Path Improvements? Best materials?

[Kayakin2]

A tractor purchase will allow me to improve our paths around our very sloped property. What should I be prepared to do and what materials are best?
1. Best materials for final surface? Gravel? crushed rock? stone dust? Grass?

2. Put in cross drainage? subsurface materials suggested?

3. Level final surface? Center high point? Slope (1/2" per ft?) to allow to drain?

4. Width suggested for walking/tractor access? 6 feet? 8 feet? More? Less?

Considerations for winter snow? Ice? Spring melt? Mud season? Summer Sun?

Any experienced path builders out there?

Thanks!

 

[forester2]

I've built a couple miles thru my property. How much path? How often used for equipment vs. walking? Budget, soil type etc. All these things will play into what you can do. The more sun your your trails get, the fater they will dry out hence less rutting and repairs. Made most of mine with a 45hp tractor w/ backhoe attachment, loader and also a grader box. Stripped top soil, trenched for drainage, brought up clay from ditching to create hard trail. Built pond to get base for a main road, then geofabric and bank run gravel.

 

[Kayakin2]

Paths around 3+ acres of very sloped, terraced gravel & rock for horse pastures. Used for daily (including winter) dog walking and access to new garden areas. Minimum budget but my time as required. Mostly cleared except for blackberry bushes on slopes. Paths exist but are not level and do not have drains. Some huge boulders which my wife insists I not move. Could have crushed stone, gravel or stone dust delivered to property for use.

 

[jimgerken]

I have built / rebuilt / reshaped / maintained woods trails for several years now. My neighbor has about 15 lineal miles of trails in his wooded property. He builds the trails for several uses: initially for woodlot management, to access harvestable logs for firewood and lumber (he saws and dries). Also, he and his family hunt, so access trails allow easier movement thru the woods and somewhat encourage the flow of wildlife in certain areas. Also, he is an avid ATV rider, so woods trails are very desireable. I am also an ATV rider, so that's my interest.
Years ago, he'd grub out the trails without thought to the waterflow and erosion and so the trails would need periodic rebuild. His tool was a tractor backhoe. He backs up to where he wants the trail to travel, and grubs a flat area. Then he backs up onto the flattened area, and starts again. He's made trails up hils and areas using this technique that you would not believe we'd even attempt. A few years ago, I got involved and gradually built up two landscape rakes (one for him, one for myself) to use behind our compact tractors for trail shaping and maintenance. I read online somewhere about sloping the trails to encourage the water to flow straight across where necessary, and adding waterbreaks to get the water to stop flowing downhill in the trail, etc. My neighbor and I started using these techniques and instantly the trails became stable and lower maintenance. For instance, there was one trail that was bad because the water washed straight down the trail. I put 7 waterbreaks in there one day, in the span of 300 feet of trail. Erosion stopped immediately and even though that trail gets atv traffic there is grass growing on it now. These days, if he makes a new trail, I generally follow him imediately with the rake , giving it the desired final shape and slope.
At first the waterbreaks I put in seemed to be too high, but of course they settled and we also got used to them and afterwhile they make sense.
My technique is to use the landscape rake, tilt it so water will run off the lower edge of the trail, and where it makes sense with the surrounding terrain (like where there is a supply of water flowing onto the trail from the uphill side), just below that point, I lift the rake and deposit the soil and rock I have gathered into a row generally straight across the trail. The amount of deposited material varies but is generally about as much as the rake will drag. After raising the rake to deposit, I then back up the tractor far enough to use the front tractor wheels to pack the entire row width. Back and forth I drive, packing the row of soil, steering left and right to get it all. Later it settles about a third, so if it seems to big at first, don't sweat it too much. The action of driving over it makes it have a nice shape for atv/walking traffic, not too sharp at the bottom or top.
The whole grooming game is based on fixing what is broken. You fix up the worst problems, and then study the results. Nature will teach you the rest.
Here are some pics...

 

[jimgerken]

I feel the landscape rake is the ideal tool because it encourages rocks to move, but allows the soil to sift through and stay. Even though these pics look like the trails are in pure dirt, there is quite a bit of rock to move off initially. I move the rocks to the edge but no further than necessary, 'cause I feel they serve a good purpose when they are setting right at the edge of the trail, to act as a gaurdrail of sorts, and to help shore up the trail edge from errosion. Over time it evolves naturally, either the rock "grows" there or it rolls away down the hill.
As you look at the one pic, you will see I have every axis of tilt available to the rake, to make the slope and shape I need. I started with top and tilt on the tractor, which gave me the side slope option. Then added hyd rake swivel. The best rake (the one in the pic) has hyd side-shift too. This allows it to get way off to one side, like hanging off the trail edge to work even with the tractor tires safely on the main trail.

 

[Kayakin2]

Great pics! Thanks! My land may be more open and sloped but should result in great paths! May trade off waterbreaks for culverts depending on water flow as we have many brooks/streams running down the slopes.

 

[dave1949]

Paths and trails seem to follow the 80-20 rule. You spend 80% of your effort on 20% of the distance.

I don't know what your vegetation situation is, but consider how you will control trees, shrubs, brambles, etc. on the edges of the trails. It would be nice to have a 6' strip on each side that can be mowed with a bush hog once per year. Ditching directly beside the trail makes that hard to do.

I have some trails that are only 8'-10' wide. The blackberry brambles can close that down to 3' wide in one summer. We pick the blackberries and only use our trails for walking, so not a big deal for us. The worst issue is the blackberries only fruit on two year old canes, so it can get a bit scratchy if you hate to whack them back.

Another technique, which takes longer, is to allow selected deciduous trees to grow on each side of the trail. They will eventually canopy over the trail and their shade will naturally limit the growth of sapplings and brambles.

Dave.

 

[pat32rf]

I thought that my trails were in pretty good shape last fall. Been working on improving and extending them for ten years. About Christmas we got snow that stayed on the trees like never before to the point that the bent saplings completely hid some of the trails for a 3 week period, or until I just lowered my head and busted thru.
I tap about 100 maple trees, using my bike (with tracks). I find that if I don't keep the trails broken during the winter I can't get up the hills when its time to tap.
On 80 acres of rock and hilly hardwoods, trails are a never ending job but watching where the water goes and getting rid of it ASAP makes it a lot easier.

 

[Botabill]

Trails can be high maintenance or low maintenance. The lowest maintenance trails are the type I started with. I have 30 acres of land I bought when my wife and I were in our 30s. My wife began mowing with a gas push mower a trail that eventually circumvented the property. Then she got lazy and had a couple of babies I needed to look after the trails as she wasted time with the babies (this attitude gets me some tarring and feathering). I took over pushing the mower for I guess 10 years and increased the paths across and through the property. As I started to breakdown (I guess I was 45) I bought a self propelled powered walk behind mower that pulled me around the grass trail. Finally at about the age of 52 I got smart and had enough $ to buy a Kubota SCUT with belly mower. The trails got wider and using the FEL smoother. I'd skim off the high areas and move the dirt to fill in the low areas. Today the trail is still grass covered. This works well for our use (dog and pleasure walking and harvesting a a few trees for fire wood). I've installed some culverts over a few intermittant streams to avoid the soakers we used to get but generally we have a low tech trail that works real well.