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Ranking Matthiessen State Park Trails By Hazard Rather Than Difficulty, Levi S. Gambill, Danielle N. Conrad, Joshua A. Woodard, Max Reams

Student Scholarship – Geology

Matthiessen State Park offers differing perspectives of the geology of the area, from the stunning views of bluffs and floodplain of the Vermilion River to the deep, winding canyons of the park’s Dells Area. A numerical system was used to rank the severity of hazards along the various park trails similar to the work of Ross, who pioneered the ranking of trails by hazard, specifically for Starved Rock State Park. Ross showed that ranking trails by hazard may be more useful for visitors than simply ranking trails by degree of difficulty. Ranking of trails for Matthiessen State Park proved somewhat …