What do you consider a "trail?"

[britz]

My back property line is the Clearwater Nat'l Forest, and live on a forest road. Up to my cabin, a 5th wheel can pass; after, you better have a chainsaw and ATV/UTV. I use forest road and trail as a definition in describing routes to folks.

The Magruder Corridor is nothing but a forest road, and with the new repairs, you can drive a Buick sedan on it, but the Lolo Motorway, is now a high clearance situation. People think the term "Motorway" means a Sunday drive in the Cadillac, then we end up with rescue calls every summer. The Forestry Service is always closing and opening roads, so if it's scraping the sides, top or bottom of my Jeeps, I call it a trail, or old logging skid.

 

[JeffG98034]

I work with students in 5th-7th grades so I consider myself pretty hip with the current lingo. But I must admit, I had to google what IMHO meant. LOL. Thank you for your reply. What I am gathering here from most of the members is that semantics is not really emphasized, but actually getting out and exploring is. I like that.

Same Here...I had no clue what IMHO meant...

 

[theBROFESSOR]

My back property line is the Clearwater Nat'l Forest, and live on a forest road. Up to my cabin, a 5th wheel can pass; after, you better have a chainsaw and ATV/UTV. I use forest road and trail as a definition in describing routes to folks.

The Magruder Corridor is nothing but a forest road, and with the new repairs, you can drive a Buick sedan on it, but the Lolo Motorway, is now a high clearance situation. People think the term "Motorway" means a Sunday drive in the Cadillac, then we end up with rescue calls every summer. The Forestry Service is always closing and opening roads, so if it's scraping the sides, top or bottom of my Jeeps, I call it a trail, or old logging skid.

Idaho is one of those "hidden gems." You don't really hear or see much of it. I would love to venture there one day to experience the beautiful scenery there. I'm with you on this. It seems like the person who creates and writes the maps does a good job at "mapping" out everything. But there seems to be a big difference in some of the so-called "roads." They are not all the same no matter what symbol or designation they have. The "trails" seem to be a lot alike. But the Forest Service Roads can change in an instant, overnight and throughout the year making them more of a trail than a road. It would be nice if they would hire us to drive it for them and shoot some video every year so they could be more accurate with their designations. But then a judge might send a road grater down to fix it and it would be different once again...I guess it is impossible to keep up.

 

[trikebubble]

I work with students in 5th-7th grades so I consider myself pretty hip with the current lingo. But I must admit, I had to google what IMHO meant. LOL. Thank you for your reply. What I am gathering here from most of the members is that semantics is not really emphasized, but actually getting out and exploring is. I like that.

Ha. I'm 48 and my typing skills are terrible, so I've learned these youngin's lingo out of necessity.

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[theBROFESSOR]

Ha. I'm 48 and my typing skills are terrible, so I've learned these youngin's lingo out of necessity.

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Haha. I'm 46 and feel the same way. It's funny how far LOL has taken us these days. I have to google some acronym every day seems like.

 

[Winterpeg]

Lingo will change with every group. So, whatever you are comfortable with describing to your circle and their ultimate understanding is all that matters.

When describing to others I try to describe it like a cartographer would... at least at first. Then I would go into more detail (if they were interested) and perhaps say, "it's more like a trail than an unmaintained road" etc...

For instance describing an area I go camping.....
I would say it's pavement for a while, then an un-maintained gravel road (a car can get down if he's careful), then it turns into a bit of a trail, then it becomes a tight trail.
The reality is over 30 years ago it was ALL a maintained road.
The pic of my FJ with the canoe on it is from the "tight trail" part of it.

The ice road... we call an "ice road"... because it's plowed and wide.... when in reality I consider it more of a trail because it's not on any map... but that's the lingo we use around here.

The other "trail" pics are just that.... trails. You won't even see those marked as trails on any map.

End of the day... there's nothing worse than telling someone a story and having him "correct" you about your terminology or what-have-you. Whatever happened to just nodding and smiling... even if you thought the guy was off his rocker? Why do some people feel the need to "educate" everyone.

 

[theBROFESSOR]

Lingo will change with every group. So, whatever you are comfortable with describing to your circle and their ultimate understanding is all that matters.

When describing to others I try to describe it like a cartographer would... at least at first. Then I would go into more detail (if they were interested) and perhaps say, "it's more like a trail than an unmaintained road" etc...

For instance describing an area I go camping.....
I would say it's pavement for a while, then an un-maintained gravel road (a car can get down if he's careful), then it turns into a bit of a trail, then it becomes a tight trail.
The reality is over 30 years ago it was ALL a maintained road.
The pic of my FJ with the canoe on it is from the "tight trail" part of it.

