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

[Clownshoe]

All the rain lately has been causing some serious issues at our local trail network. Decided to take the morning and create some new drainage…saw Clownshoe’s work up above and thought it would work well here. Trail dog approved…Attachment 461589

Nice work and extra points for the trail dog

[Clownshoe]

Thanks to everyone for the dig stoke! This thread is definitely keeping me motivated to get out on my project.

Same trail, a bit further down. This corner was becoming really off camber as it wore in and roots starting emerging, and not in a good way. I always imagined a berm here. It was time to get this done.
All the roots were sliced and dug out. There was a decent spot for harvesting good dirt nearby and much dirt was bucketed. good dirt close to the spot, old sacrificial riding gloves, sativa (not pictured), champagne.
progress
Voila! New berm

[Clownshoe]

On poison ivy: I think I’m immune. I’ve frequently been around when co-workers got it and I’ve not gotten it. Recently I built a section of trail in northern Cali with tons of PI. I used a 2stroke blower to blast all the PI out of the way instead of going at it with hand tools. I never thought about the fact I was just putting it in the air and breathing it in.

[bigwaterbird]

Nice work and extra points for the trail dog

Thanks! She got in some mileage running along side the atv. Not enough to deter her from getting some extra credit with a few random riders though…[emoji23]

[evdog]

Back out to work on the re-route, with some extra hands

This is the section we're bypassing. It has been a bit of a problem every year. This year riders who couldn't wait for dry trails made a mess both here and behind the photo by going off trail to avoid the mud.




I wanted to get this re-route finished in time for the weekend. Big task was to get a couple of big rocks moved. This one would just barely budge with a full size rock bar.




We alternated levering it up a bit with the bar and shoving a rock underneath it. Re-position, lift, move rock further underneath, and add a larger rock at the front. Lift, repeat.




Getting there




I gave it a push when it was just short of vertical, and over it went.




Finished product. The second rock was smaller and round-ish and was easily rolled in behind the big one




The other task was to connect each end of the re-route, maybe 30 feet of brushing and tread cutting on each end.






Better pic of the ramp I'd built the other day. I rode out there yesterday and got first tracks even at mid-day. The turnoff goes up a rock slab so there are no tracks to follow, so people haven't noticed yet that it is there

[sb]

Rocks for roll

[Clownshoe]

Nice work. Few things are as satisfying as moving a giant rock onto or off of your trail. No one will ever notice but you, but that’s ok.

[VTskibum]

^^^ plus all the poor saps who are unlucky enough to be w/in ear shot as you repeat the story to them when riding past. Buddy and I built a rocky line a decade ago that has been ridden by several thousand people by now and while I don’t say anything anymore, I definitely think it.


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[Clownshoe]

I built a sweet rock culvert on a trail about a decade ago. I found the most perfect big flat rock to be the cap. I insist on stopping and making my riding partners acknowledge my fine work anytime I ride by it.

[VTskibum]

Just spent a good hour procrastinating this afternoon... neighbor block away has a swimming pool size pile of dirt in their yard. I'm kicking around ideas how to relocate that down to my pump track. Normally wouldn't be a big deal, but sizeable elevation difference and steepness makes it impractical for normal dirt moving options. Skid steer or dingo could make it up and down, but is pretty steep which sketches me out more than a bunch of e-assisted wheelbarrow trips. Also skid steer on/near my neighbors grass would upset an already contentious situation.

Instead kicking around buying/installing an electric hub motor powered wheelbarrow wheel via AliExpress for around $250 shipped. Anyone ever used one for material hauling for similar purpose?

Few examples floating around YouTube look semi promising.

[raisingarizona13]

Just spent a good hour procrastinating this afternoon... neighbor block away has a swimming pool size pile of dirt in their yard. I'm kicking around ideas how to relocate that down to my pump track. Normally wouldn't be a big deal, but sizeable elevation difference and steepness makes it impractical for normal dirt moving options. Skid steer or dingo could make it up and down, but is pretty steep which sketches me out more than a bunch of e-assisted wheelbarrow trips. Also skid steer on/near my neighbors grass would upset an already contentious situation.

Instead kicking around buying/installing an electric hub motor powered wheelbarrow wheel via AliExpress for around $250 shipped. Anyone ever used one for material hauling for similar purpose?

Few examples floating around YouTube look semi promising.

No but I imagine it won't function for very long. Not for that price.

[Andeh]

Go talk to their contractor. Ask them to dump it in front of your house for a bit of cash. They'd have to haul it off otherwise (and spend more money on fuel), and possibly pay a dump fee unless you live someplace flat like Indiana where they get paid for dirt.

[VTskibum]

Imagine you're right that the contractor would be pretty happy to get it to my driveway, its the part from my driveway to my backyard that is the problem.

