# Berm Peak - Seths Bike Hacks new place



## Klurejr (Oct 13, 2006)

I really like this youtube channel and see that he has moved to a new house with a big plot of property and is now making his own trail network on it. This first video is great. I can't wait to see how it progresses.






Do any of you have property big enough to make your own trail system?


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## karthur (Apr 20, 2018)

Yes


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## tbmaddux (May 22, 2012)

Love Seth and his videos.

Just a nitpick... "Berm Creek" was the the "riding area" at the OLD house. Literally a back yard trail, just really a drop and a catch berm and a double (the latter of which somehow destroyed Seth). Plus you could huck off a picnic table.

His new house has what looks to my eye like enough land to make trails about a quarter-mile long, and he's calling it "Berm Peak".

I have less property than his original house, so no. I can almost pedal from my home into the local (Oregon State University - managed) forest that has a pretty large trail network, but the access route is unauthorized, so ... also no. It's about a 10-minute drive to get to a legitimate trailhead, so that's what I do.


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## TimTucker (Nov 9, 2011)

It looks like his new property is about 5.5 acres -- with some switchbacks, stacked loops, and creative planning, I wouldn't be surprised if he gets at least 1 mile of trails.

Our old house was 2 acres and when I did some rough estimating, I figured we could have had at least 1/4 mile if not more.

Our current house has just under 1/2 acre and my best estimate is it's about 1/10th of a mile doing a loop around the back yard. I've been working towards adding in alternate sections so that more people can ride at once and you can ride multiple laps without hitting the same path each time.

I've been posting updates on progress throughout the spring / summer here:
https://forums.mtbr.com/trail-build...-ground-cover-alternatives-grass-1102197.html


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## OzarkFathom (Jul 2, 2019)

75 acres in the Missouri Ozarks......


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## OzarkFathom (Jul 2, 2019)

A tool for the work and toys for the play,
Cut a little and ride a little every day.....


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## *OneSpeed* (Oct 18, 2013)

Seth's is good stuff.

This guy made a pretty sweet track in not a lot of space. (not real trails though. https://forums.mtbr.com/trail-build...-ground-cover-alternatives-grass-1102197.html


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## CannondaleF9 (Nov 17, 2012)

I have some land, and started building trails on it last fall. Unfortunately it snowed before I was able to build a full top-bottom run on my hill, but I will try my best to finish the project in the spring. 
Seth's videos inspired me to brave the tick infested woods and embrace some trail building creativity.


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## Klurejr (Oct 13, 2006)

CannondaleF9 said:


> I have some land, and started building trails on it last fall. Unfortunately it snowed before I was able to build a full top-bottom run on my hill, but I will try my best to finish the project in the spring.
> Seth's videos inspired me to brave the tick infested woods and embrace some trail building creativity.


post up some progress pics!


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## CannondaleF9 (Nov 17, 2012)

Klurejr said:


> post up some progress pics!


I will try to upload some tonight if my phone lets me. The image uploader on here stopped working for me last year.


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## Klurejr (Oct 13, 2006)

CannondaleF9 said:


> I will try to upload some tonight if my phone lets me. The image uploader on here stopped working for me last year.


I only upload to this site via my desktop computer.


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## CannondaleF9 (Nov 17, 2012)

The uploader doesn't like working on my computer either. I can't keep trying to sort it out tonight, I have a case brief to write for my Civil Liberties class tomorrow so I should probably start doing that.

I did take some video of the trails to log my progress literally a day before the season's first snow storm, so I'm thinking about uploading those to YouTube.






Here's a short video of one of the trails. Nothing is really complete, as I got interrupted by Mother Nature. I will definitely try to finish my plans for them this summer.


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## MX9799 (Feb 11, 2018)

I have exactly one mile of trail cleared and nearly finished at my house. Hoping to have it finished by this spring when the ground dries out and I'm actually able to ride it. Still have a few small trees to cut, some benching to do, short brush to dig up, and some jumps to build. My land is pretty flat though, so there's no really good hills to climb or descend. I'm hoping to be able to build some rollers on the downhill parts of the trail to help generate some speed. 

