The trail should not be that wide (and it's really not) but I had to cut back into that slope about another two feet or more in a couple of sections to get the base wide enough. The outer trail base was way down there so I had to move more dirt than my back wanted. Have to get over there with a shovel and get the outer dirt down the hill and cover the down slope with brush. Only had to deal with about 8 stumps and they were pretty simple for a change..

I'm a bit worried that we won't get any more rain and things will dry up making the work much harder.

Thanks for coming out to help

_________________
You never know what tomorrow will bring so go ride your EBike today or walk your pooch
Fear the Yeti
"Go ride your bike today, don't let the old man in.."

Mike

[quote="bankerboy"]Oh sure, I bust my ass on the hard pan and you walk in and take the cake work? I will remember this when I am assigning job duties on the 31st. KP sounds about right......[/b][/quote

OK, I will volunteer to man the cooler after the last build day. See, don't ever say I ain't paying it forward

_________________
You never know what tomorrow will bring so go ride your EBike today or walk your pooch
Fear the Yeti
"Go ride your bike today, don't let the old man in.."

Mike

"

I agree the trail was too wide so I took where you left off and removed the extra dirt from the outside and scattered it downhill and then covered the down slope with brush. Now the tread is 30 or so inches wide, it was four feet. Used a flat head shovel and put the finished touch to it.

You are right on the money about the lack of more rain. Had that last section been left until next weekend it would have been very dry and hard to compact. The rest of the trail alignment will be under the thick thick chaparral and deep duff so it may stay more workable. What you did Sunday made what I did late this afternoon doable. I still took it down some more to get to a better base. Crawled on hands and knees to get under the chaparral to find the east end and left flagging I hope they follow. The east end was considerably lower then the west end. Had they continued brushing along the elevation they were brushing they would've missed making the connection..............by a lot.

Thanks Rich.

I hiked out there to finalize the measurements for the bridges and saw you were there. You looked like you tried to wash a bobcat. Cuts all over you from the sharp and jagged brush. You looked like you needed beer and a bath in antibiotic cream. Had I known you were out there, I could have at least fulfilled the first part of your needs. My hat is off to you.

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The world does not revolve around you but your actions impact us all!

^^^ What he said a couple times over. Thanks for getting that dirt over the side. Didn't like leaving like it and would have done it Friday afternoon. That nice skinny trail is really looking sweet.

_________________
You never know what tomorrow will bring so go ride your EBike today or walk your pooch
Fear the Yeti
"Go ride your bike today, don't let the old man in.."

Mike

Just a quick note on width and perception of what looks right to your eyes.

Next time we're at Miner's Loop lot - take a look at the width of the bench cut for the reused section vs what the actual tread width is. Ok, I'll admit it's wider than need be but . . .

If the bench cut is too narrow and riders fear pedal strikes they'll ride a wider line - on the edge of the trail - which on a raw trail is often soft fill dirt. AKA a half bench situation that without proper compacting (jumping jack) will fail to hold. It's important to get all that loose stuff off and let the natural edge of the cut be THE edge. That sounds like what Rich is describing above.

Unbeknownst to many Matt and I spent Thursday of last week repairing damage done by some riders who rode it Monday morning following the previous days rain. The width and brush width had them on near the edge of the trail and it got hammered. Their tires got so loaded with muck you could see where they dismounted and pushed their bikes until they reached the dead end in the trail then they turned back and double dipped. Oh, thank you!!!

That required deepening the bench cut, trimming back the brush and sloughing off the loose soil at the edge. Same again as Rich describes above.

Without going into a diatribe about riding wet trails and a raw trail that is clearly posted as closed in the wet, by having a half bench or overly narrow bench cut in many places we had set ourselves up for that, and we knew better, it was in the plan to fix these sections.

We've got lots of new trails to build after this one. Let's make it sustainable and low maintenance.

It may look too wide to your sensibilities NOW as to what a trail should look like but it will green in around the 18" line that is used.

On the 31st some of the crew will be assigned to cutting the bench "wall" at a 45 degree angle cut for pedal clearance. I don't care if the tread width is narrow at foot level. No one is riding there.

When it greens in it'll be peaches!