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

[toast2266]

You're killing me with this! Reminds me of videos of the Captain Ahab build. I'm working sidehill in a spot of deep organic loam with lots of roots and random glacial erratics. It'd be great to have telekinesis to move some of those erratics into the massive holes I'm excavating but till then it's dreaming of chains, come-alongs and mostly just trundling rocks downhill and hoping they land in place

Well, most of what we've been doing is of the "trundle downhill and hope it stops kinda in the right spot" variety. But yesterday's project was a little more involved. We actually had one really big rock that was the primary objective, but of course as soon as we started yanking on it, it broke in half. So we moved two pretty big rocks instead (plus a bonus big rock that we found under the main one). The trail is close to a road, so hauling in all of the chains and come alongs is pretty easy. If this was more remote, I'm not sure we'd bother.

[jackstraw]

Wow! That's sick! I've never thought to bring my come along out to move rock.

My son and his friends have been working on their first trail. Its coming out great. Nice addition to the local stuff from the house.

[rip]

I raked a lip yesterday... On a trail I helped build last year. Someone had got in here ahead of me and packed out a few lips, didn't get this one exactly right so I fixed it.



Edit- facking sideways bs

[grinch]

I can only reset the loose rocks soo many times. Been stuck on "4 more buckets" for the last 10. #loserocks

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[grinch]

Might not be the best name for your product. Fisker was sold out though

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[LeeLau]

Record for trailwork inefficiency.. 8 hours of work for 1 second of riding.

Massive loam hump with embedded rocks. Rocked in the base. Scooped away the loam and warehoused it to expose 4 large rocks stacked on top of each other.

Excavated holes for the rocks to drop into and hope I got it right first time as they were big suckers. Then scooped away the high side loam to expose mineral soil which was then dropped onto the rocks for the final paving

[grinch]

Yeesh! It did finish up nice though

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[jamal]

The beginnings of some new trail



This is going to be the connection over the top of mount dean stone, a big new open space project here. Even though it's not mountain bike specific, we get to provide a lot of input and do work so it should still be fun to ride. We were up there

[teledad]

Lousy weather today (mid-30s with rain and snow) so figured it would be a good time for some trail maintenance (fewer people on the trail). This is a little "unofficial" trail near my house with some jumps and steeper sections higher up but towards the bottom it snakes through the trees without a lot of elevation change. At one spot a seasonal creek was hitting it and running down the trail for about 200 feet, causing a lot of erosion during the spring melt. I built a drain at the top where it crossed the trail to keep the water going into the natural creekbed rather than diverting along the trail. Also used some scavenged wood to help keep people on the trail rather than fanning out at the crossing (careful not to block the water flow though). By the time I was done the trail below the creek crossing (top left of the picture) was already starting to dry out.



This one's still a work in progress - trying to fix a low spot where the trail runs through a marshy area. Not much slope to work with. Managed to improve the flow of the creek across the trail and built a drain to remove some of the water that was running along the tread. The muddy section at the top of the picture is mostly drained now, need to let the soil dry out a bit and then go back to tamp it. Need to do something about the puddle in the foreground though.

[jackstraw]

^Seems like bridging is the only long term solution. We have a similar spot and we initially bridged over the main narrow stream with just a 2x10 and created a rock path on either side and it just didn't work. The rocks sank into the mud during the wet season and a lot of people couldn't stay on them as it was like riding a fat skinny. We ended up low bridging the entire thing.

Saturday we put in about 4hrs of work. This is by far the most difficult new trail layout I've been a part of especially because it's sanctioned and has requirements...to be rideable by the owner! Spending so much time on routing...making it ride both ways is super challenging. We now have two areas where there is a B line up. Maybe a 1/4 of the way there now. Too hot and too much pollen!

[jamal]

I'd think some sort of raised section of trail. We did something like that last year and this spring I noticed that it needed to be about twice as long as there was still mud before and after it.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BxXhogkncQT/

[toast2266]

Seems like the solution just depends on the situation. Close to a road where you can bring in materials? Just buy some pressure treated dimensional lumber and build a bridge. Good wood (cedar) available on site? Build a bridge out of local material. Close to a source of gravel? Build up the tread and install a culvert. Lots of rock available? Build up tread with cobbles, install culvert, fill tread with mineral soil. None of the above? Leave it until it gets bad enough that someone is motivated to haul materials in the hard way.

