The Geeky Trail Building Thread

[Harvey]

I took my daughter on an overnight camping and trail work mission this weekend. There was some final touches needed on some rock work near the top section we built last fall so I used my free time to get it done.

Very cool! That last feature is insane. Nice work.

 

[raisingarizona]

Very cool! That last feature is insane. Nice work.

Thanks Harv. Our next rock work project on this trail is much bigger than that one but it’s on a better slope at least. We had to drop in the big rocks to build trail there. It was all slab and completely cookeddort from last summers fire. It was fun lowering in 500+ pound rocks from above with the grip hoist.

 

[raisingarizona]

I just got back from four days of building and camping out on top of Elden. We had crew leads come in from Utah for a rock work training so we could knock out the crux of this trail alignment and we got it done! I’m super stoked since this damn thing was keeping me up at night knowing that are budget is quickly running out.

 

[raisingarizona]

The trail builders really brought it for sure!

We were on for only three days this past week but it hurt real bad. I had to lead on 8 retaining wall builds. Oof.

 

[jasonwx]

Sick bench cut..

 

[raisingarizona]

Here’s photos from the current Trail Faeries Project. This is a connector trail from the Arizona Trail down to Shultz Creek Trail.

The trail goes past this sweet view point.

We did some rock work to make that left option work up and over the off camber boulder.

This is the trail next to the view point.

 

[Harvey]

Shout out to @raisingarizona and everyone else for this incredible thread. A few days ago I had a trail building question and it got me thinking about bringing this thread over. I was on the fence about doing the work because there is no ScottyJack to own all the great content he posted, but I'm glad I did it. All the pics are right side up too. ?

 

[raisingarizona]

Sweet! Thanks for that Harv. I'll update it soon. I've been up to quite a bit lately.

 

[Harvey]

So we have about two miles of single track on our property. It's relatively new especially when you consider how much it has been ridden (and walked and skied).

Our land is ledge-y. At around 1900 feet in the Adks, that isn't really uncommon. I guess that puts the tree roots near the surface.

It seems that as the soil gets more compressed more roots are exposed. When I look at @raisingarizona 's pics and ScottyJack's pics in the old thread, it looks like a lot of work has gone into making them more dirt and less root, or maybe that is because you just have more soil than I do.

I have been cutting some of the roots out with loppers. I guess that could kill some trees, but it is what it is. Any advice on how I should be approaching this? With the amount of time I spend there now, and just being one person, it would take me a long time to get through two miles with a pick.

 

[greif]

Not so much trail building as trail maintenance; here is a weed wacker accessory that works very well;

My initial problem with the OEM self feed string trimmer head was that the string sometimes did not feed. I found that this was mostly due to when used for a long time the head heats up and the string tends to weld itself together. The other problem was that tall grass and vines wrapped around and got into the gap of the rotating head- they took a long time to clean out and made a lot of friction, which made the head hotter (I melted the plastic on one head!) and sometimes smoked.

My solution was to give up on the self feed altogether and go to a head which can used very heavy string (cuts better and lasts longer). A bonus was that the rotating section was properly designed so that grass cannot wrap into the housing.

The Trimmer Plus AS720, fits Ryobi Expand-It and similar;
COMPATIBILITY: Fits Attachment capable Units from Troy-Belt, Remington, Craftsman, yard machines, yardman, Snapper, Boles, Murray, Ryobi, Green works, Cobalt and most other major brands. Inner coupler tube Diameter: 1. 65-Inches. Drive Shaft connector: Square shape, 1/5”, Female.

Amazon.com : TrimmerPlus AS720 34-Inch Extended Reach Aluminum Fixed Line Head for Attachment Capable String Trimmers, Polesaws, and Powerheads Boom : Garden & Outdoor

Amazon.com : TrimmerPlus AS720 34-Inch Extended Reach Aluminum Fixed Line Head for Attachment Capable String Trimmers, Polesaws, and Powerheads Boom : Garden & Outdoor

smile.amazon.com

I have used this heavily for 2 years, I think It is starting to make some noise (hard to tell with motor going). I can use a second one, so I will open up the first to see what is going on. 2 years with the abuse I give it is not bad. Cost about $70.

As far as trimmer line goes, I have had good luck with Huskvarna 0.1" Titanium line.

Amazon.com : Husqvarna string trimmer line .105-Inch 115ft spool Titanium Force High efficiency Long life Faster acceleration : Multitools : Garden & Outdoor

Amazon.com : Husqvarna string trimmer line .105-Inch 115ft spool Titanium Force High efficiency Long life Faster acceleration : Multitools : Garden & Outdoor

smile.amazon.com