Kurt has also been essential in helping to train may local mountain bike groups so that they may professionalize their trail maintenance skills. Kurt's training stems from working with the California Department of Parks and Recreation, the National Park Service and the National Forest Service. It also comes from countless hours of building trails around the country. Designing Multi-Use Trails One of the first things I get asked at Trail Building Schools is how do you design a trail. This is a tough one because before you design a trail, you need to understand what a trail is and what it takes to take care of them.
Trails are very dynamic and constantly change.
A lot of the techiniques used in the maintenance and contruction aspects of trails have to be applied to the design aspect, and without a solid understanding of these, you really can't begin to even think of the design phase. When you look at a piece of undisturbed land on which you're thinking of putting in trails, you need to think carefully about the construction techinques necessary to put in the type of trail. Designing a trail is one thing, but understanding the bits and pieces of the trail and the steps necessary to create it are another, and before you tacke trail design and alignment, you should become skilled in these other trail disciplines. You need to learn everything that there is about the resource, the areas you're working in, the historical, archeological and geological aspects, and any endangered species that might be present on the land. You need to ask yourself what went on in this piece of property that I should be aware of before I design a trail.