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CARLSBAD ---- From the shady pathways of Hosp Grove to the shrub-covered hillsides of Rancho Carrillo, Carlsbad tempts sturdy hikers and leisurely strollers with nearly 18 miles of walking paths.

That's expected to increase by about a dozen miles in the next year, and by roughly two dozen miles in the next five years.

"I think the next five years is going to be the most fast paced (in the city's history) with the number of trails coming on line," said a city park planner, Liz Ketabian, who manages the trail system as well as several park construction projects. "It coincides with the development."

Housing development and trails are very much related in Carlsbad.

Developers are required to put in trails as part of their large housing projects, and homes have been sprouting by the thousands in Carlsbad. The builders of the sprawling, 1,352-home Villages of La Costa project, now under construction on Carlsbad's eastern border, plan to turn over several miles of trails to the city in the next year.

The upkeep on those pretty pathways will be the city's responsibility. In the past, much of the city's trail maintenance has been handled by an army of volunteers that hosts monthly cleanup days and that walks the paths weekly. Soon, the roughly 130 volunteers will have a helping hand.

In late June, the City Council made a last-minute addition of $88,7000 to the budget for the current fiscal year, which began July 1.The money will pay for the city's first full-time trails maintenance person and more supplies to repair trails.

"I think certainly by the end of this year, we will have somebody on board," said the superintendent of parks, Kyle Lancaster, on Thursday.

Picking a pathway

Carlsbad's "official trails" ---- like those of neighboring cities ---- defy a descriptive definition. Paved pathways and well-kept, decomposed granite walkways make the list, as do rough ridgeline walks and the low-key, level-ground rambles along lagoons.

Starting from the north and working south, the trail system includes:

Hosp Grove ---- three miles of casual walking paths under massive eucalyptus trees at the border with Oceanside.

Rancho Carrillo --- four miles of gently sloping, unpaved trails surrounding the Rancho Carrillo housing development and the Leo Carrillo Historic Ranch Park. Plans call for these paths to be linked to ones currently under development in the Villages of La Costa and Bressi Ranch housing projects.

Aviara --- six miles of trails, broken into several different segments. Though the land is privately owned, the trails are open to the public. Carlsbad officials describe Aviara's paths as being among the most diverse in the city. The unpaved walkways include one along the Aviara Golf course and several near Batiquitos Lagoon.

La Costa Glen/La Costa Valley ---- two trail segments, each over a mile in long near El Camino Real. The Glen Trail to the west of El Camino features creekside vegetation, the Valley Trail to the east includes a partially paved section.

Arroyo Vista/Villagio ---- two trails, each half a mile long, in Carlsbad's far southeastern end. They run along Encinitas Creek on either side of Rancho Santa Fe Road.

Extra overtime work

The man who is often found repairing the publicly owned pathways isn't a city employee.

Gary Hill, who works for the Gemological Institute of America, first approached the city in 1998 with the idea of starting a volunteer program. He is now the trail program's leader and, city employees say, its most dedicated volunteer.

"He is incredible in the number of hours he puts in," Ketabian said.

At least six people show up on the second Saturday of each month for Hill's repair projects at individual trail sites. Each trail also has a volunteer "trail boss" who is responsible for walking his or her "turf" at least once a week to collect trash and check for downed trees.

Next month's trail repair project at Hosp Grove is expected to draw a much larger work crew than usual because it is a national mother/daughter volunteer day, Hill said. He needs the laborers ---- part of the park's trail system was heavily damaged by the intense winter storms the region faced last year.

The trail group has one recently acquired piece of equipment ---- a small bulldozer ---- that makes the repair jobs easier

"The tractor is probably worth 20 volunteers," Hill said as he paused for a moment while moving soil Monday evening at Hosp Grove with his backup program manager, Tim Campbell.

Both men laughed when asked why they were at the park after a full day at their regular jobs, joking that this was a "special overtime project."

"This is what we do instead of fishing," Hill said.

Adding on the miles

Though trails have existed in the city for years, Carlsbad dates its trail system from the early 1990s when it started developing planning documents for a citywide trail system. The City Council adopted its current trail program standards in 2001.

Among the early "official" Carlsbad trails were the ones in the Aviara region. Later, other developer-funded trail projects have included the Villagio, Arroyo Vista and La Costa Glen, Ketabian said.

Next in line will be a pathway at El Fuerte and one near the new Poinsettia Lane extension east of El Camino Real. Those two trail projects, each three-quarters of a mile in length, will be followed by several miles of trails through the Villages of La Costa housing project. One of Villages' trails ---- a three-mile ridgeline path near Rancho Santa Fe Road ---- is expected to be the most rugged trail in the city's system, Ketabian said.

All of them should be ready for public use by next summer, she added.

In its list of trails coming on line this fiscal year, Carlsbad includes one older trail that's undergoing rehabilitation. The milelong pathway along College Boulevard was damaged by the winter rains.

The city list doesn't include any of the Coastal Rail Trail project. The first two segments of that project, part of a regional railway corridor trail program, are scheduled to open in October, said Sherri Howard, the associate city engineer. One section is about seven-tenths of a mile long and runs along the railroad right of way between Oak and Tamarack avenues. The second segment --- 2 1/2 miles long --- wends along city streets, primarily Avenida Encinas, from the Encinitas city limits to the Poinsettia Coaster station.

Additional sections are planned within the next three years, Howard said.

The city also plans to transform the informal, unofficial trails in the Mount Calavera into a five-mile loop trail by 2007.

"Next year, we'll start on Calavera," Hill said. "That, hopefully, will open up a lot of trails for the people."

Official City Trails

Arroyo Vista .6 miles

Aviara 6 miles

Hosp Grove 3 miles

La Costa Glen 2 miles

La Costa Valley 1.5 miles

Rancho Carrillo 4 miles

Villagio .6 miles

Total 17.7 miles

For printable maps for city trails or information on how to volunteer for trail work parties, visit the city of Carlsbad's Web site at www.carlsbadca.gov.

Contact staff writer Barbara Henry at (760) 901-4072 or bhenry@nctimes.com.