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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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