Why switchbacks exist

I wrote about hiking yesterday and mentioned “switchbacks.” On a steep hike, the trail almost never goes straight up. It zigzags — long diagonal legs cutting back and forth across the slope, taking you what feels like sideways when all you want is up. These are switchbacks, and there are two good reasons for them. The obvious one is that they make the climb bearable. Straight up a steep face is brutal on the legs and lungs; angling across the slope softens the grade to something a body can actually sustain. The second reason is erosion. Water runs fast down a straight line. A trail cut straight up a hillside becomes a channel — the rain hollows it out, carries the soil away, and in a few seasons the path is a gully. A switchback holds the trail at a gentle, even grade, so the water slows and the hillside stays intact. So, while it might feel inefficient in short bursts, the winding design solves for efficiency over the long run.