Always Wins
If there is one maintenance lesson I can give you, this is probably it. Water always wins.
You are not going to convince water that it shouldn’t run downhill. Your job is to understand where it wants to go and try not to put the trail in its way.
A trail that becomes the easiest path for water will eventually become a drainage channel. That is why grade and drainage matter so much before you start building.
Moving the tape twenty feet today may save somebody years of maintenance.
AMC Guide: When you get to this part of your design, read the sections dealing with drainage, grade control, and erosion. Look at the diagrams, and then go back outside and compare what the book is showing you with the land in front of you.
Hills Need Thought
Running straight up a hill is often the easiest trail to lay out and one of the worst trails to maintain.
If you have a significant slope, stop and study it. Look at the topo again and walk across the slope instead of only looking straight up and down it. This is where concepts such as side-hill construction, climbing turns, and switchbacks become important.
A switchback isn’t simply a zigzag somebody throws onto a hill.
AMC Guide: Before designing on a significant slope, read the sections covering trail grades, side-hill construction, climbing turns, and switchbacks. Pay attention to the diagrams. Then take that information back to the actual hill you are trying to solve.
Bridges and Walkways Are Not Trophies
Scouts like bridges. I understand why. They make great projects, and when you are finished, you have something substantial you can point at and say, “We built that.”
But every bridge you build becomes something somebody has to maintain.
So before deciding you need one, ask a simpler question: Can I put the trail somewhere better?
Sometimes the answer is no, and a bridge or walkway is absolutely the correct solution. Fine. Now design the right structure for the right reason.
AMC Guide: If your route appears to require a bridge, bog bridge, walkway, or wet-area crossing, review the sections covering those structures before settling on a design. The book gives you technical guidance, but conservation requirements and approval still control what can actually be built at Koulas.
Think About This Particular Koulas Trail
Everything we have talked about brings us back to the project in front of us.
The goal of the next Koulas Trail project is to complete the outer loop of the property. There is already an outer trail on the left side and along the back. What is missing is the right-hand side.
We want the new section to feel like it was always supposed to be part of the system.
We also know there is a small wetland area on the left side of the area being explored that we need to understand much better before settling on a route.
Beyond that, there is still a lot we do not know about the right side of Koulas, and that is part of what makes the field work important. The maps and aerial photos may suggest old roads, field edges, large trees, stonework, or other features, but none of that should be assumed until we actually walk the land. Some of the most interesting parts of a trail are often things nobody noticed from the computer.
That is why the next step is to get out there, look carefully, and let the property show us what is really there.
Start with the maps and history, then walk the land while the leaves are down and begin reading the earth. As possible routes become clear, use temporary tape and keep adjusting the line until it works in both directions. Use John Ray and me as resources when you need another opinion; use the AMC guide when the design gets into technical trail-building questions; and think about accessibility while the route can still be changed.
Once the team believes the route works, Conservation gets the opportunity to review it. Bill Vines makes the final decisions on the conservation side, working with the conservation agent or full commission when required.
Only after that review and approval should anybody start cutting.
When the trail is finished, put it on the Map
The project doesn’t quite end when the tools are put away.
Once the approved trail is completed or essentially in its final form, it should be properly documented.
OpenStreetMap can be useful again here. The trail can be mapped, its approved name can be added, and appropriate points of interest can be identified.
That gives future walkers better information and allows updated maps to be produced without starting from scratch every time something changes.
QR codes at kiosks can eventually point people toward current trail information.
Accessibility information should also be useful and honest. Tell people what they will encounter rather than simply attaching a label to the trail.
Do not publicly map sensitive environmental or archaeological locations just because you discovered them. Some things are better documented internally and protected.
A Trail Is Never Really Finished
One of the biggest mistakes anyone can make is thinking the work ends when the trail opens.
That is really when maintenance begins.
Trees fall, branches grow, blazes fade, water patterns change, bridges age, invasive plants move in, and storms change things. A good design reduces those maintenance problems, but nothing eliminates them.
That is another reason a design team benefits from having people who have maintained trails for years. We know what happens after the ribbon cutting.
When I look at a proposed trail, I am not only thinking about what it will look like next spring. I am thinking about who is going to maintain it five or ten years from now.
If we are looking at a proposed route and already know it will require constant work just to keep it usable, perhaps we should not be asking how we are going to maintain it. Maybe we should be asking whether we put the trail in the wrong place.
AMC Guide: The maintenance sections of the AMC guide should be part of the design process, not something you read only after the trial is finished. Knowing what will eventually need to be maintained can change what you decide to build in the first place.
The Real Lesson
If you remember only one thing from this master class, remember that trail building is mostly thinking before it is cutting.
The saw is one of the last tools.
Your first tools are maps, history, observation, accepted references, experienced people, and a good pair of boots. Then comes tape, walking, questions, adjustments, review, and approval.
Twenty years from now, somebody walking your trail will have no idea how many times you moved that tape.
They won’t know about the route you rejected because it was too wet, the hill you avoided because it would have eroded, or the small change you made so they could walk past an old stone wall.
They will just walk the trail.
And if you did your job well, the route will feel so natural that they may wonder why anyone would ever have put the trail anywhere else.
That is a pretty good trail.
And if this is your Eagle project, there is something even more important.
At the end of it, you should be able to look at the trail and understand why it goes where it goes, explain the decisions that were made, explain the problems you encountered, and show how you led other people through the process of turning a line of temporary tape into something the community may use for decades.
That is a project worth leading.
References to Keep With This Guide
AMC Trail Guide
AMC’s Complete Guide to Trail Building & Maintenance, 5th Edition. Use it as the technical companion to this master class. When this guide tells you to look up drainage, tread construction, side-hill construction, switchbacks, bridges, corridor clearing, trail marking, or maintenance, find that subject in the AMC guide and study the complete section and diagrams before applying it in the field.
Massachusetts Accessibility Guidance
Use the Commonwealth’s current Trails for All materials when considering accessibility, trail surfaces, grades, widths, trail information, and related design issues. Accessibility should be considered while the trail can still be changed, not after construction is complete.
Scouting America
If this becomes an Eagle Scout service project, use the current Eagle Scout Service Project Workbook and current Scouting America advancement requirements. This master class helps with the trail. It does not replace or add requirements to the Eagle process.
Chelmsford Conservation
Koulas Farm is town conservation land. The Conservation Commission and its professional staff provide the land management and environmental review applicable to the project. Advice from experienced volunteers does not replace that review or approval.