Travel Reference
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Figure 7.1 A 'hardened' trail creates a more durable and protective trail surface at this
Greek archaeological site
Finally, steps were built to connect the coastal path with the cliff-top path.
All these hardening measures allow a circuit route to be followed. Using infor-
mation messages (softening), visitors have a choice about which way to walk
the circular path; preference is often to take the cliff path, descend the steps,
explore the coastal path to the central Causeway, returning to the visitor
center by walking up the footpath/sidewalk, or taking the shuttle bus. The
latter choice, however, prevents visitors from being able to stop at designated
vistas and making use of recorded audio-messages.
In the case of boardwalks, the more conventional method of wooden
walkways has been used to harden the short routes within the estuarine sec-
tion of Point Pelee National Park, Canada's southernmost point on the shore
of Lake Erie. Wood walkways on short paths such as these within area attrac-
tions (i.e. national parks) reduce the physical pressures on the flora of these
unique aquatic ecosystems. As part of this hardening measure, Parks Canada
has erected timber lookout towers for birdwatching at this tactical location
where birds nest and pass through on their southward migratory route.
Other examples use technology in designing boardwalks as part of a trail
system. For example, administrators in the Valley of the Giants section of
Walpole-Nornalup National Park, Western Australia, have erected 60-meter-
long, 40-meter-high steel boardwalks through the treetops to reduce compac-
tion on trails that would otherwise traverse the valley floor. At the same
time this form of hardening provides views that are rarely seen on terrestrial
footpaths (Hughes & Morrison-Saunders, 2002).
Softening measures can be more difficult to implement as they may
function to restrict certain users. However, from a safety and health
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