Can hikers and bikers share successfully on trails? - Part 4

What happens if a mountain biker appears? What will she think?

In part 1, part 2 and part 3 of this series, we talked about some of the concept of sharing and whether it was possible or advisable.  In the penultimate article in the series, we will discuss the attitude of the users and their expectations.
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But first a reminder of how we got here.  It all started with an article by Mr. Troy Duffin of Avid Trails who mentioned, in part, the following:

​I’ve always advised clients and agencies that, if possible, they should build separate trails for the various user groups… Directional trails help, but there are still vast speed differences between different users when moving in the same direction. I continue to believe that separate trails are the best solution… Building bicycle-specific trails helps solve the problem, and results in more enjoyable trails for bikes.

In part 2 we discussed the speed aspect of sharing and in part 3 we discussed sightlines as they pertain to trail sharing.  But both those discussions were about the mechanics of sharing, not the heart and soul of sharing.  For that, we must discuss the usage of trails.  How do users want to use the trail?  What is their attitude toward other user groups?  Can we alter attitudes of user groups to make sharing easier?

"Yes Lord... I understand want you want now... I should get over myself and share this trail with my fellow man."

​It’s the experience

The reason one neighbor mountain bikes and one neighbor hikes a certain set of trails has less to do with age, ability or upbringing.  It has to do with experience.

That “personal experience” variable informs our process to create good shared trail experiences.  If we forge ahead with a plan to create a shared trail and we only care about one set of users’ experiences, things are not going to go well.  This will mean the discussions about everything from trail layout to signage have to get messier and more complex, but that isn’t a problem if we actually believe in sharing.  It’s a small price to pay.

The experience hikers want is one based on immersion.  They want to be surrounded by the natural world as the totality of the experience.  Maybe it’s best to call it a “walkabout” mentality.  Yeah, they are in that park next to the freeway or the airport, but to the hikers, it’s another time in human history and they are viewing the mysteries of life on this planet.

The experience mountain bikers want is one based on traversing.  While being surrounded by nature is a huge part of the experience (hence riding the bikes in the woods versus a roadway), the traversing and traveling through that nature is a huge part of it.  Maybe it’s best to call it a “courier” mentality.  It might be a looped trail system that returns you to the parking lot or sidewalk, but to the mountain bikers, it’s an adventure where getting to the destination is the goal, like a modern dispatch rider.

To be perfectly clear, each of these experiences are equal.  There is nothing more positive or more negative about one or the other.  Any person or group that suggests one is more positive or more negative is a recreational bigot.

But, and this the important part of this, if we actually believe these experiences are equal, we have to treat them equally when we create trails and in the management of those trails.  That might mean on some trails, we make choices that favor one set of experiences and on another trail we favor another set of experiences.

​How we see each other

When we talk about “sharing” on some level, regardless of the technical aspects of trail layout, sightlines and edge friction, it comes down to the attitude we have for fellow users.  That attitude can be informed by experience, preconceptions or history.  With nearly every group we see on the trail, we all come with mental baggage.  That is fine, there is nothing wrong with that.  However, that baggage can get us into trouble if we don’t watch it.

We live in an age defined by our ability to preen our choices, where we thumbs down songs we don’t like to change our playlist, shop for any item we can imagine in our PJs, or get 2 day shipping for “free”.  This constant filtering of so many aspects of our life might lead us to have an unrealistic view of sharing.  We can find ourselves viewing sharing as a concept that should have only upsides with no downsides.  That isn’t sharing.  Sharing requires both giving along with the taking.  If we have mental baggage about a group and we are used to “playlisting” our surroundings, we can find ourselves wanting to playlist our trails.

$20 says this guy writes op-eds in the local paper on how mountain bikers will ruin the parks.

We have to be honest about this point:  the group that has the most trouble sharing tend to be older, upper middle-class/upper class persons, almost always of Euro-North Asian heritage.  They may claim environmental factors or safety, but really, it’s about thumbs downing the people they don’t get or don’t like from “their” trails.  While most are in the “get off my lawn” phase of life (which tends to proceed being 6 feet under the lawn) that really isn’t the issue.  Think about their lives and experiences for a moment.  If “those people” started to move into the neighborhood, they had the financial ability to move to a different neighborhood or to the suburbs.  Politicians bent over backwards to keep them happy as they were part of the middle class and had the free time to be politically active.  Everything from the size of their houses to the size of their mustard jar was designed to their tastes by advertisers and corporations.  Now, some city officials want to bring those whippersnappers on those newfangled mountain bikes to their neighborhood.  They act like the Herronvolk of the trails, because, quite frankly, in most aspects of their lives they were/are.

Mountain bikers don’t get off on this one scot free though.  In some parts of the country a long standing “wink, wink, nudge, nudge” attitude to illegal trail riding and illegal trail building has developed a negative attitude toward other users from mountain biker’s, or even mountain biking club’s.  Those other groups are seen as killjoys, always messing up the fun.  On top of this attitude in some places comes apps like Strava, that seems to affect everywhere.  Those with an athletic f*ck you attitude now have a social media outlet for wanting to show the world they are the best at the expense of all other users.  In doing so, they leave a sour taste in just about everyone’s mouth.

​Attitude adjustment

Is there way to alter attitudes of users on the trail?  Absolutely.  But it’s a host of little things, not just one big thing.

Besides building trails that are tighter in layout, with sightlines, choke points and edge friction, it’s important to think about the experiences you want to encourage per a trail.  Not every trail needs to appeal to all users perfectly.  Some trails might be hiker preferred use, some will appeal equally and some will be biker preferred use.  For smaller neighborhood trails systems, you likely won’t be able to get this detailed.  But as the trail mileage grows at a location, so should how you design for user groups.  Even in small trail systems, there is nothing wrong with including b-lines (for mountain bikers only) or spurs (for hikers only).

Another method is directionality.  More than any other method, this helps smooth over sharing issues.  But often directionality is seen as a conga line method: everyone goes the same way.  However, in areas with short sightlines, steep terrain or other hinderances, it’s actually better to go the opposite direction.  This places the various user group eyeballs always facing each other.  That means longer sight distances for everyone.  For hikers, this is especially appreciated as it’s hard to blow past someone if you are looking into their magical hiker eyes.

One method that few think about when it comes to sharing is on-trail signage.  Signage isn’t cheap and getting signs that stand the test of time is hard.  But if the signage is clear and is inclusive of all user groups, that lessons one potential issue.  Verbiage on trails signs is not recommended.  Yes, some words are needed, but clear, concise iconography can do so much more.  Where verbiage is needed, such as at trail kiosks, large pass thru kiosks with clear fonts are hard to beat.  Pass thru kiosks force users to physically walk through the kiosk in order to access the trail, literally putting them into the rules for usage.

The basic rules are pretty clear with this large sign.

No confusion is possible with this sign.

Its clear who is supposed to go here & what direction they go.

The last method of encouraging sharing is the one that gets forgotten the most: patrolling.  Integrated volunteer patrols of both hikers and mountain bikers that must pass regular tests and certifications can do so much to bring harmony to a location.  It’s easy to think of these patrollers as there as enforcers, but quite frankly, that isn’t their most valuable asset.  Being the face of positive sharing and helping users to understand how to share successfully can do such more than enforcement to bend attitudes.
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This article is part 4 of a 5 part series about sharing.    In the final article: We will stitch it all together and put all the pieces together to share successfully.