Repairing Trails

[Megrizzly]

I have a remote cabin that is used primarily for hunting in the fall and snowmobiling in winter. Our trails have deteriorated with the last 5-10 years of poor weather, especially heavily travelled main trails or vital access trails. Usually logging operations would fix a fair portion, but logging has completely ceased. The trails are all clay based and much of the work would be fixing ruts, filling holes, digging drains/dams or repairing erosion areas, removing rocks, roots, or stumps, and some branch/willow removal. The trails are about the width of a tracked argo and there would be about 20-25 miles worth. Due to a bridge issue near the parking area, the machine would be driven into camp in late march and then used during the summer.

I've been looking at purchasing a mini excavator (+/-3.5 ton) to complete the project. I think theres too much variety for a skid-steer.

Is this the right direction to go?

 

[rzrgade]

I would go the route of a tracked skid steer with a stump removal bucket , and regular bucket ...
Way to slow on a small hoe .
I use Both a lot and 95% of what you want can be done with a tracked skid steer with right attachments.

 

[rzrgade]

A six way dozer blade would be handy as well ( heavy duty )

 

[Megrizzly]

The initial thought was a multi terrain loader, but then shifted to an excavator for the versatility part with minimal attachments. I'm not crunched for time, but from a budget standpoint, the skid steers seem more expensive. What size of skid steer would you recommend?

 

[rzrgade]

70 ish HP would be fine .
Remember you have the ability to move dirt & clay quite a ways by bucket with a CTL.
You can not do that with a mini exc., so filling holes with dry clay would be tough in spots . Both would be handy , but you would be surprised what a Ctl can do & dig with right attachments....

 

[busted2x]

Could you get a small backhoe down there? We bought an older 580k (4wd) when we started building our acreage, not much wider than a good sized track unit, but it's super impressive what you can get done with it.

 

[Megrizzly]

The main concern with a backhoe is weight. While there are good areas that would handle a backhoe, there's also lots of more sensitive areas that would not. The idea is to find something that is big enough to do the job, but also small enough. So far, its still down to either a ctl or mini ex.