I was told it is a bad idea...hold my beer!

[Tiptoo]

UPDATE

Good news, it's beautiful outside and my trail is shaded.

Bad news, ticks and sticks!!!

My trail entrance/exit has 2 dumping spots depending on if I'm dragging dirt out with the box blade or if I'm carrying out a load in the loader.

The farther in I go....the longer the haul
Not too big of a deal, I'm patient in my minimal progress. However, cleaning up the dump spots to their final destination, that my niece has named 'The CLIFFOFF!', is about 100 yards away across gravel. This is not fun. Mind you, I have a TYM. Only Hi and Low gear hydro. High, I lose my load bouncing all around. Low, I lose daylight and time.

I have an old truck bed liner the previous owner so kindly left me in a gully. I've hauled it up to my barns. I was thinking of using it at my loader dump site. Fill it up, chain it to my box and drag it, then push it off 'The CLIFFOFF!'. Hopefully I'm left with an empty liner and it doesn't drag me down.

Thoughts...???

Better ideas....??

 

[/pine]

UPDATE
View attachment 557272

Hate to harp on runoff...but that looks like an aqueduct...

 

[Tiptoo]

Hate to harp on runoff...but that looks like an aqueduct...

Lol..yes. this is actually the main gully that will wreck everything if I can't figure out drainage. Right now any heavy rain will rut it out. One swipe with the box will get it back in shape. Long term .... I still haven't figured it out.

 

[Tiptoo]

All the other gullies end here. I carved a ditch to run out the south side of my property. When my trail reaches one of these gullies I will have to use culverts or bridges....???...if that makes sense

 

[GirlWhoWantsTractor]

I live on the side of the mountain in the Blueridge, so similar terrain. Cut a crude road down to a ravine here (done professionally in 1 day, but a ton of fine work left afterwards for me). Original slope, when walking up you could casually stretch out your hand and touch the ground; not sure what % that is. Now, even with two switchbacks, it's pretty steep. I took the advice of the pro running the excavator and it has proved good:

1. Like another poster said "uphill drainage ditch"; IOW when you're cutting the road into the hillside you need a ditch on the uphill side of the road, and really the whole road needs to tilt to the uphill side a bit; otherwise all the rainwater from upslope cuts across your road. These ditches will need a certain amount of maintenance. Good thing is, with our hard clay soil and lots of bedrock, once you "carve" your ditch, you mainly need to keep it clear of leaves.

2. Like another poster said, gravel just won't last on these slopes. After much debate between grass/gravel.....I couldn't decide....so did half in gravel and on half threw down some Contractor Mix grass seed. 18 months later, the grass part is still perfect and just needs occasional mowing. The "gravel" part now needs not only a complete re-grading, but also probably a load of dirt brought in. I don't know where the rest of that road is, but it ain't on the road any more.

I can't see any of it lasting through the rains unless you get it covered with something pretty quick.

I sure learned a lot on this project. You will too. Looking forward to updates.

 

[Tiptoo]

I live on the side of the mountain in the Blueridge, so similar terrain. Cut a crude road down to a ravine here (done professionally in 1 day, but a ton of fine work left afterwards for me). Original slope, when walking up you could casually stretch out your hand and touch the ground; not sure what % that is. Now, even with two switchbacks, it's pretty steep. I took the advice of the pro running the excavator and it has proved good:

1. Like another poster said "uphill drainage ditch"; IOW when you're cutting the road into the hillside you need a ditch on the uphill side of the road, and really the whole road needs to tilt to the uphill side a bit; otherwise all the rainwater from upslope cuts across your road. These ditches will need a certain amount of maintenance. Good thing is, with our hard clay soil and lots of bedrock, once you "carve" your ditch, you mainly need to keep it clear of leaves.

2. Like another poster said, gravel just won't last on these slopes. After much debate between grass/gravel.....I couldn't decide....so did half in gravel and on half threw down some Contractor Mix grass seed. 18 months later, the grass part is still perfect and just needs occasional mowing. The "gravel" part now needs not only a complete re-grading, but also probably a load of dirt brought in. I don't know where the rest of that road is, but it ain't on the road any more.

I can't see any of it lasting through the rains unless you get it covered with something pretty quick.

I sure learned a lot on this project. You will too. Looking forward to updates.

This is the exact type of info I was looking for when I started this post. Thanks for the reply. This definitely help my decision making.
My bench cuts will lean to the hillside and have an up hill side ditch... I prob would have done stone and tile...glad to have your experience change my mind back to grass or clover.
I've been looking at PTO blowers. I dread the fall and the amount of leaves I will have to deal with. I also want to go up each gully I cross and scrape it to tractor width. The amount of leaves that fall there could maybe be more easily removed or mowed.

 

[GirlWhoWantsTractor]

This is the exact type of info I was looking for when I started this post. Thanks for the reply. This definitely help my decision making.
My bench cuts will lean to the hillside and have an up hill side ditch... I prob would have done stone and tile...glad to have your experience change my mind back to grass or clover.
I've been looking at PTO blowers. I dread the fall and the amount of leaves I will have to deal with. I also want to go up each gully I cross and scrape it to tractor width. The amount of leaves that fall there could maybe be more easily removed or mowed.

Just to clear up one thing, if the rainwater stays in the same ditch ALL the way down, by the time you get to the bottom it will be a huge volume of water. If you can't avoid this, you may have to put in a few culverts to divert some of the water under the road to the downhill woods side.

Steep sections seem to do better slightly crowned to shed water in as many directions as possible and avoid the water creating a gulley down the middle of your road.... More bends and turns help, keeping each section short helps. Diverting water in as many different directions as possible helps.

 

[Tiptoo]

Just to clear up one thing, if the rainwater stays in the same ditch ALL the way down, by the time you get to the bottom it will be a huge volume of water. If you can't avoid this, you may have to put in a few culverts to divert some of the water under the road to the downhill woods side.

Steep sections seem to do better slightly crowned to shed water in as many directions as possible and avoid the water creating a gulley down the middle of your road.... More bends and turns help, keeping each section short helps. Diverting water in as many different directions as possible helps.

I understand ya.... crude drawing ....green is existing gullies. Red my trail. Blue current and future water flow. Black ditches.

Bridges or culverts are needed at each gully crossing.

 

[/pine]

FWIW...Grass does not create the best surface for traction...especially on grades or when moist...

 

[Tiptoo]

FWIW...Grass does not create the best surface for traction...especially on grades or when moist...

It will mainly be for the ditches.