Building a cabin road

[GPintheMitten]

Let's hear about your cabin plans. Can you use any timbers from your property?

 

[newbury]

Let's hear about your cabin plans. Can you use any timbers from your property?

Mission CREEP!!

 

[GPintheMitten]

I thought the mission was a cabin

.

 

[MossRoad]

Its too bad that kid in the picture isn't going to have a fun place to go wild.... :laughing:

Nice place! :thumbsup:

 

[gdicks]

Each stump could be half a day with a BX, some stumps taking 2 days. I've worked with a BX and hired a bulldozer too, there is a vast difference. A bulldozer might punch the road thru in a day, which allows your other projects to proceed. Sometimes its hard enough to get your projects to proceed in a timely manner without the uncertainty of a machine that could take 2 weeks to 2 months standing in the way of every other project. You can use the BX to clean up after the bulldozer, there will be plenty for the BX to do. You may even need time for the driveway to settle and firm up. If you punch it on thru to the site you can start planning the build.

Some things I did "the fast way" because my kids were small and that time was precious. I wanted to have my cabin up & running & usable while they were small. And I did it, and I got the time with the family before it was too late.

I enjoy my driveway, I like to anticipate whats around every turn. This is a cabin, not a business, right? I would never choose most direct or sensible path to the cabin - it MUST have something interesting. Such as a view. I hate cutbanks, I like 2-track. Not that you should that's just my perspective on your query. I did not setup my driveway for a fire truck to get in - I'm taking that chance. I guess I'd prefer the (assumed) risk burning it down than guaranteed ugly for 24/7/365.

My house is on 3 acres of land that I am "improving" albeit slowly. Actually its been a full stop for the past couple of years as I've used my spare time fishing and camping with my boys instead. I figure the land will still be there when the boys are bigger. In any case, i've felled a good number of trees over the years and I have reasonable expectations of what the BX can do in that regard. Anything larger than I can wrap my hands around I leave standing and push over after ripping some of the larger roots. Honestly this is my biggest consideration in planning my route to avoid having to remove the larger timbers which the blue route has many more of.

I am also bound by the fact that this is a remote cabin to which I cannot build a "road" without approval from the crown so hauling in a dozer to bang it out in a day is not a possibility really. Although as you can see from the picture the lot owner up the lake has taken the "ask forgiveness rather than permission" principle and driven the road right to the lake. I can build a reasonable access trail without any higher authority but in honesty I am trying to displace as little dirt as possible so as to keep this as a trail. The already punched road has raised the eyebrow of the planning authority so Im sure they will be extra vigilant in monitoring what ever I put in place. I do not intend this to ever be a home, I have one of those and it keeps me plenty busy. This is meant to very much be a remote cabin, no running water, no indoor facilities as septic design requires a whole other level of approval. We snowmobile in winter and atv in summer and if those are the only accesses we ever have to this site that would suite me just fine. When the kids are up and gone and Im no longer interested in braving the elements I may seek the approvals to turn this trail into a road but that's 20 years out at a minimum.

I like the meandering two track idea a lot. As quickly as possible Id like this to look as though it were a woods trail that has existed forever. This is a picture of my house... As you can see we like the woods.. The plan when we built was to make it look as though is belonged on that place like one of the trees so the land dictated where the house would be and how the driveway would route. Thats how we roll The house itself is in a nice clearing back there although you cant tell from the snap from the road.

 

[kevin37b]

Take them boys fishing , the rest will come later .

 

[Deerherd]

My house is on 3 acres of land that I am "improving" albeit slowly. Actually its been a full stop for the past couple of years as I've used my spare time fishing and camping with my boys instead. I figure the land will still be there when the boys are bigger. In any case, i've felled a good number of trees over the years and I have reasonable expectations of what the BX can do in that regard. Anything larger than I can wrap my hands around I leave standing and push over after ripping some of the larger roots. Honestly this is my biggest consideration in planning my route to avoid having to remove the larger timbers which the blue route has many more of.

I am also bound by the fact that this is a remote cabin to which I cannot build a "road" without approval from the crown so hauling in a dozer to bang it out in a day is not a possibility really. Although as you can see from the picture the lot owner up the lake has taken the "ask forgiveness rather than permission" principle and driven the road right to the lake. I can build a reasonable access trail without any higher authority but in honesty I am trying to displace as little dirt as possible so as to keep this as a trail. The already punched road has raised the eyebrow of the planning authority so Im sure they will be extra vigilant in monitoring what ever I put in place. I do not intend this to ever be a home, I have one of those and it keeps me plenty busy. This is meant to very much be a remote cabin, no running water, no indoor facilities as septic design requires a whole other level of approval. We snowmobile in winter and atv in summer and if those are the only accesses we ever have to this site that would suite me just fine. When the kids are up and gone and Im no longer interested in braving the elements I may seek the approvals to turn this trail into a road but that's 20 years out at a minimum.

