How to maintain wooded walking trails

[KofAlberta]

That would be great (at half the width for us) and just few passes on the same trail would eliminate the ridges and really pack down the trail.

I’ve seen cross country ski groomers but they’re for a very different end user than say old and elderly couples looking to get some walking exercise.

In my city the walking trails see a lot of foot traffic so get really hard packed. They are very easy for anyone to walk quite long distances on. That’s become my gold standard.

 

[ArlyA]

That would be great (at half the width for us) and just few passes on the same trail would eliminate the ridges and really pack down the trail.
I’ve seen cross country ski groomers but they’re for a very different end user than say old and elderly couples looking to get some walking exercise.
In my city the walking trails see a lot of foot traffic so get really hard packed. They are very easy for anyone to walk quite long distances on. That’s become my gold standard.

So Kof, you are saying what type of compaction is needed for walking trails? I groom XC and walking trails which are the same.

 

[KofAlberta]

The XC trail groomers seem to focus on a path solely for the two skis. No?

Correction (I’m back)

I guess I’m just making assumptions based on my experience with our trails after only snowmobiles have gone over them and picture of groomers on the internet. However I do see wide flat groomers too. But do they pack the snow hard enough to make walking easy?

Snow Groomers: Nordic, Snowmobile, Fat Bike, Snowshoeing, Winter Sports

Snow Groomers offers quality, high-performance snow grooming equipment for: Nordic / cross country, fat biking, snowshoeing, snowmobiles etc.

www.snowgroomers.net

Interesting article:


Case Study – Levis Mounds Winter Trail System | FAT-BIKE.COM

Case Study – Levis Mounds Winter Trail System | FAT-BIKE.COM

fat-bike.com

 

[ArlyA]

The XC trail groomers seem to focus on a path solely for the two skis. No?
Correction (I’m back)
I guess I’m just making assumptions based on my experience with our trails after only snowmobiles have gone over them and picture of groomers on the internet. However I do see wide flat groomers too. But do they pack the snow hard enough to make walking easy?

Snow Groomers: Nordic, Snowmobile, Fat Bike, Snowshoeing, Winter Sports

Snow Groomers offers quality, high-performance snow grooming equipment for: Nordic / cross country, fat biking, snowshoeing, snowmobiles etc.

www.snowgroomers.net

Case Study – Levis Mounds Winter Trail System | FAT-BIKE.COM

Case Study – Levis Mounds Winter Trail System | FAT-BIKE.COM

fat-bike.com

I'm not sure the OP wanted to get into the nuances, he just wanted to knock his snow down for walking without spending any $$. I'd say not spending any $$ seems like a plan to fail.

Levis mounds near Neillsville WI is groomed by a friend of ours.

Snow groomers.net does not make implements used by any serious XC trail systems.

Here is a photo I took a few years ago. Note the width of this trail.

 

[shetland sheepdog]

I maintained a mile of trail with my Ford 5610 2 wheel drive
Tractor was equipt with ice chains and 8 foot rear blade
I would break trail without dragging, and let it set overnight
Then drag with the 3 point blade reversed
Let that set overnight and was plenty stiff enough to walk on
No problem with a foot to 15 inches of new snow

 

[oosik]

Come to think about it - the only "trail" I groom much, in the winter, my driveway. I very seldom have any legitimate reason to be "out and about" on my property in the winter. If I must - it would be with the tractor and I would, most likely, be repairing barbed wire fence line or clearing snow on the driveway. My ATV is not heavy enough to break thru any deep snow and get the necessary traction.

 

[crazyal]

The problem with packing snow to walk on is that sooner or later it's going to start to melt and that packed snow is going to be very difficult to walk on. It's different for a snow machine (or any other tracked vehicle). In that case you want the snow to help lubricate and cool the track. Also if you use something that's not smooth to pack the trail it'll make it very difficult to walk on.

 

[ArlyA]

The problem with packing snow to walk on is that sooner or later it's going to start to melt and that packed snow is going to be very difficult to walk on. It's different for a snow machine (or any other tracked vehicle). In that case you want the snow to help lubricate and cool the track. Also if you use something that's not smooth to pack the trail it'll make it very difficult to walk on.

I'm not quite sure what you are saying. Leveled and packed snow does last well into spring and you should be able to walk on it. All the snow machines I operated for the past 10 years, did not require any snow.

 

[KofAlberta]

Depends on where you live.

I still have a couple hundred square feet of hard pack snow in my back yard here in the city. Just came in from shoveling the latest spring snowfall off of it. It’s basically ice due to the spring freeze-thaw cycle. However the rest of the yard is now soft wet lawn that I don’t even want to walk on.
So hard pack can persist and stay walkable quite a ways into springtime here.

 

[Garandman]

In the old days to pack down ski jumps, we used lots of people with snow shoes.