[jackstraw]

I'd think some sort of raised section of trail. We did something like that last year and this spring I noticed that it needed to be about twice as long as there was still mud before and after it.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BxXhogkncQT/

Is that rock covered with a poly or rubber membrane and then dirt on top?

[toast2266]

Is that rock covered with a poly or rubber membrane and then dirt on top?

Looks like landscaping fabric to keep weeds from coming up.

[rip]

While building a low bridge would definitely fix this spot you may be able to troubleshoot it with some old fashioned ditch digging. It looks fairly flat but probably still enough fall to take trenches above and parallel to the trail fall line towards an armored crossing at the low spot. This is assuming that you can harvest up some gravel and some decent sized stones. Also it’s hard to tell from the picture if that’s just dark dirt or organics in the tread, but if you can take off the organic material and get down to (or import) a mineral dirt it will shed water much better

[rip]

Question: looking to pick up a rope saw, never used one. Anyone have any nuggets to drop on the subject? Recommended length, handle type, chain or rope?

I've got access to a trail boss with saw attachment when needed and really like that, looking for something to keep stashed in the pack for rando downed trees.

[toast2266]

Question: looking to pick up a rope saw, never used one. Anyone have any nuggets to drop on the subject? Recommended length, handle type, chain or rope?

I've got access to a trail boss with saw attachment when needed and really like that, looking for something to keep stashed in the pack for rando downed trees.

I've only used one a little bit, but it was vastly less efficient than a folding saw. Maybe a good version exists? Not sure.

[rip]

Thanks, that's kinda what I figured. They seem kinda clunky and awkward. Maybe someone has figured it out and made a nice one, but I ended up ordering a Sven Saw, used them before and they are pretty bad ass. A little more bulky but should strap to the pack no prob and do the trick.

http://www.svensaw.com/

[CS]

I carried one of those little chain saws for a while and thought it was great til I had to cut some harder wood. Holy crap did it suck.

I just recently ordered one of these. Had to use it saturday and that baby was like a hot knife through butter.

[grinch]

Anyone seen or tried one of these? The packability is attractive if it works. It could be a pain to get stuck i think

https://www.portablechainsaw.com/


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[climberevan]

Anyone seen or tried one of these? The packability is attractive if it works. It could be a pain to get stuck i think

https://www.portablechainsaw.com/


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A moto friend made a video of cutting the same ~8" log with one of those and with a Silky. The chainsaw chain with handles did the job, eventually, but the verdict was that the Silky was faster and way easier to control. Plus you pretty much need 2 people to run the chain efficiently.

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[grinch]

A moto friend made a video of cutting the same ~8" log with one of those and with a Silky. The chainsaw chain with handles did the job, eventually, but the verdict was that the Silky was faster and way easier to control. Plus you pretty much need 2 people to run the chain efficiently.

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Thanks, I was just looking through MEC’s collection. They stock the silky, Sven, and that “potable saw”. Silky and Sven both had 4 1/2 stars and good reviews. They both sound very good. Might need a quiver and try them both. Not bad pricing. Portable saw was at 3 stars

[bennymac]

I asked for a chainsaw. My wife bought me the silky instead. It’s so easy to pack around. It won’t let me cut down things I would just hurt myself doing if I tried. Some fallen trees take 2-3 cuts to manage = more exercise. I’m happy with it. She’s happy I’m coming home without significant blood loss or head injuries.

[grinch]

I asked for a chainsaw. My wife bought me the silky instead. It’s so easy to pack around. It won’t let me cut down things I would just hurt myself doing if I tried. Some fallen trees take 2-3 cuts to manage = more exercise. I’m happy with it. She’s happy I’m coming home without significant blood loss or head injuries.

Haaa We all need that voice of reason. I take a saw course every 2 years and randomly have to cut the odd tree that hits the highway. I dont mind but id rather not use one unless i have to and someone is paying me

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[jackstraw]

Day 3. It's coming along.