I like the meandering two track idea a lot. As quickly as possible Id like this to look as though it were a woods trail that has existed forever. This is a picture of my house... As you can see we like the woods.. The plan when we built was to make it look as though is belonged on that place like one of the trees so the land dictated where the house would be and how the driveway would route. Thats how we roll The house itself is in a nice clearing back there although you cant tell from the snap from the road.

View attachment 453575

Maybe you should have made this known in your first post and substituted the word "trail" with "road" in this "Building a cabin ROAD" thread.

Some of us are in the Get 'er done camp and attacking a 1/4 mile road project with a BX wouldn't even cross our mind. Just maintaining it would be a stretch for a BX IMHO.

Build your trail along the path of least resistance and enjoy your family and tractor along the way!

 

[Cord]

We just finished the exterior of our cabin project. It took us 7 years from buying the property to finishing the siding. Things go slow when it's self-performed. The structure is 800' back from the road and the trail runs up a steep bluff. The bluff portion of the trail took me a year and 100 ton of rock and gravel to build. It's a non-electric site and everything came in on ATV's. Although not as convenient, I actually like having to park by the road and then walk in. Gets you to slow down and enjoy the quiet and beauty. Besides, it justified the purchase of a atv.

 

[gdicks]

Maybe you should have made this known in your first post and substituted the word "trail" with "road" in this "Building a cabin ROAD" thread.

Some of us are in the Get 'er done camp and attacking a 1/4 mile road project with a BX wouldn't even cross our mind. Just maintaining it would be a stretch for a BX IMHO.

Build your trail along the path of least resistance and enjoy your family and tractor along the way!

I'll be sure to be more specific in my post although I thought this covered it off pretty well.

OK so I have a nice piece of land on which to build a remote cabin for which I need to route a trail. This trail may one day end up being a road but for now it need only be wide enough for a side by side / atv. ce]

 

[Jim Timber]

That statement is what got most of us thinking ahead. We've done this. We know what happens when you don't plan to go bigger in the future from the very start.

With most semi-mature forests (anything over about 30yrs from a clear cut or fire), you'll be able to carve a relatively easy path of least resistance through the understory with as little as a weed whacker and brush cutting blade. The problem comes when you now need to expand that trail to handle a fire truck (for instance). The poor layout which was perfectly acceptable when your modes of transport had 6' long wheelbases, are now completely useless and even more impact to the ground must happen to accommodate the larger vehicles.

Even if it's just an A-frame shack, if you light it on fire, it makes sense to at least have the option of getting a truck in there to put it out.

You can plan for bigger vehicles without actually cutting in and grading the road. That's what I think most of us are trying to get through to you in this design stage of things.

 

[Sodo]

I made a 2nd 'driveway/trail for ATVs, that is narrow and fun. When it's hot & dry, having a 2nd way to get to the cabin keeps the ATVs from churning the driveway to dust. Also works for snowmobiles and the deer use it too.

 

[airbiscuit]

I made a 2nd 'driveway/trail for ATVs, that is narrow and fun. When it's hot & dry, having a 2nd way to get to the cabin keeps the ATVs from churning the driveway to dust. Also works for snowmobiles and the deer use it too.

You need to build a ramp over the hose!

 

[airbiscuit]

Sooooo, how is your progress?

 

[Jim Timber]

Sooooo, how is your progress?

Dude's got more stones than that mountain. Or he's a moron and doesn't know better. :laughing:

 

[bcp]

I did a little research on that photo.

Oldest I found was 1995. It was claimed to be in Yemen, Eritrea, and Pakistan.

This is what it probably looked like in reality.



Bruce

 

[LD1]

I did a little research on that photo.

Oldest I found was 1995. It was claimed to be in Yemen, Eritrea, and Pakistan.

This is what it probably looked like in reality.

View attachment 454352

Bruce

Alot more believable but still a pretty large pucker factor

 

[airbiscuit]

Any updates, or is the road building done for the year?

 

[gdicks]

Any updates, or is the road building done for the year?

Yeah the Snow has arrived so road building is full stop until spring.

 

[otlski]

Sounds like a good time to do some route finding. I find snow cover and dead foliage to be an advantage in route planning. You ignore smaller and mid-sized rocks as you should anyway. The topo relief stands out better. The number of trees to take down is more obvious. If you need snowshoes, the struggle will help you understand what the vehicles will see. Plus, I love being out in winter.

 

[rd_macgregor]

I couldn't tell for sure from your pictures, but are the trees all/mostly softwoods? A problem I had with laying out a couple of my trails was being deceived by apparent maple saplings that turned out to be coppice wood from much larger stumps. It was easy to take down the sprouts (up to 4 or 5 inches in diameter), but the underlying stump was for a much, much larger tree...plus, there was then no leverage to push on it.
Softwood species like spruce, fir and pine don't usually coppice, so small trees have smaller stumps and root systems. Plus, they tend to be shallower-rooted than maple, birch and beech, so are easier to push over.
I like a multitude of trails so I can vary my walks (but I don't have a lake shore to distract me!).
Bob