Quantcast

Trailbuilding

ChelanDHer

Monkey
Jan 6, 2004
181
0
Lynnwood, WA
Hey all. It's been a while since I've been on, but I'm back. Currently trying to get my hardtail built after not riding pretty much all summer to due a hectic work schedule.

Anyway, I'm living in Lynnwood (back to college) and would like to get some fast as hell single track/FR built somewhere within 20 miles or so. Please don't post on here, PM if you're interested. Maybe if we put our heads together we can nail down a good location that won't get busted and a couple people helping to build never hurt. As I said, PM if interested. If I'm stupid for trying this, please tell me, but I hope I can get something off the ground. This is my second year over here on the westside, I guess I'm still a noob over here, but I know on the eastside of the state we had trails built anywhere and everywhere we could.
 

Jm_

sled dog's bollocks
Jan 14, 2002
18,850
9,556
AK
I'm hijacking this thread.

We are building new trails right now. As opposed to the existing trails, most of these are being made by hand.

We just spend hours trying to cut out roots and heavy organic and man, it's the worst thing ever. You can work on one spot for hours and seem to not make any headway. We got miles more to go, but we have many more weeks to build it in. I'll be leading some of the crews in the upcoming weeks. Will eventually get some pics, but man, those roots and organics were a huge heartbreaker today...
 

Jm_

sled dog's bollocks
Jan 14, 2002
18,850
9,556
AK
Bow saws and folding saws, loppers, McLeods, pulaskis, rogue hoes, shovels...

But making progress is painful, roots coming from all sorts of different angles and just super hard to dig and get through the organic layer on this hill side. All of the tools were useful, the rogue hoe might have had a slight edge at times, but at other times you had to hit the dirt with the axe side of the pulaski, and then the blades get dull real fast. Super frustrating. I has the Pabst.
20180725trailbuilding.jpg
 

Jm_

sled dog's bollocks
Jan 14, 2002
18,850
9,556
AK
Sharp tools is another nightmare (keeping them sharp when the org has hundreds). May just get my own hos and keep them sharp.
 

KenW449

Thanos did nothing wrong
Jun 13, 2017
2,704
329
Floating down the whiskey river...
Bow saws and folding saws, loppers, McLeods, pulaskis, rogue hoes, shovels...

But making progress is painful, roots coming from all sorts of different angles and just super hard to dig and get through the organic layer on this hill side. All of the tools were useful, the rogue hoe might have had a slight edge at times, but at other times you had to hit the dirt with the axe side of the pulaski, and then the blades get dull real fast. Super frustrating. I has the Pabst. View attachment 129655
Are you the only one not wearing a helmet? I got a solution, put moar dirt on top of teh roots and ride over them!
 

Jm_

sled dog's bollocks
Jan 14, 2002
18,850
9,556
AK
Are you the only one not wearing a helmet? I got a solution, put moar dirt on top of teh roots and ride over them!
No, that ain't me. I have the REI trail steward shirt on. AND A BEER, A BEER, PAY ATTENTION HERE! :)

There is no "moar dirt", everything here has a layer of organic and you have to dig to get at dirt. If you throw dirt on the organic, it eventually decomposes and collapses and causes erosion. At the other end of the city, at the coast, the trails are built on glacial silt which has great dirt for building and very few rocks, a few surface roots. Where we are building now is at the foot of the mountain and the idea is to try and make these trails more tech than the other stuff, but still we gotta get down to some solid ground. Easier in some places, a mother****** in others. There's another handbuilt in the area that was the first built out here, supposedly took 6 months to go the approximately one mile.
 
Last edited:

Jm_

sled dog's bollocks
Jan 14, 2002
18,850
9,556
AK
Much better tonight. Been raining all day, but this trail section (just down from the one last week) was much easier to work with. Still some roots, but the rogue hoe worked much better and I was able to get all the organics off and cut a nice bench in. During the safety-briefing I was filing down the hoe, pulaski and axle to get an edge. Some of the tools were so blunt you couldn't cut a 1" root if you swung them all day.
 

Westy

the teste
Nov 22, 2002
54,225
20,003
Sleazattle
Umm.

Leave the roots in place?

They tend to create a challenge and hold the dirt in place. But if you are a fan of dirt superhighways, erosion and dead trees, go for it.
 

Jm_

sled dog's bollocks
Jan 14, 2002
18,850
9,556
AK
Umm.

Leave the roots in place?

They tend to create a challenge and hold the dirt in place. But if you are a fan of dirt superhighways, erosion and dead trees, go for it.
On the side of a hill, you can't really leave many roots in place, they tend to grow off-camber. We are doing it where we can, where there are big roots, but when it's small roots that will just whither and become loose, you gotta take them out. Also gotta get organics out that will decay and collapse. Roots are ok, as long as they are big enough, at the correct angles, and so on.

This picture doesn't really tell the full story, we do have root-drops and root-balls that are left in the trail in other sections. Getting down to the dirt though is a challenge in a lot of spots, being totally hand-built. This trail will have a much different character than the machine-built ones in the same area.

38392269_10156529938871505_3451456936204042240_n.jpg
 

JustMtnB44

Monkey
Sep 13, 2006
840
113
Pittsburgh, PA
^ definitely. Any Rogue hoe tool should cut through a 1" diameter root in one swing if kept properly sharp. I use files to touch them up, and an angle grinder for when they get really dull.
 

Jm_

sled dog's bollocks
Jan 14, 2002
18,850
9,556
AK
Made some good progress tonight. Lotta tech sections that aren't shown that will need a lot of finishing, but nice to have made some good progress tonight. The pictures make it look way easier than it is. We had one trail network where moving the dirt was really that easy, this is root-ball after root-ball.
IMG_5543.JPG
IMG_5541.JPG
IMG_5538.JPG
IMG_5537.JPG
 

Jm_

sled dog's bollocks
Jan 14, 2002
18,850
9,556
AK
Putting up split cedar fencing today to separate the ski trail from the new flow/jump-line trail. Hopefully the new trails will be open in less than a month (before snow).