• Journal of The Geomorphological Association of Korea
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.103-115
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• 2017

This paper shows the types of deteriorated hiking trails and degrading factors at three Great Walks such as Tongariro Alpine Crossing, Routeburn Track and Kepler Track in New Zealand. The deteriorated trails could be classified into gullying, widening, narrowing, branching and sidewall erosion. Department of Conservation carefully manages overland flows on trails for preventing surface erosion, thus the Great Walks show only a minor problem of gully on trails which is usually active in a mountainous area. Widening and branching of trails caused by tread erosion are not also developed due to the restriction of visitors as well as the management of rainwash. However, despite the detailed maintenance and prevention of an overuse of trails, some trails traversing steep slopes in a alpine zone under a periglacial environment are severely degraded along their sidewalls. It suggests that a unvegetated sidewall of trails has to be strictly managed in an early stage of occurrence and a slope-traversing section should be selected with more consideration when establishing a route of hiking trails.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Landscape Architecture
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• v.41 no.3
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• pp.31-42
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• 2013

This study was carried out to systematically maintain and manage the trails by assessing the types of deterioration and naturalness of trails located in Mt. Toham, Mt. Nam, Mt. Danseok and in the Mt. Gumi district of the Gyeongju National Park. The route length of Mt. Toham was 2.7km, 2.3km of Mt. Nam, 1.0km of Mt. Danseok and 2.7km of Mt. Gumi district. The numbers of measuring points in Mt. Toham were 37 units, 29 units of Mt. Nam, 16 units of Mt. Danseok and 40 units of Mt. Gumi district. In characteristics of physical environments, Mt. Danseok was the widest and Mt. Gumi was the narrowest in the width of trail. In the bared width of trail, Mt. Danseok was the widest and Mt. Gumi was the narrowest. In depth of erosion, Mt. Danseok was the deepest and Mt. Gumi was the shallowest. Mt. Danseok was the steepest and Mt. Nam was the gentlest in the longitudinal slope. In the results of analysing the types of deterioration, Mt. Toham were 10 types, 14 types of Mt. Nam, 11 types of Mt. Danseok and 9 types of Mt. Gumi district. The times of appearance of deterioration types in Mt. Toham were 69 times, 87 times of Mt. Nam, 67 times of Mt. Danseok and 71 times of Mt. Gumi district. The most common type was the exposure of root in 4 districts of Gyeongju National Park. In the results of assessing the naturalness, Mt. Toham was 2.1 score(II degree), 2.6 score(II degree) of Mt. Nam, 2.9 score(III degree) of Mt. Danseok and 2.0 score(II degree) of Mt. Gumi district. The average naturalness was 2.4 score and II degree.