Hand Built Trails - Intermediate 3 day Intensive

Trails School - Hand Built Trails- Intermediate
3 Day class (24hrs)
Wednesday, Thursday and Friday (8am-5pm)

Description
Hand Built Trails is a course for trail builders, volunteer coordinators, volunteers, land managers and anyone interested in the process of trail flagging, corridor clearing and hand building trails. The class will begin with an overview of Sustainable Trail Construction basics and terminology along with covering the goals for the course. After we learn the basics, we'll head out to Pisgah National Forest near Old Fort, NC where a series of trails are being built as part of the Old Fort Trail Project. Class participants will learn through hands on field work while completing one or more trail build sections on US Forest Service Land.

Instructors: Jon Lane, G5 Trail Collective; Jeremy Poore, McDowell Tech Trail School

Day 1
8am - 5pm: Day 1 will consist of part classroom and part field work. Classroom work will include an overview of sustainable trail construction basics and trail user types. (Approx. 2 hours) From there we’ll travel to Pisgah National Forest near Old Fort, NC. We'll walk the forest where new trail has been proposed and review the existing flag lines. A thorough discussion of the purpose of the trail, the intended users and the trail character will lead to final flagging in preparation for the construction of new trail.

Day 2 and 3
Days 2 and 3 will be held in the field (forest near Old Fort, NC). We will focus on corridor clearing, tool selection and proper tool use followed by trail tread construction using hand tools. Each component will consist of instruction, practice and critique so that students can be sure to learn and demonstrate proper technique.

Tools and Equipment:
A variety of tools will be used in this course including: clinometer, flagging tape, pin flags, rake, shovel, Pulaski, McLeod, rogue hoe, lopper, hand clipper, hand saw, rock bar, chainsaw and more. Tools will be provided for the class. (Chainsaws will only be used by instructors/students with current USFS Chainsaw Certification and First Aid/CPR)

Safety:
Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) for this class includes: gloves, eye protection, long pants and long sleeve shirts, leather boots, chaps and hearing protection (sawyers only), helmets.

Location:

Day 1 Morning is at McDowell Tech room to TBA
Days 1-3 will take place in a remote location in Pisgah Forest near Old Fort, NC. Participants will need to bring sufficient water (3 liters minimum), lunch and snacks as well as clothing to deal with changing temperature and weather conditions. Instructors have current First Aid/CPR and first aid kits.

Dates of Class: July 24, 2024 - July 26, 2024
Days and Times: Wednesday – Friday 8am – 5pm
Length of Class: 3 Day class (24hrs)
Total Cost: $71.30 Tuition
Location: TBA

CE: McDowell Technical Community College is part of the North Carolina State College system. As such, you will recieve continuing education credits on your state transcript as well as a certificate for class hours upon completion.

Location

Old Fort, North Carolina 28762

Trail Competencies

• Trail Construction
• • Construction Specifications
• • Corridor Clearing/Site Preparation
• • Hand-Built Trail Construction
• • Trail Finishwork
• • Water Management/Drainage Features
• • Tread Hardening and Surfacing

• Trail Maintenance
• • Corridor Clearing/Site Preparation
• • Tread Maintenance - Hand tools
• • Drainage Features/Water Management

• Project Planning and Design
• • Trail Specifications
• • Field Design: Trail Alignment Identification and Marking
• • Trail Plan Development

• Program Administration
• • Inspections/Monitoring
• • Partnership and Collaboration

Relevant Trail Types

• Bicycling Trails
• Hiking Trails