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Since you Asked: Keeping gravel on Table Rocks trails a constant issue Friday Feb 24, 2017 at 12:01 AM Mark Freeman Mail Tribune @MTwriterFreeman Who takes care of the trails for hiking the Table Rocks? This past weekend, the gravel was completely gone and the trails were perilous despite days of sun. I'm still nursing my body from a fall. Any plans you know of to re-gravel them? — Kellie, Talent The Table Rocks are managed jointly by The Nature Conservancy and the Bureau of Land Management, which always seems to be grappling with gravel on the Rogue Valley's signature mesas. "The gravel has long been an issue for us to have it stay on the trail, especially when we have wet winters like this one," says Molly Allen, BLM's environmental education coordinator, who finds herself regularly doing educational hikes on the trails.  The trails have some relatively steep sections, and they turn into gutters during rainstorms, washing the gravel off the trail in several places on both trails, Allen says. It gets even worse when the water bars — those diagonal cuts through the trails that direct water to the sides — get filled in with gravel and the excess water erodes the trails, Allen says. BLM trail crews and contract crews such as the Northwest Youth Corps annually do trail repairs there, either adding new gravel or scraping it back onto the trail, Allen says. "It's almost impossible to keep up with it," Allen says. What makes matters worse is when hikers go off the trail to get around things such as puddles, Allen says. That foot traffic beats down the sides of the trails, and come spring, they dry and harden, thereby widening the trail, Allen says. That's why we at Since You Asked Central practice good trail etiquette by wearing waterproof boots and not minding the muddy soles during winter hiking at the Table Rocks.  BLM is considering potential reroutes of a few steep sections of both trails and adding more switchbacks where the erosion is at its worst, Allen says. — Send questions to "Since You Asked," Mail Tribune Newsroom, P.O. Box 1108, Medford, OR 97501; by fax to 541-776-4376; or by email to [email protected]. To see a collection of columns, go to mailtribune.com/youasked. We're sorry, but the volume of questions received prevents us from answering all of them.