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Dirt and flat rock quality insane in this zone. Got a chance to assist on refurbishing this berm and (hopefully permanently) fixing this steep section leading to another berm
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We've been getting a lot of rain which makes the soil workable. Haven't hooked up with a build crew yet, so just doing maintenance here and there. Opened up an S-turn yesterday from a couple blow downs...so might as well make a skinny.https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...e0afc85c6a.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...c8046557fa.jpg
Another great day throwing dirt with @falcon3
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Finished up Greenland rework!
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Nice timing with the return of winter. We didn’t top out on Blast off… we have like 3 features left!
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Was motivated! Now things will hopefully all get dumped on with snow.Quote:
Originally Posted by SkiLyft
I've got a fairly massive drainage issue to deal with on some 7 year old trail but really want to put it off so as to ski pow
Drained the swamp. Half wheel deep series of linked puddles on Lower CBuster that developed over a decade since the last time we worked on it to raise the trailbed
Step 1. Dig a body sized hole for water to drain. You know those shows where protagonist digs 2m deep just using a shovel and no pick and they dig straight down and it looks so easy and quick!?! LIES!
Step 2. Gradually scoop and remove organic off trailbed. Let simmer and dry over a period of a day
Step 3. Come back a day later. Dig more holes for drainage in the (now much smaller puddles). Remove more muck. Place rock on spots prone to slumping. Place dirt and shape to taste.
Step 4. Finish in the dark, again. Thoughts and prayers that people will pay attention and not fall into obvious drainage ditches (the trail is used for night walks, night rides, and by lots of users, 800% increase in a decade).
Next. Yet more mudholes
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Nice work Lee!
Winter trail building spot in Kingman, Arizona.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lnXXvjbL3JI
Nice RA!
"38 is cold!" [emoji16]
Looks like relatively tough soil to work with? Assuming moisture is really nice to have when it happens.
Thanks man. The soil is really easy to work with honestly but that's if you can find any. Those formations are mostly rock with small deposits of soil getting captured on small ledges and the like. When you dig into it and it's aerated it's incredibly light and fluffy but once you add water to it and some compaction it sets up really good. It has that magic amount of clay in it for adhesion. The jumps on that system weren't planned at all, we discovered soil deposits in little catch basins within the design that could be used for jumps. With Dad Jumps we had to rethink the design and rearrange a couple of junctions and add a little bit here and there.Quote:
Originally Posted by jackstraw
So what do you do, if anything, to modify the rock to make a trail? Watching the GoPro it was somewhat difficult to see where the trail was going, but that is probably just video. With granite, there was nothing we could do but add features to get up, down, and bridge between. Sometimes incredibly difficult or impossible, but riding natural rock is so fun. Here in SC the soil is ridiculously workable with moisture. Dry it's unpackable powder. But there is virtually no rock, so very little trials type tech. Steep af fast dh tech all over the place tho.
Yeah, there are a few spots where we had to jack hammer the rock or do some rock work to bridge a few gaps here and there but for the most part the place just provides. The rock is perfect for rolling tires in most places. That's what got me so excited on my first visit there. I met the City and Parks Manager and he asked me to go look around to see if more trails were a good idea, after I went on an exploratory hike I came running back to tell him that we HAD to build a legit system there because it was that damn good.Quote:
Originally Posted by jackstraw
We have been adding more and more white dots to make things easier to follow. This is especially helpful in the faster sections.
Jack hammer! That is a tool I haven't used building trail yet [emoji28]
Now that I'm back west side I'm going to make a trip to AZ for some riding at some point. A bunch of ec'ers were just in Sedona for a trip. I wanted to join, but my world is still a wee bit chaotic.
I'm being extremely lazy with my poison oak identification. Did a reroute due to a partial blowdown and the 70' widow remaining is soon to follow. But damn there was very little green in this spot, but I guess some oak was in there. Currently rashes between sock and knee pad on legs...and eye socket. Whata kook I am.
Reroute set up perfectly though with a little jump to start and flows into a preexisting big berm all on a downhill. Probably where the og line should have been from the beginning. Pic is not great.
