Best way to make a 4 season trail through this low spot

[Captain Dirty]

I suspect your field is the top layer in a "bowl" of impermeable or semi-permeable material (rock ledge or clay). If you follow the "stream" you will find the low spot where the water flows over the lip of the bowl. If it is on your property, you could lower that spot a bit to lower the water table in the field without inundating your neighbor any more than happens currently in the wet season. The county may have a geologist or hydrologist, or there may be someone in a nearby university that has knowledge of the geologic strata. In my neighborhood there was a backhoe contractor who had dug most of the perc test holes and installed many of the septic systems and who had extensive, practical, local knowledge.

 

[airbiscuit]

Is it just wet or 10' of muck? I would ask a local logger what they would do.


Also check out post #5 of this thread.

Building a road through swampy land?

 

[oosik]

I would, also, suggest a corduroy road. In the early '40's the Army built a road to Alaska. It's now called the ALCAN or Alaska Highway. They used corduroy road for countless miles to cross bottomless swamps. If you want it to last forever. REAL RAILROAD TIES laid down and gravel on top of the ties.

 

[Rustyiron]

I built a corduroy with some junky basswood about 5-6 years ago, much to my surprise I'm still using it and it's in standing water most of the year.
It would be a waste to use your hard maple, but I would guess that it's a lot better than the basswood I used.

 

[airbiscuit]

 

[airbiscuit]

Can you better describe your picture? Is the black horizontal line the low spot? What's with the squiggle? How far across is it from the near "shoreline" to the far "shorline"?

 

[beardley]

I looked at the geotextile, and I was thinking that may be a good solution for this case. Thinking of using the link below, with a layer of fabric on the ground below that. In the peak of summer, it gets dry enough to peel off the top 3-4" of unlevel surface.

- DuPont™ GroundGrid®

www.dewittcompany.com

Can you better describe your picture? Is the black horizontal line the low spot? What's with the squiggle? How far across is it from the near "shoreline" to the far "shorline"?

The black horizontal line is the back end of where the low area stops. The squiggle is the rough idea of where I would like to traverse. It's probably about 70' across in total.

 

[LouNY]

That would be quite the roadway if the sub base doesn't migrate up through your fill.
when I think of highway fabric I'm thinking more along this line of products.
- DWG315 Series

Back when the farm was still a dairy farm they were pasturing the cows using rotational grazing,
the roadway that they used and we used for tractors and utv's traversed a very wet spot that had a hillside draining into
and thru it. If you want to see a mess watch 150 cows walk thru soft ground it doesn't take long and they are in mud to there bellies. With the highway fabric and 6 inches of gravel it toke several years of daily traffic and we still use that same roadway today with the beefers.

The product you show would be very nice for a while but if your soil is clay or loam it may work it's way up through those grids,
and it may not.

 

[beardley]

The few install videos I found of the grid fabric also has a base layer like what you show. I think the grid just helps keep it from spreading under load.

 

[LouNY]

Using both products would seem to make a very nice roadway, good luck with it.