This is what I've used when collecting rocks for trail building. If you can rope some people in, it helps to form a human chain and just get it done by passing the rocks (or buckets of smaller rocks) down a chain.
Alternatively, consider re-aligning the trail to avoid the boggy area, if possible
Mini bulk bags. I use them for garden waste. Forestry sometimes use them for saplings. I've got three all from planters.
https://www.universalsupplygroup.co.uk/rubble-sacks-builders-bags-en/Bulk-Bags?product_id=44583
Levitation 🪄
Transmogrification ftw
Having watched small/wiry men haul evenly weighted buckets of all manner of things up hundreds/thousands of steep steps to the temples atop tall hills/small mountains in China (and what about water?! Bloody monks), that's fine on even, albeit almost vertical, ground, but I wouldn't fancy the swingage on an off camber trail.
Re-route to avoid boggy ground, as suggested above. It is the Way.
I considered a hod, not sure how easy it would be to fill and lift on your own though.
Are they interesting rocks? rope some small children in to help. I spend hours, much to the despair of my parents filling my pockets with rocks on every walk.
Re-route to avoid boggy ground, as suggested above. It is the Way.
The general public has evaded the boggy section through the adjacent trees but it ruins the flow both up and down, and this can't be improved without the felling of large trees and the removal of their stumps.
I plan to dig a little drainage channel then move some rocks around, this is the limit of what I would consider appropriate.
I was thinking either those rubble buckets or the mini skip bags. Anything lighter will get torn to shreds with dragging, and saying that has given me an idea - get a plastic sled, drill some holes and find some screw fittings with big washers, preferably with ring attachments so some sort of tie-down with netting so a skip bag can be loaded on with the net, or ratchet straps to secure it, then some webbing to go across your shoulders to drag it.
It’s how the stones were moved to build Avebury henge and Stonehenge - although they had Aurochs to drag the sleds, which had maybe 40 tonne of stones on them…
Never got a mule handy when you need one!
I plan to dig a little drainage channel then move some rocks around, this is the limit of what I would consider appropriate.
See if you can get hold of some offcuts of the flexible plastic or rubber industrial strip-doors. Cut thinner strips and set them into grooves cut down and across the slope, to direct water flow across and to the side of the track; that’ll help drainage away to the side, so it doesn’t run straight down the slope causing grooves to erode and also help stop puddling which causes foot traffic to walk around and erode the edges.
I am not a geological engineer or anything, but just using common sense from where I’ve seen lots of similar damage elsewhere.
Just found this photo showing how tree roots can do a similar thing, helping stop water erosion by diverting the flow off to the side, helps to explain what I mean.
What happens to the trail that you take the rocks from? Does that then become a boggy mess?
What happens to the trail that you take the rocks from? Does that then become a boggy mess?
No, it's mostly solid rock. The loose rocks have either broken from the bedrock or they were in the soil that has been washed away in the centuries since humans first made the trail.
What happens to the trail that you take the rocks from? Does that then become a boggy mess?
Robbing Pierre to pay Paul?
Tree roots were never designed to help channel water...if they do, it is a happy coincidence...they can help hold water which then doesn't drain and causes more issues. As things wear away around them, they then stop being useful.
Is there anyway you can channel the start of the water away so there is less water sitting on the trail? A channel with a perforated pipe in it to help the water drain across and below the trail? If so, that could result in less water so less stone moving as the existing surface is drier (although if it is the bedrock then you won't be able to do a huge amount to encourage water to drain elsewhere...so may need a wee blocker to help encourage it to move (think someone above has mentioned similar).
The bedrock doesn't need the drainage. The trail comes down the hill then flattens out and presumably the rock dips a little before continuing because there is a flat bit that has filled with leaves over the millennia and made an area of nice compost which becomes a mud pool in winter. The trail emerges from this and then continues down the hill. So yes I plan to make a little channel at the bottom of the top section of trail to allow the run-off from the trail to exit down the hillside. Then perhaps another one at the boggy section, but I don't think this will have a big effect since the soft earth is now there and will absorb rainwater anyway. If I were to excavate all the soft dirt I could probably prevent new dirt forming because I could encourage the runoff to take the leaves etc with it, but I don't want to go that far.
Then perhaps another one at the boggy section, but I don’t think this will have a big effect since the soft earth is now there and will absorb rainwater anyway. If I were to excavate all the soft dirt I could probably prevent new dirt forming because I could encourage the runoff to take the leaves etc with it, but I don’t want to go that far.
Once you can control the amount of runoff into the bog, then getting a fair amount of reasonable size stones into it, to help control foot erosion and post-holing it, it should start to dry naturally, and if possible, maybe putting another drainage channel across the middle to help stop water pooling there to help it dry out over time.
Bring rock from above rather than below
Gravity is your friend.
Sounds like a lot of work ,so make sure u do the preparation and remove the soft stuff.
Rubble bags?
Not too full, just lots of journeys and patience!
Assuming the trail is progressing, a bag balanced on the bike saddle as u wheel it down?
I'd want to walk in, I think a bike would make it a lot harder.
When I get round to starting I'll post pics. The exact spot is 51.563519,-3.156649 by the way. Have a look on OS maps on Bing, you can see where it flattens out. Strangely it's at the top of a saddle so it's downhil on three sides, must be some kind of rock formation under it collecting water, which is why I'm not sure I'll be able to actually drain it.
If I had another person...
A couple of poles [insert east euro builder joke here] and a canvas sling (like a stretcher)
Or, a number of flexi-tubs instead of the material?
C4
Looks like you can stop in and get a shoulder massage after you've done a shift with moving rocks...
depends on the size. if they’d fit, put them in a sturdy bucket and move them a few at a time.
Saw this and thought of this thread, obviously it's not for THIS purpose but you could maybe use the idea to create something?
See 3.15
Trekker's Friend hiking trailer – the hiking trailer that goes wherever you go (trekkersfriend.com)
I normally find two people and a big gorilla bucket works well. Failing that, small gorilla buckets and a couple of trips. I've shifted quite a lot of rock in a backpack on my ebike, but it felt way more dangerous than I thought it would and haven't done that again since.
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Interesting conundrum. If you manage a donkey or large dog, that would be easiest, but may need serious negotiation with 3rd parties, not to mention some coaxing!
If you go for man-carrying, use your hips to carry the load, not shoulders (they tire easily). So a rucksack with a rubblesack liner and good waistbelt would do.
Otherwise, could you rig up a pulley system on a tree branch at the top of the hill? Then you could fill buckets further down and winch them up to the boggy bit. By this I mean a 'skyline' attached to trees high up, but parallel to the slope, like lumberjacks use. This would be complicated to set up for 1-man operation, though
‘Deer Extraction Sled’ ?
Tree roots were never designed to help channel water…if they do, it is a happy coincidence…they can help hold water which then doesn’t drain and causes more issues. As things wear away around them, they then stop being useful.
Oddly enough, I’m actually perfectly aware of that. It was by way of an example to try to illustrate what I was talking about using angled strips set at an angle to direct water across and down into a channel on the downslope side.
I’d have thought that was clear enough, but obviously not. 🙄
This photo is the only one I can find that shows anything like what I’m talking about - flat stones set in edgewise are doing a similar job, to help direct water across and down, to try to prevent the water flow causing troughs forming directly downhill.
