The welcome arrival of spring weather will undoubtedly encourage outdoor enthusiasts to take advantage by hitting the many trails in their surrounding communities.

It’s a great time of year to see colorful wildflowers blooming in the desert, before the arrival of rattlesnakes and the stifling summer heat, or spring ephemerals that blossom before the greening of the forests. More people means more stress on a trail, making it more important than ever to know how to take care of them, particularly when they’re muddy from rainstorms and melting of snowpack.

“We have the big muddy time of year when trails are at their most vulnerable,” said Betsy Bloomfield, Cowiche Canyon Conservancy conservation director. “Trails can be completely demolished by use of (them) when the conditions just don’t warrant being there.”

Whether you’re hiking, biking, or horseback riding, here are some tips to ensure everyone can continue to get outdoors while minimizing the negative effects on the environment.

Mud season can be a challenge for hikers and trail maintainers alike. So if you want to hike in the spring, knowing how to safely enjoy soggy trails without destroying them is an essential outdoor skill.

“More and more people are hiking year-round, and while it is wonderful to have people enjoying the trails, [hikers] are also having an impact,” says Alex DeLucia, the manager of AMC’s trails volunteers and Leave No Trace programs.

According to DeLucia, the saturated surfaces following spring snowmelt are a trail maintainer’s nightmare. Each hiker’s step churns up mud and sets the stage for serious erosion. “Some maintainers would like to see most trails closed in mud season, but we prefer to ask people to hike responsibly in all seasons,” he says.

Early spring hiking etiquette requires always walking in the center of the treadway. Sticking to rocks wherever possible will preserve both the trail and your footwear, and stepping into water and mud when necessary will minimize trail damage. Although you may be tempted to walk along the sides of the trail to keep your feet dry, doing so loosens soil and makes the trail more susceptible to erosion.

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The Green Mountain Club (GMC), maintainer of Vermont’s Long Trail and Vermont’s hiking trail advocate, and the Vermont Department of Forests, Parks and Recreation (FPR), manager of State Forests and Parks, announce that Mud Season has returned to the Green Mountains a month early.

They ask hikers to stay off muddy trails from now until Memorial Day weekend; the forest has not caught up with the variable climate so the trails will remain wet, muddy, and prone to erosion. Hikers walking on saturated soils or on the sides of trails cause irreversible damage to surrounding vegetation, widen trails, and inhibit natural drainage of beloved hiking trails.

The wide range of temperatures will continue through April into May. Together with this winter’s high elevation snowfall that rarely reached the valleys, the mountains are hiding cold, wet, snowy, and icy conditions that may persist deep into Spring, like always.

Conditions can change quickly in the mountains. Hikers venturing to high elevations will need better traction and warmer clothes than the valley may hint at. If you encounter conditions you are not prepared for, turn around.

This is good advice for hikers in all mountain terrain. Whether it be New England, the Southern Appalachians, the Rockies, Cascades or Sierra Nevada; give the trails a chance to heal during mud season. They will still be there waiting for us.

It’s mud season, and hiking trails are especially prone to erosion at this time of year. Hikers walking on saturated soils or on the sides of trails cause irreversible erosion and damage vegetation.

Vermont officially closes state-owned trails at high elevations from April 15 through the Friday of Memorial Day weekend, including Camel’s Hump State Park, Coolidge State Forest, Mansfield State Forest, Long Trail State Forest and Jay State Forest.

Lower-elevation state forest and park trails remain open, but are still susceptible to damage.

Trails in the Green Mountain National Forest are not officially closed, but the Forest Service asks hikers to avoid muddy high-elevation trails, such as the Long Trail, until Memorial Day weekend. Dry trails at lower elevations, dirt roads and recreation paths are fine for hiking.