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Ray that's the only start of the process. Lots going to change. Have you ridden out at bighorn much?
Trail Repairs 2016
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Ray that's the only start of the process. Lots going to change. Have you ridden out at bighorn much?
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- #82
Maybe 5 or 6 times over the last 10 years
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- #83
That group has been working hard to keep trails open and sustainable use for long term. Erosion, water crossing issues. Bighorn Trail Group
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- #84
We are at Outwest this weekend and a couple more to get the Snow and Mud Trail up and going again. See how the bridges did over the winter
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- #85
Bridges are not bad. One needs a new decking as it all knocked off. Just another day doing work to improve responsible trail use. Get wheels out of flowing water.
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- #86
Bridges are holding up very well considering the year round use on them.
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Spent the weekend on trail from Dutch Creek south to Racehorse Creek and looped back around. Good news is that there was next to no garbage. Bad news is that portions of the trail could really use a blade to fix safety and erosion issues on side hill portions and root-rutted portions. Made for some tense moments, a little too tense IMO.
whoDEANie
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Yeah, was there with the girlfriend a few weeks ago and it scared the crap outta her pretty badly.
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- #92
That's one of the areas under review and in need of work. Its part of the SSRP.
Hey guys I need some advice on doing some trail repair work to make a dangerous little ravine crossing passable again. It's pretty steep on both sides and only like 3' across at the bottom. It's about 3' high on one side but 5-6' high and very steep on the other side. Coming out of this you are still going up a pretty good hill so it's not like it just flattens out once out of the ravine. There's no going around this section as beside it is deeper and impassable on both sides. Going down the higher side doesn't seem like it would be too big of a problem but coming the other way looks like it could be trouble. It was getting dark and we were alone when we came across it and quite far from camp so I didn't even attempt it as we would have been trying to get up the higher and steeper side and with such a narrow bottom it could've left me in a bad spot at a bad time.
I would like to improve this section as it interrupts an otherwise very nice trail ride that completes a large loop. I don't have any special equipment available to me so I'll just be doing this with a shovel and pick axe I guess. My initial thoughts are to just try and dig away at the top to lessen the height and decrease the angle of the higher/steeper side. There is also a large root at the top that I can see being a big problem and so I'm expecting to cut that away as well because I can see it leading to a backwards rollover. The bottom of the ravine is a bit muddy and has some standing water in it but is otherwise solid. The ground is packed pretty hard going up each side of the hill coming in and out so it should hold up after some digging I'd think. Any advice/tips to help with my approach to this fix? I wish I took pics while I was out there!
Thanks ahead of time for any knowledge as I'm still quite new to the atv world and besides clearing fallen trees this will be the first major repair work I'll be attempting.
Oh one more question... Should I be trying to add the dirt I'm digging away to the bottom or will that just end up making a lot more mud which in turn will make it that much more difficult to get though when needing tires to bite and get in and out?
I would like to improve this section as it interrupts an otherwise very nice trail ride that completes a large loop. I don't have any special equipment available to me so I'll just be doing this with a shovel and pick axe I guess. My initial thoughts are to just try and dig away at the top to lessen the height and decrease the angle of the higher/steeper side. There is also a large root at the top that I can see being a big problem and so I'm expecting to cut that away as well because I can see it leading to a backwards rollover. The bottom of the ravine is a bit muddy and has some standing water in it but is otherwise solid. The ground is packed pretty hard going up each side of the hill coming in and out so it should hold up after some digging I'd think. Any advice/tips to help with my approach to this fix? I wish I took pics while I was out there!
Thanks ahead of time for any knowledge as I'm still quite new to the atv world and besides clearing fallen trees this will be the first major repair work I'll be attempting.
Oh one more question... Should I be trying to add the dirt I'm digging away to the bottom or will that just end up making a lot more mud which in turn will make it that much more difficult to get though when needing tires to bite and get in and out?
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rightsideup
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Yesterday we removed some tree's blocking the trail a couple of larger ones by pulling them of with the mighty 850 and one I moved by hand that had been bucked up. This particular trail was thru a wet area where the quad and sled club teamed up and installed a few culverts and placed a few logs in different wet area's so it could lengthen the trail. It was closed for summer usage at one point and is one of our sled trails.
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Lem Lamb
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Sent the weekend riding West of Rocky Mt House, trails are in awesome condition we're I've been and nill for garbage, "good on all for taking the time to pack in and out in that catagory."
But the camp sites where vehical traffic has been is lacking in cleaning up in the 1 to 2% range,,, "would hope the auto travel folk do a bit better job at packing out lawn chairs, tent poles, broken coolers, and beer can." This sector does not apeer to be ohv/ horse/ foot/ mountain bike folk as the tracks indicate pull in drivers for the night only.
We should be glad too see a change in mind set here for Alberta and BC as there will be things come up that needs our attention now and then.
Koo-Doos too each and all for pitching in when/ where needed.
Pal Don Lacombe Alberta/ land of the Americas
But the camp sites where vehical traffic has been is lacking in cleaning up in the 1 to 2% range,,, "would hope the auto travel folk do a bit better job at packing out lawn chairs, tent poles, broken coolers, and beer can." This sector does not apeer to be ohv/ horse/ foot/ mountain bike folk as the tracks indicate pull in drivers for the night only.
We should be glad too see a change in mind set here for Alberta and BC as there will be things come up that needs our attention now and then.
Koo-Doos too each and all for pitching in when/ where needed.
Pal Don Lacombe Alberta/ land of the Americas
Lem Lamb
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Hello Warrn.
I too encountered an area that was not OHV friendly, and could of used a small track-hoe to address the side hill,,, but all in all I took it as a sign from the out-door gods that it is now an area for foot traffic or folk with side hill horses, Ha.
I/we have areas with loop arounds that we learned over years of riding, or just found them on a wild-cat scooting adventure by making a wrong/correct turn along the way.
Many of us would like more loop-arounds I'm sure, but we take it for what it is and back track since the view is just as fun looking at it from the other direction.
Not sure if your side hill is a needed must in the ohv world, but I thought I'd threw the return too what it is as we find other loop-around areas that make up for one that has do its time.
Pal Don trying too not over think when low on morning coffee, LOL.
I too encountered an area that was not OHV friendly, and could of used a small track-hoe to address the side hill,,, but all in all I took it as a sign from the out-door gods that it is now an area for foot traffic or folk with side hill horses, Ha.
I/we have areas with loop arounds that we learned over years of riding, or just found them on a wild-cat scooting adventure by making a wrong/correct turn along the way.
Many of us would like more loop-arounds I'm sure, but we take it for what it is and back track since the view is just as fun looking at it from the other direction.
Not sure if your side hill is a needed must in the ohv world, but I thought I'd threw the return too what it is as we find other loop-around areas that make up for one that has do its time.
Pal Don trying too not over think when low on morning coffee, LOL.
Hey Lem, I looked for a way around including using some lease roads but there isn't another viable way to link back up to the trail. There are tracks in the mud so it's being used or attempted recently. It's not a side hill so it's not an erosion issue it's just a steep bottom of a ravine that could be made a lot safer with some work.
How deep is the ravine? Can it be bridged?
Yeah a bridge would definitely work here and wouldn't even have to be that long. It's about 3-4' down one side which isn't as steep then 5-6' up the other side which is steeper and has a pretty big root across the top. I'd have no idea how to properly build a safe bridge or how to anchor it on the sides though. My ride with people and gear is easily over 2000 lbs so it would have to be properly built with a good safety factor
old mountain man
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Clearing dead fall (and live fall) is a constant battle!
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