S & S Trail Services LLC strives to provide sustainable recreation trail experiences for Mountain Bikers, Hikers and Equestrians across the globe. Our company uses the most modern trail building techniques to ensure a long lasting, quality experience for these user groups. Between our two owners we have over 25 years of experience as both trail users and trail builders for all of these recreation types. We're proud to be the only full-time trail building company in Texas.
S & S Trail Services specializes in hybrid projects working with volunteers and providing crew supervision for community trail building exercises. We have over 200 miles of constructed trail in our repertoire, as well as many trail rehabilitation projects. We also are well versed in construction of wooden trail structures such as bridges, boardwalks, and technical trail features for mountain biking.
In our current climate of rampant obesity, global warming, nature deficit disorder and a general movement away from play outdoors, we see trails as an opportunity to help with all of these problems.
- What better way for a child to learn to be active than a hike alongside a creek not far from home?
- What about providing cyclists with a safe alternative to riding in the streets, allowing them to enjoy nature as they pedal to work?
- How about providing bike parks to children in urban areas so that they can not only play the extreme games on their computers, but also go outside and participate in them?
- If we provide these opportunities, won't we in turn create environmentalists?
- People who yearn to live and play outdoors will stand up and be counted when the time comes, voting to protect our environment and fund our parks.
- Horseback riding on trails can also help us reach back into our heritage with a trail ride experience much like the first settlers must have had, providing educational components to our recreational pursuits.
S&S Trails Constructs Trail in Dripping Springs Ranch Park
Posted by Ryan Spates in S&S Project Gallery on Dec. 6, 2013 - 1:36 pm
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S&S Trails built a mile of crushed granite trail and 1.5 miles of equestrian trail in Dripping Springs Ranch Park. Here, we’re using the Ditch Witch to follow a mini-ex in an area where the trail traversed a really rocky hillside.
Equitrekking Article
Posted by Ryan Spates in S&S Trails Blog on Apr. 25, 2013 - 9:38 pm
Dream Jobs: Trail Builder Here’s an article the folks over at Equitrekking did on Susan and our work.
STORM Trail School
Posted by Ryan Spates in S&S Project Gallery, Uncategorized on Jun. 21, 2012 - 10:01 am
S&S Trails has always been volunteer focused, and the trail schools that we teach to different groups throughout the year are proof of that. The South Texas Off-Road Mountain Bikers (STORM) teamed with Government Canyon State Park to have S&S Trails come teach a trail school to over 20 volunteers and staff. The School was conducted in the outdoor classroom at GCSP. We worked on an armoring project in the park where a fall line trail was eroding badly.
PTBA Conference
Posted by Ryan Spates in S&S Trails Blog on Mar. 8, 2012 - 9:45 pm
This week, S&S Trails had the chance to participate in the Professional Trail Builders Association annual Member meeting and conference. As part of the Conference, Susan and Ryan took the MTDC Chainsaw Safety and Certification course where both were recommended to be Class B Sawyers.
Dogwood Canyon Audubon Center Volunteer Day and Trail School
Posted by Ryan Spates in S&S Project Gallery, Uncategorized on Feb. 16, 2012 - 5:07 pm
S&S Trails has had the privilege to develop a working relationship with the Dogwood Canyon Audubon Center in Cedar Hill, TX. We have helped design a section of ADA trail on the lower portion of the land and oversaw a volunteer group from Altria Corp to help perform the corridor work needed to open the trail so that the improved surface material could be put down. S&S Trails also led the Altria volunteers in cleaning up poorly cut limbs and pungees from the existing hiking trail.
2012 Excruciation Exam
Posted by Ryan Spates in S&S Trails Blog on Jan. 8, 2012 - 2:08 pm
S&S Trails, together with Scott Schaeffer from Southern Elite Racing, hosted the 9th annual Excruciation Exam endurance mountain bike race on the first Saturday of the new year. Many thanks to go to the owners of Bluff Creek Ranch and Rocky Hill Ranch for allowing access to their trails to help make the event a true endurance mountain bike race, not just a race on dirt roads that racers happen to ride on a mountain bike. Now that we have a large and regularly attending volunteer force that is well-trained in addition to hard working, the event has been running smoother and better every year. And just like the event from 2 years ago, we had new machine-built trail completed just in time for the race, and we got lots of good feedback on that new extension from the end of the Cliffhanger section.
Private Land Owner in Dallas
Posted by Ryan Spates in S&S Project Gallery on Dec. 20, 2011 - 2:32 pm
Earlier in the fall of 2011, a private individual contacted S&S Trails to assess his property for the feasibility of installing a short hiking and biking trail system that would incorporate downhill flow and technical structures to utilize the topographical elevation and rock features on his land. The land owner used to race mountain bikes in Texas and remembers riding trails at the same time as Ryan and Susan during practice laps at race venues around the state. While deciding to turn his property into a family retreat for various outdoor activities, he remembered hearing that Ryan and Susan had become professional trail builders, and he found our webpage on the internet and decided to contact us.
Crystal Canyon
Posted by Ryan Spates in S&S Project Gallery on Dec. 16, 2011 - 2:40 pm
Another exciting RTP project is taking place in the city of Arlington, and S&S Trails were happy to be invited to participate in a consultation and trail design visit with Kurt Beilharz from the city parks department, and a volunteer named Jack from the local Rotary Club. Ryan, Susan, and Chuck scouted a beautiful piece of property in the city, and found opportunities for some outstanding hiking trail in undeveloped areas surrounding the ADA accessible trail that is currently being constructed.
Crystal Canyon
Huntsville State Park and Sam Houston National Forest
Posted by Ryan Spates in S&S Project Gallery on Nov. 16, 2011 - 2:51 pm
The S&S crew spent two weeks in early November flagging out approximately 13 miles of new trail on US Forest Service land that will be connected to the already existing multi-use trails at Huntsville State Park. Similar to the Double Lake job from 2 years ago, this project was an RTP grant secured by GHORBA that went out to bid over the PTBA website. S&S Trails partnered with Progressive Trail Design from Arkansas to win this project, and we look forward to beginning the construction phase sometime in the Fall of 2012.
Caddo Mounds State Historic Site
Posted by Ryan Spates in S&S Project Gallery on Nov. 7, 2011 - 4:37 pm
S&S Trail Services had the opportunity to work at a significant Texas Historic Commission property in northeast Texas in the early Fall. The manager of Caddo Mounds Historic site near Alto was a woman named Jennifer, who had worked with us several years ago when she was an intern at Purtis Creek State Park.
