'Bridging' went area

[chopped]

oops forgive the went its meant to be 'wet' :thumbsup:Hello there. I have a quick question. I have a fairly level area that is moist during the summer months but the rest of the year it is a very small running of water. you almost or cant see the movement. It currently had some larger rocks in it and small ones on it, that makes it fine for walking across.
I want to make it so as I can walk easier and also drive over it.(tractor and offroad car).I toyed with a culvert under it but dont like the cost and also want something more 'natural'
My idea is to gather had sized stones and lay them in some sort of pattern but leaving lots of spaces for drainage.Then but a load of stone(I'd like 1 1/2 as I can use it elsewhere.) and lay the stone across the area.the area would be approx.8 foot square.
Maybe use fabric?
The end result i'd like is something that I can cross and also will be all natural materials, My idea is that the water will flow through the stone, just like a pipe ..overflow wouldn't be a problem it would simply overflow. but there would be a sturdy base in which to drive over.
Wondering peoples thoughts or if they have done a similiar project. thanks..

 

[amigauser]

Post some pictures of the area but rocks sound like a great idea.

 

[dave1949]

I have something that may be similar. It's about 50-60 feet across a natural drainage swale.

I could mostly walk across it once spring was past being careful to use tussocks of grass and old stumps as stepping points, but there were places where my boots would slip down between the roots into mostly water above my boot tops.

I started filling a crossing point wide enough for the tractor with whatever dirt and rocks I could scrape up, no fabric. At the lowest point for about 8', I used just rocks fist size up to 1 foot or so. The water passes through the rocks just fine.

I think there must have been more water moving below the surface than I realized because now that all the flow is forced by my little dam to go through one spot, it is always running water there.

The net effect is that I created a small area of standing swamp water about 10" deep on the uphill side, and also created a new area of dry ground on the downhill side, because the water is channeled into one place rather than spreading out across the whole width.

Anyways, it is very walkable across now, ATV is no problem, still needs more stone for the tractor not to rut it up on the wet end. Every now and then I gather a loader bucket full of rocks and build it up some more. I think it will be just fine for the tractor once enough rocks are in place.

 

[pat32rf]

If there is water that wants to move, you ain't gonna stop it. I have dug out a ditch accross the trail then laid 3-8' tree stems in it, There was enough space between the wood for water to flow. The stems will also give a bit of a bed to spread the load.

 

[radioman]

On my fathers land, he has similar conditions as you and we built a cord road with small logs and large branches. We laid scrap plywood in places on logs where we want water to flow between logs and buried it with dirt. Once the dirt sets up, we could drive the tractor on it. Its been 6 years and counting. Since the logs were submerged in water all the time, it doesnt have time to rot from drying out in the air.