Dig stoke, who else likes to play in the dirt???

[evdog]

Back to the hills to do a bunch of re-benching of this trail.


You can see how off camber the trail was, in spots I cut the upper edge down 6-8". That's super off camber for a trail that's 18-20" wide.






When I got closer to the switchback I worked on earlier in the week I used the excess dirt to continue extending the berm




Finished product




Not a bad sunset




Final section took awhile. I'm trying to keep the tread as clean and narrow as possible. So excess dirt is scooped and put in a single pile (you can see just below the bush) rather than broadcast it along the trail when there isn't a berm or other spot to use it.




Still have a couple solid days of work on this trail to finish it completely. Sections we re-benched in the last couple years have held up very well. This has become the main climbing trail in the network so it sees a lot of traffic.

[toast2266]

This is the reason I want an e-bike, it would be so awesome for clearing miles of trail! I’m getting less stoked as I age about pedaling miles with a chainsaw on my back, e-bike would be a game changer!


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Yeah, the ebike is killer for trail clearing and maintenance. Probably 70% of the riding I do on the moped is for the purpose of trail work. It's quicker to get in, and it also means I can expend roughly zero calories on the ride, so I save my energy for digging and cutting.

[evdog]

It's quicker to get in, and it also means I can expend roughly zero calories on the ride, so I save my energy for digging and cutting.

Hang on a minute, every e-bike rider out there claims the moped is just as much work as a regular bike. Are you saying they're blowing smoke up our asses????

[raisingarizona13]

We found some dirt at the White Cliffs so we did a short but super fun little jump line.

[jackstraw]

Fresh blowdown sent from the heavens. Exit is the crux. Speed or wheelie off is the plan.

[jm2e]

Got the missus workin on the chain gang.


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[Clownshoe]

Job opportunity at Thunder Mountain Bike Park.
They're hiring a trail crew supervisor.

https://www.google.com/search?q=thun...:1678121304821

[VTskibum]

Maybe a bit preliminary, but started repacking my pump track after a non-existent winter here. Few spots I still need to work on some drainage, but tarped berms only needed a shovel pack and hopefully some sun baking.






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[jm2e]

That some lovingly sculpted turf right there.
What’s the reception been like from your neighbors?


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[VTskibum]

Have to add disclaimer that I didn't build it, subbed out to a local trail pro, but have really enjoyed his work. I've been doing the maintenance and added a few things to extend and make more alternate lines.

As for neighbors it's really only visible by the house you see in Pic 3 between the split trees and next house to right, but there's a reason there are now so many trees planted. Spoke with neighbor about it before starting, he wasn't thrilled but "we" agreed on planting trees, which I ended up doing after his wife absolutely flipped out. I'm not sure he told her it was happening to begin with. It's been pretty calm since then.

Edit - Should add that one kid down the street comes and rides with us pretty regularly as well as a few adult neighbors who are riders.

[evdog]

The rains have continued, and so has the trail work.


I've been working my way down one of our tech trails re-setting rocks that have come loose and generally just making transitions and entrances more solid.


Before


After





Another section below has a jump off a rock into a long fall-line runout. The runout has held up well over the years but this year has gotten rutted. No easy way to get water off it, but I dug it out a bit to make it off camber and drug the dirt to one side to make a berm. Finished about half the berm, will extend it 10ft more next time out.

[evdog]

From the weekend... Went out to work on features but ended up doing a lot of drains instead. Water flowing everywhere


Stream was flowing right down the trail. Dug a trench to drain it off to the side, which worked pretty quickly.




More water around the corner. This isn't my trail but took just 2 drains to get the water off it at the top.




This section a bit higher up is going to get re-routed completely.




Added a drain and cleaned up a deep rut here




Made it to the zone I was planning to work on. Spruced up the takeoff of this jump




Shored up the runout to this feature with an extra couple rocks and added dirt. The runout had a hole developing when the rock ended.




Re-did the entrance to this rock roll. Rocks shoring up the entrance had come loose. Added some extra rock and added new dirt to the ramp. This is the first of a triple rock roll.




Went back the next day to work on the third roll of the triple.


Poppies blooming




This third roll is pretty beat. The runout is rutted with rocks poking through, and the berm below it is almost filled in with silt. Many riders have been going wide rather than right down the middle to try to avoid rocks in the runout.






I set off to yank just the bigger rocks, but every time I tried to move dirt to fill holes I ended up dislodging even more. Ended up completely re-grading the whole landing and removing all the rock. Then tamped it down. I did the same job maybe 5 yrs ago, so it'll come back into form soon enough.

Rolled all the rock down below to use to build up the berm. Just a few!




After




Between excavating out the deposited silt and building up the berm with rock it's now 18-24" tall and should let riders corner without having to hit the brakes hard.




Hiked out on one of the lower trails. We dug a ton of drains recently. They are working. Now if riders would just use the rock crossings we embedded the rest of the trail wouldn't get so rutted

[VTskibum]

Damn evdog, that's a hell of a lot of work, especially solo!!

[jm2e]

Now if riders would just use the rock crossings we embedded the rest of the trail wouldn't get so rutted

Certainly belongs in the Things That Annoy You thread.



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[Andeh]

Certainly belongs in the Things That Annoy You thread.



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OMG SCURRY ROX!

[evdog]

OMG SCURRY ROX!

You guys have no idea. If there are rocks poking out of the trail here people will do whatever they can do go around them. And our trails keep getting wider and wider as a result. It's really infuriating. Everyone wants more singletrack but then they keep going wider around any trivial rock. Then the trail becomes 6ft wide, then 8, then 10+.

