Hartshorne Trail maintenance info
- Thread starter knobbyhead
- Start date
Tomorrow is the eclipse. Call out sick, come to Huber and help us on trails, then we'll ride bikes and check out the eclipse from Twin Lights. You'll thank me later.
4/8- Eclipse Trail Maintenance Monday.
9am-12pm; eclipse ride afterwards.
Park at; 25 Browns Dock rd Locust.
Let me know if you can make it.
Thx
4/8- Eclipse Trail Maintenance Monday.
9am-12pm; eclipse ride afterwards.
Park at; 25 Browns Dock rd Locust.
Let me know if you can make it.
Thx
Monday TMs are back at Hartshorne. We finished up a section of Rocky Point that was wet all winter due to water flowing out of the ground from the water table.
This area recently dried up enough to work it without making mud. I came in with a Ditch Witch and cut a 1' trench where the water had been flowing. We opened up the trench and made a swale. The material we took out was used to raise the tread. Cut & Fill.
This won't be tested until next winter, when the water table rises again, but I wanted to do this now so I wouldn't forget. This area was a mess for the last 4 months.
Thanks to the crew for getting this in, and getting machine back upright after I rolled it on a root.
@don, @knobbyhead , Steve, @SAM , Brian, @ChrisRNC, Ken, Andy.
This area recently dried up enough to work it without making mud. I came in with a Ditch Witch and cut a 1' trench where the water had been flowing. We opened up the trench and made a swale. The material we took out was used to raise the tread. Cut & Fill.
This won't be tested until next winter, when the water table rises again, but I wanted to do this now so I wouldn't forget. This area was a mess for the last 4 months.
Thanks to the crew for getting this in, and getting machine back upright after I rolled it on a root.
@don, @knobbyhead , Steve, @SAM , Brian, @ChrisRNC, Ken, Andy.
Last edited:
knobbyhead
Next off the Island.
That swale is swell!!
w_b
Well-Known Member
Sweet!
don
Well-Known Member
@pooriggy and some of the crew walking the Ditch Witch up trail. Easy to get up with a bike - not so much with a skinny and top heavy machine.
Pic of the yesterday's work area before the TM started. Iggy said the ground water was coming out an making a total mess of the trail (blue line). So much so a new trail was being formed to the left (red line). Bit of a bummer the roots had to be cut out for the drainage work but this section of trail was the definition of blown out (width wise). With the amount of traffic and weather this trail gets I'm sure there will be some added tech soon enough.
While Iggy and the rest of the crew were dealing with the drainage issues below, Knobby and I went up a bit to dial in some of the work from the previous week. @knobbyhead massaged a turn (green line) that seemed like it was pushing riders out to a drain we built last week. A cut root and added rock and dirt give it a natural looking bank and should help direct riders. We also cut out a water drain (blue line) that was full of rock and roots. Those rocks and the good material were used to build back a corner of the side of the trail that was washed away from water draining in from a rogue short cut trail near by.
Another view looking down of the area. Blue line is the projected water flow. Red is where we built out about 2ft. The green lines are the climbing line with a steeping stone and a little skip option going downhill. Between them is the same rollable root drop.
Funny comment from a runner while I was working - he said something along the lines that we were taming a fun section for when he mtn bikes. He kept running but wanted to tell them that we didn't remove any rocks and last week I actually added some tooth set stone to help dilute water before it builds up power. Plus - how did he not see a potential root skip to hip landing?? It's nothing big but should be fun
Mid TM view of the rocks we piled to build up the eroded area. That was the first round. More were added to bring it out even more. Should provide some chunk once the material settles and fills in the cracks.
knobbyhead
Next off the Island.
This new section rides really nice. Both uphill and down.View attachment 236819
@pooriggy and some of the crew walking the Ditch Witch up trail. Easy to get up with a bike - not so much with a skinny and top heavy machine.
View attachment 236852
Pic of the yesterday's work area before the TM started. Iggy said the ground water was coming out an making a total mess of the trail (blue line). So much so a new trail was being formed to the left (red line). Bit of a bummer the roots had to be cut out for the drainage work but this section of trail was the definition of blown out (width wise). With the amount of traffic and weather this trail gets I'm sure there will be some added tech soon enough.
View attachment 236854
While Iggy and the rest of the crew were dealing with the drainage issues below, Knobby and I went up a bit to dial in some of the work from the previous week. @knobbyhead massaged a turn (green line) that seemed like it was pushing riders out to a drain we built last week. A cut root and added rock and dirt give it a natural looking bank and should help direct riders. We also cut out a water drain (blue line) that was full of rock and roots. Those rocks and the good material were used to build back a corner of the side of the trail that was washed away from water draining in from a rogue short cut trail near by.