OG line is left and the downed tree is blocking. A little reroute was made just to the right. My new reroute is far right. The rest of the widow is the tree with the big left-hand bend. The thing is huge and completely rotten. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...655d21d17f.jpg
Spent a few hours last weekend doing erosion repair. There were a few spots on local trails where the rain ruts had become about 4" deep, and exactly a tire width wide. So if you got stuck in one, things were going to get bad quickly. I threw in a few drainages where I could to hopefully get a bit of the water off before it accelerates.
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At least in our area (California), the leaves drop off of poison oak in the winter but the remaining sticks or vines still have the urushiol. So you can start hacking through what just looks like dry brush to build a reroute or a new trail and end up with it all over.Quote:
Originally Posted by jackstraw
It's always the oak you don't see that gets you the worst. I did a snow ride at Syncline near Portland one year, and had a couple crashes in the snow. Apparently the bushes under the snow was oak, and I was rolling in it. I got one of my worst ever PO rashes that day since I had no clue I had it on me. The 20 hour drive home was real fun!Quote:
Originally Posted by jackstraw
I might have to stop in next week on the drive home and check out your work!
Yup. Basically even in winter, if I go off trail at all during trail work, I go through the decon procedure: clothes go straight into the washer with lots of soap, I lather down legs, arms, waist, and neck with Dawn blue in the shower.Quote:
Originally Posted by teledad
In wet weather, or if you are sweating through your clothes, poison oak is worse because the saturated clothes help the oil get through to your skin. If I’m around a lot of it I keep rain gear on for this reason even if I don’t feel like I need it. I’ve even done basketball shorts and a t-shirt under heavy rain gear to keep from overheating.
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Ha! My kid just told me that!Quote:
Originally Posted by teledad
I haven't done much here at all. Just some maintenance, but would luv to meet up and go for a ride. Starting to learn my way around.Quote:
Originally Posted by evdog
Edit to add this pic. Far right is what i cleaned. I did a lot of chainsaw work on this reroute, so good chance cutting and or picking all the logs up I was splashing myself with urushiol! There was many logs visible and buried. It was a unique situation for me as I hadn't built new in CA yet. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...e1280ecb2d.jpg
60mm of rain overnight. 89mm after I got done dumbing down some mudholes.
Hiked in to see if the pre-AR work survived (it did). Picked two high spots where there wouldn't be standing water to see if they could be fixed.
First spot was a rocked previously narrow uphill section which got mildly technical. Apparently not enduro or 28er friendly enough as people braided it causing a fair sized mudhole. Dug out the mudhole about half a body size to create a ditch. Used rocks to fill in mudhole. Used the mineral soil from the half body ditch to pave the uphill to make it more kinder, gentler and inclusive.
Second spot is your basic standing water puddle which, at least, had the potential to drain. Dug out the low side about a body size. Used the soil for yet more inclusivity to pave away any of the technical rocks or roots. Then breached the dam to release the puddle into the low side.
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^it's supposed to be snowing!! Faak!
We're wet here to, but its been great dirt digging weather. Of course too many dolts continue to ride.
Cleaned up a blowdown today. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...e06411fce4.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...185e26cfa1.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...c3d1f2a950.jpg
Jack. When's your BC interior trip? Supposed to recover next week. I'm taking a day to clear drains up, rake skinnies and put in teeter totters here today
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Headed up Thursday. Kinda bummed with the forecast, but hoping for the best.Quote:
Originally Posted by LeeLau
Friday is the return to cooler temps . I'd say you missed the worse of it.
Continuing operation Dry Bum in Lower Cuntbuster
At the junction of Lower CB and Penny Lane, water had breached an old grade reversal. Not surprising given 170mm precip in 4 days. Put in 2 grade reversals and drastically overbuilt them. Used excess rock and gold to pave the trail and remove technicality for enduro friendlinessAttachment 485010Attachment 485011Attachment 485012Attachment 485013Attachment 485014
I am concerned about the snowpack. We're hitting Valhalla.
Never finished this little skinny until on the ride today. Not sure the soil will hold on the root ball. Most likely pretty hollow underneath. Fun little one. Works both ways.https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...29e3f52e5a.jpg
Cleanup on last winter's project:
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Making progress on this winter's:
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^ are you in Norcal? I recognize the bane of my existence (eucs). I just spent 2 hours last night raking out blowdown from them on 1 of our trails last night after the last round of storms. They're such garbage trees, constantly dropping bark strips and dead branches.
