Great Trails Guidebook
GREAT TRAILS BY DICK DUFOURD
What Makes a Great Trail “Great”
One of the best ways to escape from the chaos of daily life and reconnect with nature is by exploring trails in the great outdoors. An excellent way to rejuvenate your mind and body is by immersing yourself in the natural environment. There’s no better way to experience your adventure than with an off-highway vehicle.
What makes a trail so great? Is it the destination, the sights and views along the way, or the diverse obstacles that you encounter? It’s a combination of physical, subliminal and emotional elements that trigger a gratifying experience. An ample off-highway trail offers an exceptional recreational experience; one that can spark a feeling deep inside a person, one that awakens an emotion or an inspiration; that WOW, invigorative, exhilarating feeling.
For those looking to create off-highway vehicle trails, The Great Trails by Dick Dufourd is an accomplished resource. The book is devoted to helping others envision, plan, design and construct the ultimate trail for recreational off-highway vehicles.
When establishing an OHV (off-highway vehicle) trail, it’s crucial to have a WOW-factor in order to draw in a crowd. Incorporating a WOW-factor generates energy, project support, compliance, volunteerism and increased funding opportunities. These generative elements will become the key to a successful OHV program.
Dufourd has mastered the element of creativity within trail design. Although creativity is a challenging subject to teach, you too can master the art if you familiarize yourself with the key elements of the ideal trail that Dufourd lays out in his book. A creative outcome might be accomplished by incorporating his tools and techniques.
Trail planning, design, construction, maintenance and management were traditionally all separate processes. Agencies would fund each step separately, then funding agencies would designate different departments within their respective organizations to manage the trails. The Great Trails integrates these separate processes into a more holistic method. This newer method utilizes an integrated approach for the process of trail planning, design, construction, maintenance and management.
The internet is full of information regarding trails, their creation and upkeep. However, OHVs are an extremely specialized type of trail and should be acknowledged as such. Most OHV technological and management practices that you’ll find on the internet are outdated. The principles that are brought to light in Dufourd’s book are modern and provide a method to trail design, creation and management that is resilient to change.
A NOHVCC Publication
Note: No material may be copied or shared without permission from RecConnect or NOHVCC.
Foreword
About Author- Dick Dufourd
RecConnect
With our experience, vision, and creativity, we craft:
