# Before and after shots.



## L. Ron Hoover (Feb 1, 2006)

I'm interested in seeing your before and after pics of trail work. Post a pic of a section of trail you've worked on before and after the work with a bit of text explaining the pics. It might be cool to have a visual library of people's trail projects. I'm looking forward to seeing other people's work.

I'll start: This is a section of trail destroyed by Tropical Storm Leslie last year. The first pic is the day after the storm, the second was taken last week when I finally got to repairing that section. We removed the downed trees (130 in 5km of trail) last fall but the turfed up root plates left quite a hole which you can't really see in the first pic. I built a rock bridge to fill the hole and make it sensible to ride again. It's in the center of the second pic.

EDIT: Also, if this has already been done, I apologize. I went a good ways back and didn't see a similar thread.

Before:


After:


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## thefriar (Jan 23, 2008)

Our Hurricane Irene and Superstorm Sandy before and afters would fill a book.


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## L. Ron Hoover (Feb 1, 2006)

thefriar said:


> Our Hurricane Irene and Superstorm Sandy before and afters would fill a book.


Post a few!


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## L. Ron Hoover (Feb 1, 2006)

*crickets*

So, no one else has any before and after pics of their trail work?

I'll go again. This is a bridge we built over a perpetual mud hole this weekend:

Before:





After:





We still need to finish armoring the entrance and exit but even now you can carry way more speed through there and into the next section. The mud hole was a real flow killer.


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## Ridnparadise (Dec 14, 2007)

It's a good thread. If there was one in the past, then this replaces it. Now you have to give us time to dredge up pics


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## Ridnparadise (Dec 14, 2007)

OK. Ready to play. I'll get some repairs tomorrow, but this is a before and after new trail. The last pic is taken about a year after building. The second about 6 months after.

In the before pic there is a stump to the left of the trunks centre pic. Use it as a reference. In the last pic it has a leafy hat and is touching the tree trunk just below the top of the wound.

The slope is circa 20-25%. The slope into the creek, like left of the tree in the last pic is 40 to 50 degrees - there's some math for you.

Before









After - the logs are to slow water flow and act as silt traps over layered rock and smaller stone. The tread has raised and become grippier over time, but you still get a splash if it is wet. This trail handles riding in the wet (even if we hate the idea of it)









Now you see it, now you don't


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## thefriar (Jan 23, 2008)

Not hurricane related... I'll dig for those, we were busy. (links not working??)

Before:
Trumbull Project 08-11-12

After:
Trumbull Project 08-11-12


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## robbiexor (Aug 22, 2011)

This looked pretty good, but since has been widened. Still looks good, though.


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## L. Ron Hoover (Feb 1, 2006)

Ah wow! These are exactly what I was looking for! It's super cool to see how raw woods becomes a trail. 

Thefriar: That's a hell of a bridge! :thumbsup:


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## Cotharyus (Jun 21, 2012)

Picture size limits are a little squirrelly so you get to click links, because I can't be arsed to resize pictures.

Before/during berm construction on a new local project:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/24031182/maplebar1.jpg

After - not taken from exactly the same place, but it isn't hard to figure out what's going on here.
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/24031182/maplebar2.jpg

I've got a lot of pictures of stuff where there's no trail, and then there is, but most of it changes perspective, and some of it you wouldn't realize is the same spot unless you'd been there.


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## Trail Ninja (Sep 25, 2008)




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## Trail Ninja (Sep 25, 2008)




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## Trail Ninja (Sep 25, 2008)




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## Trail Ninja (Sep 25, 2008)




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## ZigaK (Sep 9, 2009)

A large Larch fell over the path accesible by bike/foot only. Had to carry a 5kg hand winch to drag it away.


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## Wildfire (Feb 4, 2004)

*Before, during, and after.*

New trail project in Matanuska Greenbelt near Palmer, Alaska.


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## Ridnparadise (Dec 14, 2007)

Here's one that takes a bit of explanation. When we initially flagged this area, we were intending to follow an animal (kangaroo) trail through a steep drainage slightly higher up the hill from this site. The small, orange ribbons centre of the first pic follow that line.









However, that line was going to cause issues higher up the hill. In fact, about 400m farther up, it painted us into a corner where a rapid gain in altitude was required on gentle sideslope, complicated by deeper, poorly draining soil. It was all a recipe for rule-breaking and recurrent maintenance over time. So we changed our plan and went for a higher line through this location. The result was a section of trail of about 100m or so that averages 13%. We knew it would require some attention to grade and very good sightlines, being a two-way trail.

Perspective is a strange thing. In the first pic there are 2 bent tree trunks; one to the right of the flagging and a larger one in the top, right corner. The trail now goes below the smaller one and above the one top right, making the change in grade of trail look pretty scary. Here's how things are now (before we clean the site up and finish the corner in the next pic).

















