MTB Trailcare

It is still too wet to do meaningful work on Pete's and Brett's, but there are many places that need help.  This one featured in the first gallery pictures.  It is still badly eroded, rides (rode) terribly and features trail horrors QPWS cannot overlook, including exposed and vulnerable roots.  After a number of weeks trying to keep pace with the weather and complaining about things in general, it feels good to be doing something positive again.  Ash and I went home sore, tired and satisfied after this one. 

Oh, another thing; these photos show something odd and unfamiliar.  The bright stuff is sunshine!  Don't worry, it didn't last all day.  We started work immediately after a solid squall line passed through the coast and finished just as another cell arrived.  It sure was nice while it lasted.

Here's what we started with as you would see it riding up the trail.  

It is hard to see how deep and wide the erosion gully is, but you can see how riders have widened the trail to avoid water running out of it (and back onto the trail).  The trail widening is a shocker of a line that brings rocks, eroded outslope and tree contact all together in a dreadful mess.  The gully is up to 50cm deep and you will see in later pics how wide it actually is, using tools as a reference.  The log across the lower bit of trail added a further negative influence in all ways - line, flow, drainage, the lot.  Let's head up the trail

Above the eroded gully is the old trail line, now a drain bordered on the outslope by more trail widening

Lots to be done, but you have to start somewhere and that somewhere was rock to fill the erosion gully.  The mattock offers a size reference

Some rock was also added to the gully farther up the trail.  It looks pretty miniscule, but there are other plans for this spot

Protecting roots with rocks was never going to save them totally.  We had to get riders off the old trail line, but armouring the old eroded area and roots was still a priority before a new line was created

Next was taking pressure off the trail and the bush, by turning a severely eroded, low point into something else.  Sadly, a tree with two trunks from one root system had to be removed to create a high point, ensuring all water would leave the trail here, if not before.  It's still a low point in the next pics

So we changed it to a high point beyond enhanced drainage that will remove water from the trail. Even when the rock fill completely sediments over, the contours will feed water into this drain.  We wanted this spot to look like it was always part of the hill.  Check the final pics to see if it does do that

So many trees have fallen on or near this section of trail, we made a point of removing debris and fallen timber, to make for better sight lines, less chance of getting hurt if you fall and just because it makes sense to do it.  However, the previous damage could not all be disguised.  We found another live, twisted-tree

Some of the fallen stuff was pretty big and we believe it did not belong alongside the trail.  For safety, improved sight lines and to prevent water being trapped on the trail in the future, we moved big stuff as well as all the usual outslope sticks we have learned to expect

You can see how it all turned out soon, but the rolling grade dip you see in the background of  the last pic was not finished.  Working in small groups puts physical pressures on you.  You must flit from job to job to avoid injury.  

We had other jobs to do up-trail, including making the trail line above the erosion gully more logical, so riders will unconsciously avoid the old, damaged trail and find a new way through.  

We have noticed that many riders fail to use new (and/or better) trail lines and rely on memory, rather than enjoying the moment when they encounter new trail.  Ash said I should not mention 29ers here.  Sorry.....  

Anyway, we wanted to encourage riders to enjoy this section of trail, rather than to think it sucks.  We were not able to finalise our plan by adding a rolling grade dip (drain) up-trail of the next pics.  We were shot after 6 hours of constant digging!  My fingers were cramping after spending so long picking up stones early in the day.  Maybe Wednesday we will put in that rolling grade dip and stop almost all water getting onto this section of trail.  

For now, there is a new riding line, all outsloped, bordering an upslope (existing) drainage line that finally crosses the trail before the original erosion gully.   We have made a gentle drainage over embedded stones through this grade dip.  We have to go back to this drain at least a few more times to add more stones into the gloop, gradually armouring the tread.  It will accept more stones soon

It is easier to see the new line, contours and drainages in the next pics.  We moved the riding line upslope, away from the roots and rock drain (an actual rock drain) that was the focus of our attention.  

We used a series of corral stones to help

The new line has a good feel from above and below due to a gentle bermed climbing and descending turn

The old low point is now a high point followed by a rolling grade dip.  A clear sight line makes it all work, even if it meant moving, cutting or rolling fallen trees 

It was a big day.  Hope everyone likes the outcome

Louis and Ash