text: I'll answer this one without a surveyor's license.  There is no way the trail can be anything near 3022 feet in length (it must be notably longer) unless the average angle is VERY steep, like 85+ degrees, which is not even remotely true.  You are correct that a hypotenuse is always longer than the height but for it to be within 2% of the height requires quite an interesting right triangle.  Try drawing it out and you'll see what I mean.