The ice road... we call an "ice road"... because it's plowed and wide.... when in reality I consider it more of a trail because it's not on any map... but that's the lingo we use around here.

The other "trail" pics are just that.... trails. You won't even see those marked as trails on any map.

End of the day... there's nothing worse than telling someone a story and having him "correct" you about your terminology or what-have-you. Whatever happened to just nodding and smiling... even if you thought the guy was off his rocker? Why do some people feel the need to "educate" everyone.

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Love that FJ BRO! And an Ice Road? Now you have confused all of us southerners. lol. thank you for your input!

 

[Joey83]

Forest road, my kind of fun (my vehicle only has 7" of ground clearance and no possibility for lifting it).

22 by Joachim Sandven, on Flickr

If it leads to a place like this, I'm happy.

22196065_1306817669444591_7682898811967872661_n by Joachim Sandven, on Flickr

22221714_1306817746111250_95908961279028341_n by Joachim Sandven, on Flickr

 

[TOMB]

If it’s maintained (graded) it’s a road, everything else to me is a trail. Many times I have been on what shows to be a road on the map and would hesitate to even call them trails. It doesn’t really matter what you call them as long as you are enjoying yourself and being safe. One of my favorite routes is the Mojave Road, it also is called the Mojave Trail. Same route, just depends on who you are talking to.


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[OffroadTreks]

I think the big difference is the forest service or BLM is usually attempting to maintain roads and check on the conditions. How rough or passable they are is another subject.

And in most cases not trails. They exist but can be overgrown, or underutilized. Here in Idaho down in the SW desert, there are a lot of trails that just disappear because they haven't been driven in awhile. Been on a few exploring them and the tracks disappear despite the map saying it's right in front of me and I'm on it.

 

[Titan Tom]

To me a trail is a trail regarding the context of what is being said. If it is clearly understood as such and the meaning is conveyed, then why fret over the semantics.

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[theBROFESSOR]

To me a trail is a trail regarding the context of what is being said. If it is clearly understood as such and the meaning is conveyed, then why fret over the semantics.

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I like the way you think. “Exploring is a necessary” is the motto we go by. No where or how or by what means...by whatever means necessary, go wherever your heart leads you to explore. Thank you for your reply.

 

[Titan Tom]

I like the way you think. “Exploring is a necessary” is the motto we go by. No where or how or by what means...by whatever means necessary, go wherever your heart leads you to explore. Thank you for your reply.

much obliged. :)

 

[tsteb112]

I think anything off pavement, whether it is a gravel road of some distance or a designated "trail" at an offroad park makes a trail... It's whatever you make it.

 

[Boostpowered]

Here in texas the only trails you will find are walking,jogging,biking trails unless you go to a off road park. Most of the forrest service roads here have either been closed or paved. Our version of dirt forrest rds are the dirt or rock county rds which are also being paved as more people move here. I have to go to oklahoma or arkansas for trails

 

[Laud]

I agree with nearly all of the above.....
Your and my locations don’t have mapped TRAILS unless its in an OHV location.
Location can and does change what we see on maps...
I also do what I can to change the local (TEXAS) verbage. I present the word ROUTE...
Many newcomers want TRAILS ... sorry, not going to happen in TX or AR.
But what we do have, is a lot of really cool roads that often become impassable due to weather or season.
When you combine a bunch of roads, you get cool ROUTES to enjoy your time on.
Shoot....we took a ROUTE around the whole state last year, not one TRAIL was involved.

Terminology and location. It is hard to ague with a wall that wont change....

 

[Lindenwood]

Interesting discussion! I also stick with what what a lot of you have implied:

Any path that is deliberately cleared and graded is a road, whether pavement, gravel, or dirt.

Anything that is ungraded and uncleared is perhaps generally a trail; more specifically, I think anything that has the potential for some degree of vehicle damage (including scratches), OR that requires power to all 4 wheels to navigate, is a "trail."

 

[Joel S]

Anything that gets me away from people off pavement. a few forest service roads, but not many. some of my favorite "trails" are not hard whatsoever.

for a hard definition, i'm thinking fire roads or worse.

 

[Graeman]

This is a trail.

This is also a trail.


FS Roads are just that, dirt roads. You're not on a trail. This is a FS Road.

This is a FS Road. Not a trail.

Argue away about how your car camping is overlanding and how you're on a trail, but the USGS and the NFS also make the distinction in their maps. Sorry if this hurts feelings.

View attachment 44329

The big distinction here is one is usually maintained and the other is not at certain times of the year.

In here Idaho there are lots and lots of FSR's. Most are maintained.

I like your examples - they are what I like as trails and roads. If you don't have to use 4wd then it's a road. A trail involves technic and 4 low and it has no stop signs or speed bumps. haha

 

[Cpol]