Still debating the wheelbarrow hub motor. May just get it delivered and chip away w/ individual loads for a while. Another neighbor has a gator that may be useful if I can talk him into it.

[toast2266]

I don't know how literal the "swimming pool size pile of dirt" statement is, but that'd be somewhere in the neighborhood of 100 yards of dirt. There is no fucking way I'd move 100 yards of dirt with a wheelbarrow. That'd take ~1200 trips to move the whole pile.

[zion zig zag]

How far do you have to move it?

https://www.sunbeltrentals.com/equip...ction/0440219/


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[ironhippy]

In the 70's my parents had a dirt driveway. My dad got someone to drop off a bunch of gravel.
My mom (who had just given birth to my older sister) spent the day spreading the gravel down the driveway.
At about 4 PM, some guy showed up with a bulldozer asking who spread out the gravel already.

Get the contractor to move it to your yard and then rent a skid steer for a day?

[VTskibum]

Ha not planning on actually getting a whole pool worth of dirt. They have a big pile, guessing 20 yards worth??

And for scale got some pics this morning…

Driveway ends where truck is, down this steep-ish slope, up the berm and then down a bit steeper to the track. My neighbor (house/grass line on the right) is super picky about his grass which I’d have to drive on w a skid loader.


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[evdog]

Started work on a new trail recently. Found a good line down a slope loaded with big pillow rocks that will be an alternate ending to an existing trail. Not a long one but should be pretty fun. No dirt work yet, just brushing the line for now. Will probably work on transitions and leave any dirt moving until winter. Fun to work on something new rather than just maintenance!

[sb]

Looks super chunky

[smmokan]

Etiquette question for the trail builders out there. Earlier this week I found a "new" trail in an area where virtually everything is unmarked; this new trail is laid out well, but parts of it are unfinished either on purpose, or the builder gave up. It looks like someone built it last fall or earlier this year, and no one has ridden it since (it's almost impossible to find, and it's not on Strava Heatmap).

What's standard etiquette/courtesy in terms of going in and cleaning things up and giving the trail some love? I'd like to clean up the tread, cut some branches, and make the trail easier to follow up top. I don't plan on changing the character of the trail at all - if anything, I might add an alternate line or two but even that's doubtful. Essentially I just want to "finish" the trail so it's more fun to ride.

[californiagrown]

Etiquette question for the trail builders out there. Earlier this week I found a "new" trail in an area where virtually everything is unmarked; this new trail is laid out well, but parts of it are unfinished either on purpose, or the builder gave up. It looks like someone built it last fall or earlier this year, and no one has ridden it since (it's almost impossible to find, and it's not on Strava Heatmap).

What's standard etiquette/courtesy in terms of going in and cleaning things up and giving the trail some love? I'd like to clean up the tread, cut some branches, and make the trail easier to follow up top. I don't plan on changing the character of the trail at all - if anything, I might add an alternate line or two but even that's doubtful. Essentially I just want to "finish" the trail so it's more fun to ride.

Dont make the trail easier to find.
brushing is always appreciated
If you arent sure of the builders intentions, dont change or improve the trail... they might be wanting a rakenride loamer that you see as "hard to follow". Or a janky, awkward, slow challenging trail that you see as having no flow or fun.
Dont ever build a ride around for a difficult feature as it might intentionally be a squirrel catcher.
If the trail has been abandoned for a calendar year, go ahead and adopt it. If its only been abandoned for a few months, the builder might be injured, busy, traveling, riding or whatever else and plans to get back to finish the trail in the fall/winter/spring.
If you really want to do some work on the trail, create a burner gmail account, find the tool stash and leave your email address with a note saying you are working on their trail and would love to meet up.

[jm2e]

If it’s abandoned, I’d say finish it.


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[smmokan]

If it’s abandoned, I’d say finish it.

I don't know if it's abandoned yet, as I just found it. I can't do anything for another month anyways, so I'll do some poking around first.

[Clownshoe]

Leave a note somewhere on the trail asking if it’s cool to work on it. Be prepared to wait months to hear back. On my rogue trail, I stopped building for months at a time, for a variety of reasons. It wasn’t abandoned, just unfinished.

Definitely don’t build any ride arounds! This is a huge faux pas.

Or alternatively, build your own trail. Then it can be exactly what you want it to be.

[evdog]

Agreed I would touch much on it. Trimming branches probably ok as they may have grown in since the original work was done. Hard to say without seeing it but I probably wouldn't clean up the tread and definitely wouldn't add any new lines. As others said leave a note if you cant find out who built it through other means. I've done that and never heard back. But have also left notes for people "fixing" my trails which got them to stop (sometimes). The new trail I posted a couple months back is a good example. Haven't been back since that day, probably wont be until November. I'd be pissed if someone started working on it.