I have enough land for much more, and maybe one day I'll extend the trail system to get more mileage, but for now getting more is just too much work for one man to do on the weekends in the winter. I'm also trying to keep it kind of short for now so my young daughters can learn to ride on it and actually be able to do the whole loop while they are learning. I'll get some pics of some of the finished sections this weekend and post them up.


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## Klurejr (Oct 13, 2006)

CannondaleF9 said:


> The uploader doesn't like working on my computer either.


I know this site does not play well with larger file sizes. I have a Samsung Galaxy S8+ and have to shrink my images before uploading them.

Also you property looks amazing. I would love to live in a pine forest.


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## CycleKrieg (Dec 19, 2013)

I love watching Seth's Bike Hacks. But do not build anything he shows like he does. Its all janky and likely to injure someone. The idea is there, but the "looks good to me" eyeballing drives my bonkers. Safe angles and radii are well known.


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## CannondaleF9 (Nov 17, 2012)

Klurejr said:


> I know this site does not play well with larger file sizes. I have a Samsung Galaxy S8+ and have to shrink my images before uploading them.
> 
> Also you property looks amazing. I would love to live in a pine forest.


Thank you! I am thinking about recording more of the trails as I build them this summer. I have some ideas for features and some lines that will seriously suffer from the gopro effect.


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## MX9799 (Feb 11, 2018)

Klurejr said:


> I know this site does not play well with larger file sizes. I have a Samsung Galaxy S8+ and have to shrink my images before uploading them.
> 
> Also you property looks amazing. *I would love to live in a pine forest*.


About half of my land is a pine forest and I wish it was hardwoods. Stuff drops pine needles on the trail (and my driveway) like you wouldn't believe, and the trees are always shedding limbs and/or falling over. It's not as great as it seems. You can see in the video above that the guy had to rake or blow a ton of pine needles to get the trail down to dirt.


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## karthur (Apr 20, 2018)

I agree with MX9799 I try to avoid the pure pine areas in my woods when laying out trails.


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## rynomx785 (Jul 16, 2018)

CycleKrieg said:


> I love watching Seth's Bike Hacks. But do not build anything he shows like he does. Its all janky and likely to injure someone. The idea is there, but the "looks good to me" eyeballing drives my bonkers. Safe angles and radii are well known.


Curious to hear you elaborate on that a little more. All of his Berm Peak stuff looks pretty sound to me.


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## Sidewalk (May 18, 2015)

I wish I could afford my grandparents place. With a half acre I could build a nice jump line and pump track, and still have plenty of grazing room for a couple horses.

But..even though I have virtually the same job he had in the 70's, I can't afford it 

So I am buying a van instead :lol:


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## rynomx785 (Jul 16, 2018)

Sidewalk said:


> I wish I could afford my grandparents place. With a half acre I could build a nice jump line and pump track, and still have plenty of grazing room for a couple horses.
> 
> But..even though I have virtually the same job he had in the 70's, I can't afford it
> 
> So I am buying a van instead :lol:


Bringing yourself to the trails is certainly easier than bring the trails to yourself. lol

Curious though, why not a small motor home? Vans seem like a lot work to get them setup and they still don't seem to be setup as well as a motor home would be.


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## Sidewalk (May 18, 2015)

rynomx785 said:


> Bringing yourself to the trails is certainly easier than bring the trails to yourself. lol
> 
> Curious though, why not a small motor home? Vans seem like a lot work to get them setup and they still don't seem to be setup as well as a motor home would be.


Motorhomes are not really durable for long term use, are not well setup for indoor bike storage, are more expensive to operate, more difficult to maintain, and drawns less attention parked at my work (where I will be living).


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## CannondaleF9 (Nov 17, 2012)

MX9799 said:


> About half of my land is a pine forest and I wish it was hardwoods. Stuff drops pine needles on the trail (and my driveway) like you wouldn't believe, and the trees are always shedding limbs and/or falling over. It's not as great as it seems. You can see in the video above that the guy had to rake or blow a ton of pine needles to get the trail down to dirt.


I actually prefer working in the pines. There's no undergrowth and the dirt is very soft so it's easy to dig trails. Sure, there's a decent layer of rotting material to break through, but once that's gone you just need to rake it every now and then. 
Most of my property is deciduous, but everything around my house is pine. I just haven't started work that high up the hill yet.


