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What's the difference between a fire road and a trail?

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What's the difference between a fire road and a trail?

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Old 04-14-04 | 01:10 AM
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What's the difference between a fire road and a trail?

I've always thought they were the same thing. I do a lot of hiking and every time someone refers to a "fireroad" or "trail", they always look the same to me.

Is there a difference or are people just throwing terms around?
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Old 04-14-04 | 01:25 AM
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Fireroad is a road. Fits trucks getting logs...

Trail can either be singletrack or doubletrack. Singletrack is tight and will fit a hiker or bike. Doubletrack is the same thing but wide enough for quads Trust me. There is suck a signifigant difference it isn't funny ...I suppose you could call a fireroad a trail...but I don't
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Old 04-14-04 | 02:32 AM
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singletrack or bust
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Old 04-14-04 | 03:16 AM
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Trails are normally made by mtn bikers or hikers and fire roads are wide dirt roads that are used for access in the case of a bushfire.
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Old 04-14-04 | 05:51 PM
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would you call a road/trail made by 4wheelers doubletrack trail or a fireroad?i ride quite a few of them and i have always called them double track.plus a lot of singletrack(?)made by motor cycles(no way can 2 ride side by side)
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Old 04-14-04 | 07:30 PM
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Quad = 4 wheeler....its a double track imo
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Old 04-14-04 | 09:02 PM
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Fire roads, fire trails, fire breaks, etc. are intionally cut for firefighting purposes, as the name suggests. Trails were cut for recreational use for MTB, hiking, motorcycle, ATV, or four wheel drives. Many fire roads are pressed into rec use for obvious reasons, as fire roads are already in place, and little maintence is required.
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Old 04-14-04 | 09:16 PM
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Fire roads sure can get nasty, too. That one i rode on easter was 3-4 inch deep mud and roots sticking up about 9-12 inches. Pretty technical(fun) stuff, butnothing beats blasting some sweet singletrack!!
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Old 04-15-04 | 01:34 AM
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Thanks for the replies, guys. The "trails" that I usually do riding on are probably 85% trail and 15% fireroad, I guess, mainly because they're slightly wider than doubletrack.

Yeah trekkie820, they can get pretty nasty, especially after it rains. For some reason, someone (probably the park ranger) dumped a whole bunch of woodchips onto one of these trail-fireroad thingies on one of the huge climbs and now my rear wheel sometimes spins out on the woodchips when I torque my way up.
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Old 04-15-04 | 03:59 AM
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The woodchips are to assist natural water runoffs. Safes destroying the environment.
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