Man-made accessories on the trail
Trail maintenance takes many forms. It can lead to some impressive, and some disruptive trail architecture.
In the most basic case, it involves the clearing of debris from an established trail. This is routine maintenance which can be seasonal, especially in the spring after snow-cover melts. Sometimes after storms or other acts of God, specific actions are required to remove fallen trees or other obstacles.
Reinforcements
Another type of trail maintenance can be in the reinforcing of trail slopes. Evidence of such work can be seen in places where rock buttresses or wooden frames are constructed.
There are also areas on the trail which are clearly challenging to pass. At times, especially in heavily trafficked areas, trail maintainers may affix devices for easy traverse. Ropes may be tied on to trees, sometimes with knots at intervals, to help climbers and hikers . Chains may also be attached to pitons in rocks for a more permanent support.
In some popular destinations, stairs are constructed to help hikers up to shrines and summits.
Erosion Protection
A forth type of maintenance can be found on well traveled courses where foot traffic wears at the composition of the trail, and natural forces like wind and rain can remove the surface before it can recover. In these situations, engineers attempt to construct measures to combat erosion. This is the most prevalent trail architecture in Japan.
In some instances, they build simple stairs. These are generally good for a year or two, and then depreciate quickly. The soil trapped by the stair box or block will continue to wash out and be slippery in wet weather. Inevitably, the drainage will find a crack and nature will prevail. Here and there across the country you can find remnants of once proud trail architecture. They can be dangerous at times.
Ambitious Engineering
More recently, perhaps due to better funding or analysis of previous successes and failure, trail engineers are becoming more ambitious. On either side of 御前山 – Mt Gozen on the border of 檜原村 – Hinohara and 奥多摩町 – Okutama in western 東京都 – Tokyo, all the way to the summit of 大岳山 – Mt Odake, new-fangled architecture has cropped up to make easy the course and save some of the trail.
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