[VTskibum]

^^ We have same thing on many of our trail systems, others rocks are completely unavoidable around here.

Update, burned in first laps of the season after work tonight.

[jackstraw]

You guys have no idea. If there are rocks poking out of the trail here people will do whatever they can do go around them. And our trails keep getting wider and wider as a result. It's really infuriating. Everyone wants more singletrack but then they keep going wider around any trivial rock. Then the trail becomes 6ft wide, then 8, then 10+.

The terrain suits it, so I'm lucky, but we force them into one line within most of the network. We have a few B lines, but most sections don't have an option. Maybe that's why so many ride there once and never come back [emoji3]

[evdog]

You guys have no idea. If there are rocks poking out of the trail here people will do whatever they can do go around them. And our trails keep getting wider and wider as a result. It's really infuriating. Everyone wants more singletrack but then they keep going wider around any trivial rock. Then the trail becomes 6ft wide, then 8, then 10+.

Here's an example from one trail system. This used to be beautiful narrow singletrack. I think it originally was one of the ruts that now has grass in it. Every time there is even a bit of a rut people start riding on either edge of it. Rocks start poking out, and they ride a bit wider to avoid them. Then a bit wider, and a bit wider more. This is 100% bikers. There are very few hikers and zero horses here. Unfortunately in places like this we have no features like rocks, logs or brush to help block sections off.

[evdog]

Damn evdog, that's a hell of a lot of work, especially solo!!

Thanks! There are a few others out there working too. Another guy is a beast and did the rock crossings on that and other drains. It is 100% nasty cobble filled clay at those spots. I've had it pretty easy for the most part. But yeah a few of us vs the hoardes who won't wait until the trails dry out is always a frustrating battle.

[raisingarizona13]

Here's an example from one trail system. This used to be beautiful narrow singletrack. I think it originally was one of the ruts that now has grass in it. Every time there is even a bit of a rut people start riding on either edge of it. Rocks start poking out, and they ride a bit wider to avoid them. Then a bit wider, and a bit wider more. This is 100% bikers. There are very few hikers and zero horses here. Unfortunately in places like this we have no features like rocks, logs or brush to help block sections off.

That's why the number one rule of trail building imo is get the water off the trail asap. I try to have it exit every 20 to 30 feet. 20 is ideal and 40 would be my max. Some of the runs in your photos look like they're around 100+ feet without an exit. That's tough stuff to maintain.

I won't spend my free time maintaining poorly routed FS trails around here anymore. My time and my back is too valuable.

[raisingarizona13]

The White Cliffs project continues and the system is still evolving.

Attachment 451826

Attachment 451827

Attachment 451829

Attachment 451828

[raisingarizona13]

^^ We have same thing on many of our trail systems, others rocks are completely unavoidable around here.

Update, burned in first laps of the season after work tonight.

Beauty berms man!

[Andeh]

That's why the number one rule of trail building imo is get the water off the trail asap.

Amen.

There was one spot on a local trail that had accumulated like ~6" or more of silt from the previous atmospheric rivers, so I got out this weekend and cleared all that, plus the drains on both sides before the latest storms hit.


Of course, drainage won't help when creeks start overflowing and just flood everything.

[evdog]

That's why the number one rule of trail building imo is get the water off the trail asap. I try to have it exit every 20 to 30 feet. 20 is ideal and 40 would be my max. Some of the runs in your photos look like they're around 100+ feet without an exit. That's tough stuff to maintain.

I won't spend my free time maintaining poorly routed FS trails around here anymore. My time and my back is too valuable.

Trail widening in the pic above really has nothing to do with water flow. It's the high volume of rider traffic on this climb wearing dirt away. This happens on pretty much every climbing grade. When rocks start poking out of the tread, riders migrate over 6-8 inches at a time. Even with the trail this wide I'm still seeing new tracks going wider and wider into the grass. Unfortunately there are no terrain features here that prevent widening. People will grab rocks from nearby and place them down to block these wider lines but those quickly get tossed off the trail, probably by the same people who never have time to do trailwork. This section is normally dry 350 days a year and only has weeping water like you see here following a series of recurring storms. Otherwise I'd agree on getting water off every 20-40 ft. This was one of the original trails out here and was probably just ridden in. I may re-route it onto a side slope where it can contour better. That way it would have an upper bench wall and downhill slope below the tread to better keep people on the trail.


And yeah in one of the posts above there was a long runout with no drainage, but that is a section of original fall line moto trail that we used as a runout for a jump. The bike trail was built in 2015 so it's taken 8 years for ruts to develop there. Not bad considering how steep it is. I went out a few days ago and did some shaping to make it off camber and added humps and drains to get the water off it.

Before, looking up. You can just see the berm I installed last week near the top of the pic



Before, looking down




After, looking up. Trail is now outsloped to the right with two drains above. You'll transfer from the berm higher up to the berm on the left (now upper side) of the tread



After, looking down before tamping. A couple more drains below. This should hold up as long as people don't drag their brakes through here.




I also re-established a jump just above this. This is the jump that used to lead into the long fall line section, you'd turn left and go straight downhill upon landing.



I did a re-route a few years ago right after this jump that took it over toward the shovel in the pic above. This re-route added a berm and another jump lower down and shortened the long runout, but it also made this upper jump harder to line up and land.

I finally went back and widened the landing and turn to make it easier to hit again.