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

[beardley]

Looking for some expert advice. My family has about 45 acres, but for 6 months out of the year, I can't take my tractor onto 40 of them because the field has this low area that runs parallel the entire length of it. From about this time, until July I can't get through here with out making a terrible rutty mess. I get a couple dry months, and then its a mess again until there is enough snow to float across.

I'd like to make a single pathway, wide enough for my 30 hp tractor to be able to cleanly get through to the high side of the field. I've had 3 ideas, not sure what's best, or maybe you guys would have some better ideas.

I've thought about a wood bridge, but my concern is its not really high enough, and it will fill in below it, leading to premature rot.

I've thought about a soil bridge with culverts, but I'm afraid of them getting plugged, causing the field to back up.

Lastly, I've thought I could dig down and then refill a trench with rubble gravel, making a firm base, but still at the same plane as the current low spot.

Thoughts?

 

[old and tired]

Look up "swamp corduroy road" or you can drop the swamp part...

 

[suburbanfarmer]

Corduroy road - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[bigtiller]

5" field tile placed 3' deep and a line every 60'

 

[deezler]

You have a front loader on your tractor, yeah?

Dig it into the ground in a suitable location until your bucket is full of soil. Drive to the low area, dump it. Repeat ~100x until your have a raised causeway through the low area.

 

[beardley]

You have a front loader on your tractor, yeah?

Dig it into the ground in a suitable location until your bucket is full of soil. Drive to the low area, dump it. Repeat ~100x until your have a raised causeway through the low area.

Just raising it would cause a "dam". It is more or less a runoff stream from the hill in the back of the picture flowing right to left. I don't want to just block it off, as it would likely flood more of the field or my neighbors land.

I did also consider the corduroy road, but I'm concerned about the longevity. Most of what I have is ash or sugar maple.

 

[deezler]

Fair enough. You could always make a section of the causeway with a row of metal or plastic culvert pipes underneath it at the current ground level Sure they might plug up eventually, but you can clean them out easily enough, just a bit of manual labor every several years. They shouldn't ever collapse on you, if installed correctly. I agree with your apprehension about making a long wooden bridge - this would be expensive and eventually fail on you.

how far across is the wet spot?

 

[beardley]

Fair enough. You could always make a section of the causeway with a row of metal or plastic culvert pipes underneath it at the current ground level Sure they might plug up eventually, but you can clean them out easily enough, just a bit of manual labor every several years. They shouldn't ever collapse on you, if installed correctly. I agree with your apprehension about making a long wooden bridge - this would be expensive and eventually fail on you.

how far across is the wet spot?

All in, it probably needs to cover about 75'. I think from there some gravel on each end should make things stable enough.

 

[Thomas]

All in, it probably needs to cover about 75'. I think from there some gravel on each end should make things stable enough.

 

[Thomas]

All in, it probably needs to cover about 75'. I think from there some gravel on each end should make things stable enough.

All in, it probably needs to cover about 75'. I think from there some gravel on each end should make things stable enough.