Trail through my Grove

[Hammer]

I'm trying to make a path through the groves on our acreage. Partly meant as a garden path type thing, partly as something to run on when I'm tired of going just up and down my driveway, and partly something to mess around on while biking. Though, I don't yet have a mountain bike, really.

I weed-wacked a path and tried it on the Huffy that I got when I was 12. I'm 29 now. The bike is too small, the seat is jacked up, but it's still fun to putz around with and it's heavy.

Anyway. The path was a bit rough. :D But, I need to keep in mind the fact that the bike is rough too. I put in a curve that is meant to fork off to the right on a different path, to go over a log straight ahead, or to turn left and and around. I got grass caught in my derailler by this point anyway, but I think the corners are maybe too tight, though I didn't think that they would be.

The nice thing is, I've only mowed. I can keep hacking and mark the trail with some logs. Then, I can let any over mowed space grow back again.

What's a good way to decide what's too tight because it's really not navigable vs. too tight because I can't handle the bike. I am keeping my eyes open for a used mountain bike that actually fits me.

I just thought that I'd share a project in progress. :D I need to get some flower seed down so that maybe it'll be well into the ground and start growing next spring.

[Irulan]

an "action hoe" is a great tool for scraping off the vegetation layer
http://www.farm-home.com/images/jb21/13300421c.jpg

If you can get below the roots and so on, or the top layer of mineral soil, you can have a very nice trail surface!

For trail layout, a good technique is to flag the potential trail, and then "run" it - a runner needs about the same amount of flow as a mountain biker.

And if you are really into it, this book here -

http://www.imba.com/resources/trail_building/images/ts_cover_med.jpg

is a fantastic source of information on how build and layout trails.

[Hammer]

Thanks!! I am sure that I can run it, I'll try that. I wasn't sure if I should leave a layer of grass or get to dirt. In my head I thought that with a bit of grass, it wouldn't get so muddy. But, grass gets slippery too. I'll check that book out.

My husband says I'll lose interest in it before long anyway. Which, that might be true. IT's so hard to do get much started as far as plant life/gardening goes = weeding. When I want to be out biking or have other commitments and need to do other things around the house too.

:D We'll see what happens. Just getting a trail cut will be fine for now, even if it doesn't get landscaped quickly. We have lots of years there ahead of us.

I'll post pictures someday. I don't know how long the trail will be. I hope to do some landscaping around the yard to allow for a path around the perimeter of most of our property. It'll be short, in the scheme of things. I hope to get to about a mile.