Trails - Where & How

[rvaitor]

I am interested in putting some trails in on our property and am not sure what is best - I don't want to bisect the property but I also am wary of zig-zagging everywhere. I really just want better access, to keep an eye on things and a nice path to either hike or drive a jeep through.

 

[john_bud]

Determine the path you want to take. Your to-from points, mark the path with plastic flagging like they use for boundaries. Walk it a few times. Determine if it goes thru any soft areas, wet areas or other places that need to be avoided. Determine if it goes thru any areas of high value (trees, ect) or that may be affected by erosion. Determine if a small jog can make the trail easier to make. Some times it's easier to add 100 yards to the distance if it's small brush vs having to take out 100 stumps!

Modify the path and check again. When you are happy, back the cutter in if it's thick, or go forward if it's not too bad. Be wary of going forward and having to back up. Bent trees will do 'bad things' under the tractor.

If need be, us proper tools, chain saw etc.

After the trail is clear, use the FEL, box blade, rear blade to adjust the slope, pitch etc. Clear roots, rocks and stumps.

jb

 

[Tororider]

I like loops when making paths around the property, more fun than straight lines and a "round" trip is always fun.

 

[EddieWalker]

I love creating trails through the woods!!!! I've tried three different methods with good and bad results. First was the bush hog. I just drove over anything that I could and shredded up what I ran over. Sometimes I had to back in, and a few times I got into areas that I couldn't go any further. I would go over those trails many times, making them wider, and sometimes, finding turn offs. This worked really good, but it was very destructive on the shredder, the tractor and me. There's just no way to do it this way without destroying stuff.

Next, I used my dozer. I used it for most of my trails, but hav come to doubt the wisdom of using it. The positive side is that it just goes through just about everything. You can really do some exploring and open up the land with it. Unfortunately, it is extremly destructive and the mess it creates takes years to clean up. Just nocking over a tree is fine, but pushing a bunch of them, and piling them up leads to more work to clean it up.

My latest, and best method is to take out the trees with my backhoe, and then drag them to the burn pile with a chain attached to the backhoe. This is a real clean way to do it. The trails look awesome and when your done, your done. No more clean up is needed. In fact, draging those trees along the trail does an amazing job of smoothing out the trails, so there's no addition grading needed.

To lay out a trail, I just sort of look into the woods and work my way through the big trees. I try to save them, and just take out the small ones. Most will wonder along nicely, but sometimes, I make some sharp turns to save a nice tree that I come across. Other times, I'll take out the tree if I have several that are in the way.

If it's warm out, be sure to wear lots of bug spray and carry a can of wasp spray. They can really suprise you, and when you are in the thick brush, there's nowhere to go.

Eddie

 

[MarkV]

I like my trails to basically run within site but not on of my properties perimeter lines. Lets me keep an eye on things and offers a nice loop for the wife and her friends to walk each evening. With our property being wooded my trails vary from straight a bit to avoid removing the larger trees. I’ve found that my loader is the most used trail maker. It will take out most of the smaller trees that are in the way and allow me to adjust grade. After trying the rotary mower method I found the small stumps left to be ankle twisters and always in the way when running a blade over the trails for annual maintenance. It is easier to take the stump with the tree than it is to come back and try to remove stumps 4” tall after the mower has been through.

MarkV

 

[AlanB]

On our new property here, I have been making the trails as Eddie first did with the Bush Hog and tractor.

My thoughts are the bush hog is cheap. I like the "mulch" that gets left on the ground, and it is fairly instant.

It will take a year or two of beating them back with the bush hog to get the stumps beat into submission. Mine wander a bit to avoid trees etc, but primarily follow my property lines.

My son rides the stuffing out of them on his little motorcycle, and the deer use them as superhighways.

 

[rvaitor]

Great feedback folks! I really like the backhoe and dragging scheme - just don't have a backhoe. I do have a loader with 4n1 I may give it a whirl just don't want to make long trips to burn piles or create a big mess. Another issue which I didn't realize is the amount of sand in the soil in my area. I knew there was a sand harvesting rig on the river down the road but until I started looking at the creek through the property I didn't realize how much there was - all the creeks seem to have a fair amount of sand - BTW, I am in the piedmont area of NC. So with the sand issue I want to be especially careful to not create washes.

Here is a layout that is more of a doodle than anything else but could be a fairly extensive trail. I'll probably walk it this weekend and see how it looks. Just noticed my PDF cuts off the dimensions - the length is about 11,000 ft. I also tried to go on the contours.

 

[john_bud]

There is also a more manual method of trail creation that I used before buying a tractor. Hand held brush cutter.

The shoulder harness is hanging on the box blade. The red square thing is what the cutter hangs off of and is used to keep it from wearing a hole in your hip!

It's an Efco 8510 by the way. Not cheap, but good.

I still use it to make walking trails to tree stands. You can quickly make a 3-4' wide trail with it. It will cut a 1" oak, 2" maple or a 3" soft wood like a tag alder. In the pictures, some of the cut stuff is next to my size 11D boot for size reference. You don't "saw" with it, you swing into it forcefully and it falls over like magic!

 

[jimgerken]

I have been maintaining woods trails for a couple years. My neighbor grubs them out with a tractor backhoe, leaving roots and rocks, some as big as a foot across. My job is to then groom them down to Super Trailways , and my weapon of choice is a landscape rake. Mine is set up with every possible hydraulic option, so it is able to slope the trail how we want it, moving the debris off the trail. I also establish waterbreaks, to divert the rainfall water off the trail. The locations and angles of these are determined over time, by studying the way the water flows. the idea is to get the water off the trail, allowing it to flow across where necessary, but never let it flow down on/along the trail. The very first trails I put breaks in 2.5 years ago didnt need any maintenance this year, and are growing some grass and other foliage. The disruption of making the trails is extreme with the backhoe, but after the landscaping is complete and the waterbreaks are working, the trail gradually gets some regrowth and permanance. These trails are used for hunting, some logging (which is typically tough on things 'cause the logs are dragged, but we are working on that problem), and ATV recreational riding.
The real beauty of the landscape rake is the flexibility. A rear blade does similar work until it hits a large buried rock or root. Then it stops the tractor, and you dump all the dirt and debris in a pile, and try to get it going again. You can imagine how often you hit a root when working in the woods. The rake flexes and often keeps going, with a couple tines flexing out to allow the rest of the rake to keep working. The rake allows soil to remain, and takes rocks and other stuff off the trail. It sorts out the bad stuff, and leaves most of the soil laying there.

 

[thunderworks]

I cut my trails with a 7' Bushog, meandering where the trees let me through . . . a few trees I had to chainsaw, but for the most part, the Bushog did the grunt work. I cut the trails 3 or 4 years ago, and now I mow them with my ZTR a few times a year to keep the volunteers down.