View attachment 236853
Another view looking down of the area. Blue line is the projected water flow. Red is where we built out about 2ft. The green lines are the climbing line with a steeping stone and a little skip option going downhill. Between them is the same rollable root drop.
Funny comment from a runner while I was working - he said something along the lines that we were taming a fun section for when he mtn bikes. He kept running but wanted to tell them that we didn't remove any rocks and last week I actually added some tooth set stone to help dilute water before it builds up power. Plus - how did he not see a potential root skip to hip landing?? It's nothing big but should be fun
View attachment 236855
Mid TM view of the rocks we piled to build up the eroded area. That was the first round. More were added to bring it out even more. Should provide some chunk once the material settles and fills in the cracks.
don
Well-Known Member
A good sized crew of heavy hitting TMers came out on Monday. @pooriggy 's plan to do some re-routing in the field area is coming along nicely.
There were a lot of stone left over from being dropped on the old trail. I'm guessing use and weather had them spread all over the place. We felt they would make a great base so a gravesite was carved out and that good material was used for a top layer on the tread of the trail higher up.
Picture of all the stone farmed out of the surrounding area and filled in. Shame this will be covered up. The guys moved a literal ton!
Soil being placed on top.
Quick pic of the where the old trail was. This previous area had an abrupt T intersection. @pooriggy came up with softer ins and out of the intersection with a sort of wooded island in the middle.
View of the new merge area looking up.
View looking down.
There were a lot of stone left over from being dropped on the old trail. I'm guessing use and weather had them spread all over the place. We felt they would make a great base so a gravesite was carved out and that good material was used for a top layer on the tread of the trail higher up.
Picture of all the stone farmed out of the surrounding area and filled in. Shame this will be covered up. The guys moved a literal ton!
Soil being placed on top.
Quick pic of the where the old trail was. This previous area had an abrupt T intersection. @pooriggy came up with softer ins and out of the intersection with a sort of wooded island in the middle.
View of the new merge area looking up.
View looking down.
bullit398
Member
What's up with all the branches thrown into the main trail on grand tour (at least as of Tuesday)? This is a relatively fast moving area into a blind corner. It was a bit eroded but someone filled this section with a bunch of loose branches and then made a go around, without closing the original trail. It's on grand tour going away from Rocky Point. Pretty dangerous and if the intent was to close the main trail and divert to the go around, that was not a great way to go about it. I dont know if this was the TM team or just random riders but it wasnt very well thought out. Area circled in blue below.
It was not a TM team. I happened to be in the area and fixed it in less then 5 minutes.
@bullit398 come out and join us at a TM session to learn how we work. Thanks.
Iggy, why you put all those branches in there? I like it like the 1st Pic.
What Don said. This project began in 2022, with the clearing of invasives by a contractor in this open area of Monmouth Hills. The park system ecologists headed this up and last spring it was seeded with native grasses.
This is what the area used to look like. Even in the winter it was a mess with overrun invasives and a badly eroded trail.
The plan is to reroute the trail through this area, with a more sustainable line and restore the old blown out trail.
The new line is marked in red.
We began the connection to the upper end of existing trail last week. Rip rap stone which was brought in years ago to try and stabilize the washed out trail was piled along the tree line by a bull dozer last year when grading was done in the field. We used this rock as a base for a low area on the trail, which not only provide a firm trail but eliminates the chance of a mower whacking it or weeds growing over it during the growing season.
After the rock was down we used surrounding mineral soil to coat the top and tie into grades.
The area where volunteers are standing was rocked and graded into the line we had put in earlier that morning. From this view, it illustrates a grade reversal higher up with a banked turn into another grade reversal. I rode it later in the day, it rides as well as it looks.
Looking down from the top, you can see the field where the new trail is going to be installed. I have a mini-excavator coming Monday with a dump truck to cut a new trail and fill the old one.
Come join us Monday morning from 9am-12pm, meeting at the Claypit lot of Hartshorne, 259 Locust Ave, Rumson. Although I have machines to do the heavy lifting, there will be handwork needed for grading. This will be an awesome reroute to take part in, which will bring joy to trail users for years to come. Let me know if you can make it.
Thanks heavy hitting Monday morning Hartshorne crew.
@don @smann , @knobbyhead , @ChrisRNC , @SAM , Larry, Roland, Andy, UK Steve, and Brian.