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

[jackstraw]

Nickels and dimes.

[jackstraw]

New trail addition has this perfect rock...the backside was sheer to flat. A little hardwood to help out on the exit and make it rideable both ways. Wee bit sketchy.

[jono]

Question for diggers: is there some good reason to use a leaf blower on a trail?

I feel like I've seen people debate leaves, but I've never seen anyone blow all the dust up into the woods until today. Seemed like a good way to get to July early, but as a digging JONG I figured better to ask than to go all Leroy Jenkins on the topic. Thanks!

[teledad]

Why not just use a rake?

[jono]

They did that, too. Maybe the dust cloud is to keep people out of the work zone?

[forty]

Question for diggers: is there some good reason to use a leaf blower on a trail?

I feel like I've seen people debate leaves, but I've never seen anyone blow all the dust up into the woods until today. Seemed like a good way to get to July early, but as a digging JONG I figured better to ask than to go all Leroy Jenkins on the topic. Thanks!

desired trail surface can be due to lots of variables, with leaves its usually more about the resulting moisture or usage levels than the actual leaves being on the trail, but a few examples of times ive blown out leaves...

limit water on trails with easily damaged and overused tread

highly used urban trail centers before winter freeze so that come spring the trail will thaw faster and open up sooner

to remove acorns on highly used hardpack trails, which is like riding on marbles and just plain not fun

to remove trimmings after clearing brush from the sides of overgrown trails

to blow out dust on highly used flow trails in the summer

to blow off leaves before shuttle days in the fall

generally if the leaves will degrade into loam they are left on the trail, but due to overuse or other variables sometimes thats not reality and being proactive to control the trail can be a better approach than letting nature take its course

it could also be someone who thinks they are being a helpful volunteer and not really adding any value to the trail and just wasting time and making a mess, which isnt unheard of with trailbuilders...

[jono]

Thanks, that suggests a few things I wouldn't have thought of. Sounds like it's someplace between the last two around here just now, but these are fairly high use trails suddenly, so maybe preemptive is the plan.

[jackstraw]

Question for diggers: is there some good reason to use a leaf blower on a trail?

I feel like I've seen people debate leaves, but I've never seen anyone blow all the dust up into the woods until today. Seemed like a good way to get to July early, but as a digging JONG I figured better to ask than to go all Leroy Jenkins on the topic. Thanks!

Interesting you posted this. There was a "trailwork" day today locally that we stumbled upon. Its organized on FB, which I'm not on. Anyway, one guy was blowing this shit out of a trail. I personally found it odd. Granted we've had a lot of wind and a noreaster lately, so the trails have a lot of crap, but not piles of leaves like in the fall.

I use leaf blowers for new builds and very selective light blowing in the fall.

This time of year on established trails is just odd, not necessary, and possibly bad for the trail imo.

[jackstraw]

I think I'm finished. Will need a touch up, but I'm done. Could also be 2' higher, but I need an excavator. Started this last summer while building the new trail.

[evdog]

On to PO step 2, behead the remains

[Dee Hubbs]

Reworked a corner tonight.

[jackstraw]

Opened this feature today. We built the trail past it knowing we'd incorporate a side hit. Little gap one side, roller the other

[jackstraw]

^I tried to make this better, but I'm not happy with it. Oh well. The more you build, the more you learn.

[LeeLau]

Well worth watching. Natural jank Finnish trail then self filmed

[jackstraw]

Well worth watching. Natural jank Finnish trail then self filmed

Wow. That's a lot of work in rough terrain. It will be interesting to see if he keeps going and makes a nice network out of it.

[evdog]

Headed up to the mountains today to work on some neglected trail. This area burned in 2013 and was under closure order for 4-5 years. Huge bummer as there was a killer network and a planning process was underway to adopt many of the trails. A year after the forest re-opened locals were just getting a few trails back in shape when some asshole thought it would be a good idea to fire flares up onto a hillside covered in sage/chaparral. The second fire burned everything the first one missed, and then some. Fortunately the second closure was only for a year, but the toll on trails has been severe. A lot are gone completely, no trace left whatsoever. A handful are back and running. A few others still exist but are in very poor shape. I scouted some of those last month and then headed up today to start work clearing one of them. It has seen minimal traffic since 2013.


Before. Tread still exists below the wall of brush, straight ahead. Had to mark it with ribbon to stay on track.



After




I was about 2/3 of the way to my goal for the day when this happened. Good thing it has a lifetime warranty lol.




Limped through a bit more cutting then switched and cleaned up some of the tread.




Also cleaned up this entrance to a wash crossing that was badly rutted. Can't do much with the dirt right now but at least the rut is gone. Got about 1/3 mile total brushed. There is another 2/3 mile to go on this trail and then similar distance on a trail above this to bring this ride back. Perfect day, temps never got above 60.

[grskier]

Re: the leaf blower, it isn't 'just' for getting things off the trail... after you cut a trail, sometimes you want to renaturalize it..... so you blow leaves back over the cut, then just blow off a tighter single track.

[toast2266]

Headed up to the mountains today to work on some neglected trail. This area burned in 2013 and was under closure order for 4-5 years. Huge bummer as there was a killer network and a planning process was underway to adopt many of the trails. A year after the forest re-opened locals were just getting a few trails back in shape when some asshole thought it would be a good idea to fire flares up onto a hillside covered in sage/chaparral. The second fire burned everything the first one missed, and then some. Fortunately the second closure was only for a year, but the toll on trails has been severe. A lot are gone completely, no trace left whatsoever. A handful are back and running. A few others still exist but are in very poor shape. I scouted some of those last month and then headed up today to start work clearing one of them. It has seen minimal traffic since 2013.


Before. Tread still exists below the wall of brush, straight ahead. Had to mark it with ribbon to stay on track.



After




I was about 2/3 of the way to my goal for the day when this happened. Good thing it has a lifetime warranty lol.




Limped through a bit more cutting then switched and cleaned up some of the tread.




Also cleaned up this entrance to a wash crossing that was badly rutted. Can't do much with the dirt right now but at least the rut is gone. Got about 1/3 mile total brushed. There is another 2/3 mile to go on this trail and then similar distance on a trail above this to bring this ride back. Perfect day, temps never got above 60.

It's crazy to me how fast nature will reclaim trails if use pauses for even a year or two. It kind of makes me question the massive environmental review that's required on a lot of these projects.

Nice work on getting that stuff back up and running.

[RoooR]

This line is coming in nicely. Using an old road cut for a step-up to 180 berm.

[evdog]

It's crazy to me how fast nature will reclaim trails if use pauses for even a year or two. It kind of makes me question the massive environmental review that's required on a lot of these projects.

Thanks, and agreed on the environmental review. A single hand built trail or re-routes should be below scope for a full review. Walk it with the biologist and maybe an archaeologist depending on the area. Adjust the design if needed, then go build.

For major trail additions (and dirt freeways like above) sure, since those will bring in a lot more people and probably include upgraded facilities or trailhead parking.

[thefortrees]

Lol, $200 fine...

[jamal]

We're almost done with the first part of this big mount dean stone project. Hopefully all we've built will be open in june sometime

[Iowagriz]

Jamal, thanks for being a leader in the local MTB community. It is appreciated.

Sent from my SM-T580 using Tapatalk

[klauss]

Taking advantage of this rain

[RootSkier]

This line is coming in nicely. Using an old road cut for a step-up to 180 berm.

Where is this, RoooR?