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Partners for Access to the Woods

The Gary E. Cargill Research Trail for Universal Design

Gary's Trail is located at Easter Seals' Rocky Mountain Village near Empire at the eastern end of the Corridor. Gary's Trail has three purposes. The first is to test how grade, cross-slope (requirements found in the 1993 Recreation Access Advisory Committee guidelines) and surface material determine the level of difficulty for a trail. The second is to test various trail surfaces and see how they react to Colorado's weather. The third is simply to provide a trail for enjoyment by visitors to Rocky Mountain Village.

Each section of trail is approximately 100 feet long and has a different combination of grade, cross-slope, width and surface material. Volunteers for Outdoor Colorado (VOC) built the first section of trail in September 1998. The second section was built in September 1999 by volunteers from VOC and Colorado, New Mexico, and California.

Our research trail was named after Gary E. Gargill because he was a leader in opening public lands to persons of all abilities. Gary served as Regional Forester of the Rocky Mountain Region of the United States Forest Service from 1986 to 1992. He was responsible for 22 million acres of national forest in Colorado, Wyoming, South Dakota and Nebraska, as well as grasslands in Kansas.

The information learned from Gary's Trail will be used as PAW and the Partners of the "Corridor" create a new educational trail for universal design. The Partners have begun the process of restoring the Empire-Middle Park Wagon Road as a multi-use, non-motorized trail. The new Architectural Barriers Act (ABA) Guidleines for Outdoor Developed Areas for trails will be used along the whole length of the trail as each section is restored.

Summary of Data:

The top set of numbers are the design % for the trail and the bottom set of numbers are those collected by the Benefical Design team on October 23, 1998 if different from the design perscentage.

Note: Section C of the Trail was extreme and for research purposes only.

Trail Section

Length of Trail Section in Feet

Width of Trail Section in Inches

Grade for this Section of Trail in %

Cross-slope of this Trail Section in %

Surface Material used in this Section

A-1

100 feet

36 inches

1.5

.5

3

5.8

3" of crushed fines

Landscape fabric

A2

100 feet

36 inches

3

4

3

4.5

Landscape fabric, crusher fines and 5% Portland cement

A-3

100 feet

36 inches

6

6.2

3

2.3

Landscape fabric, crusher fines.

Stone wall added on uphill side of trail.

A-4

100 feet

36 inches

5-8

8.9

3

.2

GravelPave filled with 1" of crusher fines

A-5

100 feet

36 inches

5

6.3

3

6.6

Landscape fabric, crusher fines and 10% Portland cement

B-1

82 feet

36 inches

3

5

Both sides of Boardwalk

Landscape fabric,

3" crusher fines

B-2

42 feet

42 inches

0

1

0

1.3

Boardwalk

B-3

100 feet

36 inches

1

3.1

up to 3

4

Landscape fabric

5% Portland cement

B-4

105 feet

36 inches

1

3.1

Up to 3

2.9

Native soil, GravelPave, 5% Portland cement

C-5

100 feet

28 inches

7-20

19.5

Up to 8

10.1

Native materials

C-6

100 feet

28 inches

7-20

Up to 8

Native materials

C-7

72 feet

28 inches

8

Up to 8

Native materials

D-1

61 + 60 feet

36 inches

7

4.6

Up to 5

2.2

Native materials and Mountain Grout

D-7

86 feet

36 inches

3-8

Up to 5

Native soils, landscape fabric and 4% Road Oyl

E-1

86 feet

36 inches

2

1.8

Up to 3

1.7

Native soils and Gravel Pave

E-2

100 feet

36 inches

1

2.3

Up to 3

5.2

3" 3/4 Roadbase, 5% Portland cement and Landscape Fabric

E-3

124 feet

36 inches

3

1.3

Up to 3

5.6

Landscape Fabric and Roadbase

F-1

100 feet

36 inches

2

4

Up to 3

2

1" crusher fines, GravelPave, and 3" Roadbase

F-2

100 feet

48 inches

4.5

2.7

Up to 3

1.0

3" recyc. concrete and Landscape Fabric

F-3

100 feet

48 inches

3

1.5

2

4.3

3" recyc. concrete, Landscape Fabricx, and 5% Portland cement

F-4

82 feet

48 inches

2

3.4

Up to 3

2.9

2" Road Base, Road Oyl, and Landscape Fabric

H-5

66 + 38 feet

48 inches

4.5 + 3

3.5

Up to 3

1.7

3" 3/4 Roadbase, 6% Road Oyl and Landscape Fabric

Contact PAW at outdoors4all@earthlink.net

Our website was updated on August 6, 2007