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## MX9799 (Feb 11, 2018)

CannondaleF9 said:


> I actually prefer working in the pines. There's no undergrowth and the dirt is very soft so it's easy to dig trails. Sure, there's a decent layer of rotting material to break through, but once that's gone you just need to rake it every now and then.
> Most of my property is deciduous, but everything around my house is pine. I just haven't started work that high up the hill yet.


It's true you don't have to deal with much undergrowth. Pines do a good job of shading the little stuff out. On my trails, there was a thick, tangled mess of woody vines growing along the ground under the matt of needles as well. It was a mess.


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## CannondaleF9 (Nov 17, 2012)

MX9799 said:


> It's true you don't have to deal with much undergrowth. Pines do a good job of shading the little stuff out. On my trails, there was a thick, tangled mess of woody vines growing along the ground under the matt of needles as well. It was a mess.


I will agree, the plants that grow under needles are a pain, I usually go through them with branch clippers and/or dig them up. I had one section I should have cleared before the end of the season, but it was cut short. 
There are pros and cons to building in both types of woods, and it's just what I have around my house. I will probably post some videos where I walk down the trails and explain my ideas behind them. 
Either way, the terrain worked well for what I wanted to do and the little bit of trail I did build was easy to make and fun to ride. Higher up the mountain I have juniper bushes, vines, and invasive weeds to deal with. Lower down I have lots of undergrowth and marsh-like ground. None of it is going to be easy to build on, but I will do it somehow.


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## MX9799 (Feb 11, 2018)

Well, I tried to upload some pics of my trail build, but the website won't let me upload them for some reason......


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## MX9799 (Feb 11, 2018)

Looks like the file size was too big at first. Here are some pictures I took of the trail. Not sure why they're sideways. You can tell how thick the mat of pine needles are in the one pic in the pine trees.

It seems my dog's ultimate goal in life is to go to the large creek that runs through my property, find plastic bottles, and bring them back to the yard or my trails for somebody else to throw away....


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## radair (Dec 19, 2002)

I own 18 acres, bordered by 44 acres of neighborhood green space, which abuts 400 acres of town-owned conservation land that is adjacent to 800,000 acres of White Mountain National Forest. Pretty much unlimited riding right out the door. I bought my property in winter so I started building trails before I built my house. I am a super lucky guy and I don't take any of it for granted.

Seth's series is interesting but man, does he get carried away with naming every turn and feature. People seem to love it so who am I to judge?


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## mmjf9696 (Sep 30, 2008)

Yes I do. I have been making videos of my progress.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLALZVHdIBx98wn7pV92zxElNhjA33yyCr


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## JMarRuns (Aug 19, 2019)

Been binging on Seth's Youtube channel. One of my students told me about the channel pre COVID. My 7 year old sons have gotten into riding and they like his videos too. Gotta watch the swear words but Seth is awesome. Hope my guys get good enough to get to Pisgah, Berm Peak, and beyond.

We have a bird sanctuary with single track out the back of our property, 2 miles from uptown Charlotte. Maybe 3/4 - 1 mile of "trail". All flat and I can't do any work on it...but I started building portable features. Two 8' long, 8" wide skinnies with different angle ramps and a small kicker ramp (got the idea from Seth's video). I just leave them outside the fence and then drag them out to the trail for the boys to work on when it's too wet to go ride a trail. There are boulder clusters too. So, i'll probably build a couple more ramps with different angles and maybe a small whale tail and place them strategically on the loop. Very lucky to have it.


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## goodmojo (Sep 12, 2011)

I have about 100 acres in austin. I partnered with a local mtb club, freeride 512 and they do all the building. Of course they are freeriders so I cant ride most of it.. I have a little cross country loop I can do..

Here is some of the trail





Seth is the main trail builder.
https://www.youtube.com/user/sethatx111


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## rjfr (Aug 19, 2020)

It's fun watching Seth's progress at Berm Peak. I found his channel recently, and his enthusiasm is delightful. Being in-city, I can at least enjoy some acreage vicariously.


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