Trail Maintenance - don't do this
- Thread starter Patrick
- Start date
Sourlands??
yes, and it's not the first time they have done this.
ugh, this is their task for large corporate groups to "narrow the trail". Lasts about 2 weeks lol
Trail users trying to avoid rocks and roots create go-arounds, which ends up making trails 20+ feet wide. Its really annoying dealing with this. I find it frustrating, its like herding kittens, people do what they want with no regard to trail etiquette. Its great that people are out in the woods discovering trails but thousands of people visiting a park irresponsibly can destroy it.
I throw more logs off the trail that were used to get across mud, which makes more mud cause it dams up the waters. Toss the ones next to the trail too.
It is a hassle, but it creates a dam that concentrates the water at the ends on the high side, and on the trail on the low side.
Yeah, thats a separate issue.
mtn
Well-Known Member
Done with good intentions. Someone trying to narrow the trail tread. I do this to block off shortcuts that people make, though here it should be done without the big logs following the trail.
Its in the hikers code of conduct to perform this action.
What about corduroy? I notice those in a few places at CR and 6MR where the branches lay perpendicular to the path of travel. Is that a more acceptable way of mitigating perpetually muddy spots. Asking since there are places where the corduroy has been there years so someone must be periodically renewing the wood there.
Juggernaut
Master of the Metaphor
Fun fact from an “Alphabet Soup” member: At SixMile there have been 3 sections in the past that utilized ground level rows of limbs in order to make mud holes “passable”. All three have been replaced with raised tread (over culverts) for sustainability. Two sections, one on Orange and it’s twin sister on Red (both being on the 27 side) now have uniform and strategically (partially buried) logs as reinforcement of the now raised tread against erosion; ironically acting the exact opposite of how they were used prior. 😇
JonF
Well-Known Member
Corduroy is a controversial topic ive found. Parks and forestry have been using it for years but mtb trail builders largely seem to despise it. To do it right requires larger, rot resistance logs and i think the issue comes with ad-hoc use of smaller branches that break down faster thus just deferring the issue.
johnbryanpeters
Well-Known Member
And riders and hikers tend to bypass it.
Wood rots and wood touching the ground/wet will rot even faster. This method is used because it is quick and easy.
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Corduroy only makes a small problem bigger. There's no reason to use it.
The only rule about water on trails is to get it off as fast as possible. If you're not doing that, you're making it worse.
Anything that prohibits water from moving across the trail (corduroy, log lining on the edges, etc) is just a problem later. You need to influence the water to leave the area as close to where it entered as soon possible. Taking into account the surronding slope of the land. How is the water getting to the trail? What's uphill and what's downhill? Ideally, no more than every 50' of trail, there should be an exit for water.
Erosion = water speed x water volume. The more water going faster down a trail, the faster the trail is destroyed. Slow water on the trail = mud.
There are actual solutions that don't take that much effort (in order of effort):
- Fix the drainage (nick, berm, and pit or trench to move water away)
- Reroute the trail
- Culvert
- Rock armor
- Bridge
This is fascinating. That principle about getting water off as quickly as possible makes so much sense too!
Anyway, passed this growing bundle of sticks at CR today and thought of this thread… I see throwing random sticks into a haphazard pile is not one of your listed remedies.
That looks like a wreck waiting to happen 😂 In line with the trail means don’t ride there.
You can see the trail is getting wider all the time and destroying the surrounding area.
You are very perceptive, sir. That is exactly the case! This is on a section of trail where you gain speed so hitting that bundle at pace is risking an ugly wreck. So naturally, you slow and then take the more desirable path forming on the right widening the trail, which is still muddy! Going back to the first principle, I imagine the sticks, laid perpendicular to the slope, just slow the runoff of water which encourages more mud build up.