A slippery slope.

[dragoneggs]

I have two areas on my steep slope that I have a fair amount amount of water coming out of the hillside. The upper area is not as intense and never dries up but it is also the only place on my property where I have clay.... kind of strange. It is mess in the winter. I cut a 'French' drain and laid some perforated pipe to divert it to help dry up the path I cut in to get the lower half of our property. Luckily that part wasn't too steep or wet to work on.

The lower half is another story. Good luck with that muck!

 

[ning]

what is the difference between slope and grade?

A slope is an incline, with no typical measurement. "That's a steep slope."
A grade is also an incline, and also a measurement. "That grade is 6%, gear down."

Grade is measured in percentages, and is equal to (Rise) divided by (Run).
So, if your hill goes up 15 feet in elevation for each one hundred feet of distance (distance measured horizontal : LEVEL), you have a (15/100) = 0.15 = 15%

If you have a consistent hill, you can most easily measure the grade by choosing a point, pulling a tape down the hill as far as you can go down and hold the tape level (a bit of help here holding the level please); note the length of the tape (that's the RUN), and the height you were holding it at off the ground (that's the RISE). Divide rise by run. Few hills are totally consistent but this can give you an idea.

You can convert a grade to a degree measurement by taking the arc-tangent (inverse tangent) of the grade, or arcan(0.15) = about 8.5 degrees. If using a calcutor, make sure it's on degrees setting and not radians.


If you have degrees and you want to get grade, take the tangent of your degrees. Example: tan(8.5) = 0.15.

maybe calling it a slope makes it more slippery ?

Maybe I'll call her a slope tonight and see :shocked:

 

[/pine]

In the world of civil engineering the terms slope and grade are interchangeable...

 

[Jstpssng]

A picture is worth a thousand words. Now that the OP has posted his, some more helpful suggestions could follow. I still don't think that I would want to get frogging around on that slope though, for reasons already mentioned.
I'm not sure what end result he's looking for though.

 

[CADplans]

This hillside weeps water most times of the year,,
the loggers used a corduroy road to log 30 acres during the wettest year in Virginia history,,,

Over 160 loads like this were hauled,,

 

[bumperm]

CADplans,

That corduroy road is something like I had in mind. Unfortunately, I hauled 25 ton of dead wood off the mountainside and gave away much of it as I don't have a fireplace. Then I paid to dump the small diameter stuff that would have been useful for mud cover. Hindsight lacking once again.

 

[FarmWrench]

mcfarmall has a modern version of what I've seen.

Well points driven to the source of the water can capture some before it gets spoiled by the muck. You will get a good spring feed water line going to use or just run into an area you don't want to drive over. The muck will change as you dry up the supply.


When doing utilities into some ground they would well point and pump.

Somehow I missed what you want. Just to get to the other side of this spot or do you need a permanent road?

 

[bumperm]

Only need short term access.

The collection ditches fill with leaves and debris, so the plan was to line with landscape fabric and put in perf pipe with drain rock. The drain rock is the only real need for access. Thought about using a sled or small wagon and pulling that up using snatch block on trees, though that greatly increases the amount of work.

Haven't used drill points, pricey and we have buried boulders, though they could help. I drilled a few 18" holes with no additional flow. I could make a shaft extension for the small earth auger I have and go deeper - might do that just for GP.