Dictionary definition of “bootleg trail”

bootleg trail

n. a walking path or track worn into the ground by habitual human passage rather than by design. Subjects: English, Environment, Sports & Recreation, Slang

Editorial Note: During Prohibition, the network of people and places that illegally supplied Americans with alcohol was sometimes referred to as the “bootleg trail” by newspapers. It is possible, but not probable, that the path-related “bootleg trail” was derived from the idea that a bootlegger—someone who manufacturers or sells alcohol illegally—might have an operation hidden in the woods that is reached only by a circuitous path. More likely, however, “bootleg” in “bootleg trail” is used in a way more akin its most common meaning, ‘illegitimate, unconventional, unauthorized.’ Thanks to Eric Buck for his insight into hikers and hiking.

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Citations: 1991 Andrew Slough The Traveling Skier: 20 Five-Star Skiing Vacations (Aug. 1) p. 276: No one knows who cut the first bootleg trails. By definition it would have to be after 1937, when the first rope tow was erected on Mt. Mansfield. If charging for a lift lent a certain legitimacy to the sport, it also put pressure on the accessible terrain. Frowned on or not, a little creative pruning mirrored the pioneering hard work that originally cleared the surround pastures.…Runs were cut, and skiers in search of untracked snow traversed further into the woods. 1996 Robert C. Birkby Lightly on the Land: The Sca Trail-Building and Maintenance Manual (July) p. 26: If you must camp on undisturbed ground, do what you can to limit soil compaction, the formation of bootleg trails, and the trampling of plants. 2007 Kyle Brazzel Arkansas Democrat Gazette (Sept. 3) “Naturally useful”: Master Naturalists also spend a lot of time using brush, logs and leaves to obscure what rangers like Mullins refer to as “bootleg trails,” unplanned, unsanctioned paths that have emerged in the mountainside due to the repeated shortcuts of hikers who leave the designated trails.

Posted 4 Sep 07 | Permalink | Tell a Friend