Recent rain meant time to dig
This was a project I never got to last year. We had so much water flowing off the slope to the right it eroded the line in between the rocks.
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After: I found some nice flat rocks and laid them in to raise the trail bed back up and keep it above the level of the drain on the left.
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Went out during a break in the storm late in the week and re-shaped and built up this berm. Rain held off just long enough to finish this project off
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Another berm that was on my list to widen and re-shape. Looked kind of anemic before.
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Much better now.
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Tiny tarantula I found. Could have sat him on a nickel and his feet would barely touch the edges.
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Wicked berm light Ev.
Millbill your work looks inviting
We got some rain and wind when I was gone. Wandered around yesterday with my chainsaw to clean up whatever I came upon. Three substantial blowdowns, but I barely covered any ground. Got a beginner skinny out of one on a greenish trail [emoji106] Head out today to work some drainage areas. It will be a bit before many trails "should" be ridden. Of course, some kooks were out yesterday. Ignorance is bliss. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...7c1989c2cb.jpg
Yes - across a bridge from you i think.Quote:
Originally Posted by Andeh
They drop lots of bullshit but since they're an invasive the grey ponytail crowd can't say shit about trails built thru the middle of old euc timber plantations. At least that'll be my argument when it gets found.
Thanks, it shows pretty well this time of year.Quote:
Originally Posted by LeeLau
Reworked the trenches in this berm two weeks ago. It collects water and becomes a mud pit...and gets ridden when wet. Was a soupy mess again yesterday, so I cleaned it up and made a temp detour until it dries out.
Did a bunch of drainage work and more dirt work as well. Whoever built this trail did a great job. I'm just trying to do some sustainability maintenance. Quite a few springs feed into it and it's heavily traveled. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...f2d10eb09d.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...2c192ede7b.jpg
Read that as "as invasive as the grey ponytail crowd." Fucking NIMBY boomers lol. The county is going to town logging the shit out of the eucs in the local park because it butts right up against a neighborhood and is causing CalFire to list it as a "red" fire hazard. Even still, some of the grey ponytails are complaining about the logging. Downside: we have to dig out the trails after the tree clearing crews go through. Upside: blank canvas for new trails.Quote:
Originally Posted by mildbill.
I’m glad there’s finally movement on Eucalyptus removal around the bay. It’s going to take decades though. What a mess.
Speaking of messes, spent Saturday’s “ride” clearing lots of branches and deadfall after those storms. Forgot to take pictures, but the silky saws are getting a workout this winter!
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Spent some time re-benching a section of trail that sucks. This section is plagued by cobbles and steep enough that more of them constantly get exposed and then kicked loose.
As usual for Socal, riders just migrate over a few inches to find a clean line. This section of trail had migrated 2-3 feet down hill from the original line.
Re-benching won't solve the cobbles problem but hopefully it will stop the trail from migrating any further.
Before:
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During. I realigned the bottom to cut off the corner somewhat and added a berm. This should allow riders to carry more speed into the climb and reduce braking for those headed the other direction.
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After:
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Look at all that rock! [emoji16] Limited supply of that stuff up here. It's so critical (from my perspective) when building sustainable trails with drainage issues.
Still trying to figure out how to reduce brake bumps on certain sections. That may not be possible without rerouting which I would never do to someone else's build.
Yeah, we've got so little rock here that the original cobbly bit looks fun as hell to me. On one of our trails all the topsoil finally got worn down enough to decomposed granite and it's super fun loose chunky now that keeps you on your toes.
I guess if we didn't have so much of it I wouldn't mind the cobbles but seems like every steepish section of trail in some areas has a ton of them. And as the trail gets worn in they get worse and worse. My least favorite kind of trail to ride.
Unfortunately the cobbles often come with clay heavy soil so the rocks don't help a lot with drainage. Lower down on this same trail is a bunch of soupy muck sprinkled with cobbles. Its miserable to work with whether it's dry, wet, or anything in between.
I caught this section at the best possible time. Another day or two and the dirt would have been rock hard.
This below is the sort of rock I love...chunky, gnarly goodness, with plenty of options for side features.
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