trail clearing technique and tools

[ArlyA]

We have lots of trail clearing education and experience in the northern hardwood forest so I thought someone might like to discuss the practice and the tools for doing that most fun job. This includes mountain biking, ski and hiking trails, all which which we've been educated at. Below is photos taken over the years and feel free to ask any questions. Most these photos were taken in the Ottawa National forest.

This dead fall needs to come off. At least a 3ft section of it!

Pole saw and tools setup.

This photo is knocking grass down on a XC trail.

Most of the work we do is with s pole saw combi type setup.

Mowing trails with a ATV and a DR mower

 

[ArlyA]

The vast majority of sawing we do in the field is with a pole-saw which we are proponents of. We also use these to run .155 and heavier strings to knock tree shoots and tough grasses down. Stihl is suppose to be coming out with a head to hold .180 string which we will switch to asap.

 

[ArlyA]

Getting into the field we either hike, with our 6x6 or some other atv, utv type of machine.

 

[deezler]

Oof, that wooden ladder backpack doesn't look real ergonomic lol.

Thanks for sharing.

 

[kenmbz]

Thanks for starting this thread. I am always working on my (much shorter) trails and seem to always fall behind when spring comes alone. During winter I took the tractor through one trail and used the chainsaw to make the path wider.
I use a saw blade brush cutter to try and keep the trail clear and just bought a pole saw.

 

[ArlyA]

Thanks for starting this thread. I am always working on my (much shorter) trails and seem to always fall behind when spring comes alone. During winter I took the tractor through one trail and used the chainsaw to make the path wider.
I use a saw blade brush cutter to try and keep the trail clear and just bought a pole saw.

Ken, Are speaking of a wood blade on your weed whacker??

 

[kenmbz]

It is an FS110 handlebar with both scratch and chisel blades. I have an old patched up larger sear brush cutter, that takes larger blades, but it too heavy to work for more than an hour at a time.

The FS110 is lighter, but the smaller blade takes quite a few more swipes. Mostly 1-3" to take down and then smaller haneysuckle sprouts to knock down the next year on each sections.

Lots of Ash deadfall slows things down too.

 

[ArlyA]

We discontinued the use of steel blades due to a rock problem. Like they are everywhere! This photo is the style we had used. Today we hope to completely swtich over to .180 string which will take out pretty large shoots and doesn't care if you have rocks or not. We have used .155 for years. This new and larger string really works well on tree shoots and if it doesn't outright cut them off, it beats the life out of them anyway.

 

[kenmbz]

Rock is not an issue for me so far. Most are settled in a bit since I am on a hillside with lots of run off .
Interesting blade, might try it.

 

[ArlyA]

Rock is not an issue for me so far. Most are settled in a bit since I am on a hillside with lots of run off .
Interesting blade, might try it.

I'm not sure what your vegetation is like there ken, but another reason we gave up on the steel bales, was there cutting radius was so darn small, compared to running string. Even if we ran into young trees the string wouldn't cut, we still got all the weeds, grass and smaller shoots cut while the heavy string was undeterred. (not broke) We could then follow up with a lopper and finish off the ones the string couldn't handle, but there wouldn't be all that many anyway.

 

[ArlyA]

Clearing a NFS trail on Lake Ste Kathryn in the Ottawa NF in the upper peninsula of MI. The spruce bud worms make for regular work here.

Now all better!

Before

And after. All saw tools all carried in the DAKINE Builder 40L backpack you see here which is a darn good pack.

More pics to follow.

 

[ArlyA]

Culvert clean out and trimming branches to allow for a better view on the swamp.. And why do we using pole saws for 95% of our work on trails??

 

[Fixastuff]

Cool stuff! I love building trails, one of the reasons I bought a mini excavator.

 

[ArlyA]

Cool stuff! I love building trails, one of the reasons I bought a mini excavator.

Thanks fixstuff. We do many, many hours at clearing trails eash summer in the National Forest and we've been trained to do that. We've also done and been trained to do mountian bike trails, ski trails and what you see here is hiking ones. What trails do you do??

 

[ArlyA]

I should add that it's tick season up here and all the pants and shirts we are wearing in these photos have been sprayed with Permethrin insect and tick repellent chemical. It works!

 

[ArlyA]

More trail clearing photos taken over the weekend.

 

[ArlyA]

Is anyone out there doing trail work?? Or have any questions concerning that?

 

[kenmbz]

I am working on trails on my property.
In the knock down and brush clearing phase.

Once I have that done was thinking of using a flail to keep it clear?

Will end up with maybe a 1/2 mile of new trail joining to some currently grass fields.

Using Brush cutter with scratch blade a pole saw to get it to the point where I can haul out the huge dead ash trees I need to fell as they are already dropping branches, and some are falling down on other trees I want to keep.

Any advice on low spots for drainage , mostly on a slope but a few areas that stay wet for a week or so after heavy rain?

 

[ArlyA]

Since most trails do not need to be straight, we go around wet spots. In fact straight trails are not recommend, due to the boring factor. Can you get around low spots?

 

[kenmbz]

The wet areas are pretty wide. I think I will eventually have to bite the bullet and build up high areas through them, making sure not to interfere too much with water movement down hill.