This week we’ve partnered with Leave No Trace to share some of their top tips for your outdoor adventures. One of the most commonly debated topics is trail etiquette–who yields to who when you’re hiking, biking, or trail running? LNT breaks it down for us with a few different scenarios and what to do in each one.

Imagine you are riding your mountain bike up a steep technical climb, when you see three horses coming down the trail towards you. Do you know what to do? What if you are running up your favorite single-track trail, and a line of mountain bikes are coming down towards you?

While guidelines will vary by location, generally the following can be applied to get you thinking in the right direction:

• Hikers, runners, and bikers should always yield to horses
• Bikers should yield to hikers and runners
• Downhill traffic should yield to uphill traffic

When approaching others from lower on the trail, a friendly greeting does wonders to let others know you are coming and common courtesy will always go a long way. From the North America Skills & Ethics Booklet: “Groups leading or riding livestock have the right-of-way on trails. Hikers and bicyclists should move to the downhill side and talk quietly to the riders as they pass, since horses and other pack stock frighten easily.” Additionally, the International Mountain Biking Association recommends, when riding single track, to come to a complete stop and then side step off the trail, as opposed to just riding off the side of trail, and as a result, widening it.

Moving to the downhill side, when letting horses by, reduces your size and appearance. The initial instinct may be to stay on the uphill side of such large animals, but being on the downhill side it makes them less likely to spook. With that in mind, it makes a lot more sense to move downhill! If you find yourself in an awkward or unsafe situation it is always best to communicate with the lead rider to ask them what they prefer, as they know their animals the best.

Of course, there are gray areas. What if a downhill hiker meets an uphill cyclist? The guidelines would say the biker yields, but for most, it’s a lot easier to stop and start hiking than it is when riding. As a result, many generally step off the trail in these encounters when hiking or running. Of course, the cyclist probably shouldn’t have an expectation that the hiker will let the cyclist pass, it might happen out of courtesy. Or what about when an uphill runner meets a large group hiking down the trail? Downhill traffic should yield, but for the solo runner impact of one person stepping off the trail is far less than a large group doing so.

However, the most important part of yielding to other traffic is to remember to always look for safe and durable surfaces to step onto!

The member-driven Leave No Trace Center for Outdoor Ethics teaches people of all ages how to enjoy the outdoors responsibly. This Leave No Trace article has been reprinted with the permission of the Leave No Trace Center for Outdoor Ethics. For more information, visit: www.LNT.org.