Building a cabin road

[gdicks]

OK so I have a nice piece of land on which to build a remote cabin for which I need to route a trail. This trail may one day end up being a road but for now it need only be wide enough for a side by side / atv. My question is to anyone who has built a road / trail before, am I better off trying to avoid the hill by going around it or side hill up then side hill back down the back side?

Ive tried to roughly outline the land. The red area is a bog / marshy area that I need to avoid and the white lines show the rough contour. My initial route in blue kept to about the same elevation and skitred around the hill. The orange line would side hill up then side hill back down the back of the hill.

My initial thought was the blue line which while steeper on the back side of the hill, I could make the trail by flattening out the slope as I go. The issue here is the forest in this area is larger trees that are harder to remove with small equipment. The orange option would take me up the hill and back down but the forest consists of little more than saplings although extremely densely growing.

The overall elevation change to the top of the highest point is not that great maybe 50 feet so I'm not climbing a mountain here. For scale, the entire trail using either approach is about 400 meters or a quarter mile. Im hoping to use my BX25 for the job but I can get something bigger if needs be. Anyone have any helpful advice to help me make my decision?

 

[FTG-05]

- Click on "Edit", then delete picture

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- Retake picture with graphics; repost new picture

"Corner Brook" location now anonymous.

Good luck!

 

[davesl708]

My preference would be for the orange trail. You might get a better view while traveling on it.
Orange is flatter terrain and you would have less chance of washout in a rain. Easier to make and maintain.

Good luck with the project.

 

[MossRoad]

If you have any snow or ice ever, take the blue line.

 

[gdicks]

We do get A LOT of snow but this will never be a cleared winter road.

 

[gdicks]

My preference would be for the orange trail. You might get a better view while traveling on it.
Orange is flatter terrain and you would have less chance of washout in a rain. Easier to make and maintain.

Good luck with the project.

The view would be a nice feature for sure although I hadn't thought of it from that angle....

 

[airbiscuit]

Not sure what I think of that "hairpin" corner on the orange route. I'm guessing trucks, equipment, etc will have to get in when you build the cabin. 400 meters isn't all that far, and either route has about the same length to it. Wouldn't the orange route actually be more prone to erosion? What is the soil like (sandy, clay, etc.)?

You may like playing on that Kubota so much that you end up with a blue road and an orange trail )

 

[MossRoad]

We do get A LOT of snow but this will never be a cleared winter road.

You say that now.... but in the future, I'm sure you'll hear sometime "Let's spend the holidays at the cabin" or "Let's go cross country skiing at the cabin." or "There's been a break in at the cabin." It happens.

 

[MossRoad]

The hairpin turn and construction vehicles is an excellent point. So is traffic. What if you do decide to make it a road and you meet another vehicle half way down the road, right about that turn? On a flat road, you can make it wider easier than you can on the side of a hill.

And roads on hills require ditches and culverts on the uphill side to direct water and dirt away from and under the road to prevent erosion and washout.... and those ditches and culverts will require annual maintenance at the least. More work for you.

Make the access road on the flat path and make hiking/atv trails through the picturesque parts.

 

[LD1]

Blue line has almost no elevation change. That gets my vote.