27 June 2008
Trail Etiquette
Posted by kris under: Tips & Tricks .
With all of the hiking that I have been doing this year I have had plenty of opportunities to expertise and think about trail etiquette. This is one of my biggest pet peeves and I feel like things have been getting worse over the years. Here are the guidelines that I like to live by while hiking:
- If you are hiking down hill always move out of the way of people hiking up hill. It is always harder to get moving again if you have to stop for someone coming down hill, but it is not very hard to start again going down hill.
- Always move out of the way for people moving faster then you.
- Stay to the right as much as possible, so people can pass you on the left
- Pass people on the left and let them know that you are doing so.
- If you have your pet with you make sure that you have control of them and that you keep them out of the way of others. Even if you think that your pet is well behaved you never know if they are going to snap and some people don’t like animals. Also clean up after your animals, because no one should have to look for their droppings so that they don’t step in them.
- Stay on the trail. If we all go off of the trail then we will just cause unmanageable erosion and ruin the great outdoors that we are trying to enjoy while hiking.
- When you are in a group, try not to block the trail so that others may get around you.
It seems like more and more people don’t seem to care about others on the trail. They will only do things if they are forced to. I am writing about this because I have found many cases were people have not followed these guidelines. These guidelines are meant to benefit everyone that is on the trail, and help everyone have an enjoyable experience.