The last pic shows the 2 bent tree trunks - hard to believe the final line looking at the first pic.









By the way, the jump actually controls speed because the takeoff is about 20% upslope.


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## Ridnparadise (Dec 14, 2007)

I have to re-post this repair, because when I first posted it on MTBR, the response was it would fail as the small amount of stone alongside the trail up top would silt over and force water back on the trail etc etc. That was 16 months ago and it is better now than in any of these pics, so all good. The problem is pretty obvious - water running along trail and then into a 50cm deep erosion gully, down to a messy choke and onto a narrow trail that was held up by rotten timber and constantly under water in the wet.

Here's the before starting at the bottom.









































Now the repairs (although a bit more drainage work was done past the top end)


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## cmc4130 (Jan 30, 2008)

posted and discussed already ( https://forums.mtbr.com/trail-building-advocacy/erosion-loving-purists-versus-dirt-packing-dj-freeride-rehab-842228.html ) , but relevant to the thread.

BEFORE:









AFTER:


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## Trail Ninja (Sep 25, 2008)

cmc4130 said:


> posted and discussed already ( https://forums.mtbr.com/trail-building-advocacy/erosion-loving-purists-versus-dirt-packing-dj-freeride-rehab-842228.html ) , but relevant to the thread.
> 
> BEFORE:
> 
> ...


Wait, one photo is missing. "After flash flood"


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## Wildfire (Feb 4, 2004)

Trail Ninja said:


> Wait, one photo is missing. "After flash flood"[/QUOTE
> 
> Oh...that. Great effort, anyway. Painful lessons are the best teachers. :thumbsup:


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## woodway (Dec 27, 2005)




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## Trail Ninja (Sep 25, 2008)

woodway said:


>


Did you find somewhere good for the water to go? How did you deal with it?


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## Ridnparadise (Dec 14, 2007)

Trail Ninja said:


> Did you find somewhere good for the water to go? How did you deal with it?


I'd like to know how you got the water off too. Looks like the falline is viewer right to left. It is possible the water now drains viewers right of the ferns and then off the trail behind the photographer.

Here's an approach we use to this problem and it is not in any way a comment on what you did, just something we have used to effect. Remove the outslope berm and drain the water. Gravel up to 2cm can now be compacted into the sodden base (fire rake will do when it is soft) until the whole thing starts to turn to jelly. Stop and come back a few days later. Repeat and maybe repeat again a couple of times until the mixture is stiff(!) and in the end the tread will be very much hardened after drying. After that it will never be wet through again as it is mostly gravel with fine silt bonded between the particles. If soil builds up over the gravel, even better, so long as it is not sand.


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## Trail Ninja (Sep 25, 2008)

I put a wooden culvert/french drain in almost the same corner but a much narrower tread, so much less water. Drained it to the inside about mid-curve and ran the water out under the tread.


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## woodway (Dec 27, 2005)

Trail Ninja said:


> Did you find somewhere good for the water to go? How did you deal with it?


In the before photo, the water was trying to drain to the left or the outside of the corner. Two problems with this - first a drain on the outside of a corner made the corner off camber and it continually plugged up with dirt pushed from the trail surface. Second the area to the left where the water was trying to drain to is really swampy and after a lot of rain it would fill with water leaving the water on the trail with no place to go (that's what was happening in the photo).

We fixed this by first draining and drying the hole, scraping out all the organics and mud and then we dug a (big) borrow pit and built up the trail with all the gold dirt that you see in the after photo. We then dug a sump on the inside of the corner (you cannot see it in the photo, it's behind the ferns) and gently bermed the corner to make it drain to the inside (left to right). We transplanted ferns to narrow up the corner and to provide a screen between the trail and the sump (which is almost two feet deep at the very inside). We mixed some gravel in with the gold dirt which helps everything hold together when it's dry.

So far the fix is working great.


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## Ridnparadise (Dec 14, 2007)

woodway said:


> In the before photo, the water was trying to drain to the left or the outside of the corner. Two problems with this - first a drain on the outside of a corner made the corner off camber and it continually plugged up with dirt pushed from the trail surface. Second the area to the left where the water was trying to drain to is really swampy and after a lot of rain it would fill with water leaving the water on the trail with no place to go (that's what was happening in the photo).
> 
> We fixed this by first draining and drying the hole, scraping out all the organics and mud and then we dug a (big) borrow pit and built up the trail with all the gold dirt that you see in the after photo. We then dug a sump on the inside of the corner (you cannot see it in the photo, it's behind the ferns) and gently bermed the corner to make it drain to the inside (left to right). We transplanted ferns to narrow up the corner and to provide a screen between the trail and the sump (which is almost two feet deep at the very inside). We mixed some gravel in with the gold dirt which helps everything hold together when it's dry.
> 
> So far the fix is working great.


I like the idea of changing rider perception of the corner by moving the ferns. Riders pick the consensus line and boggy areas are usually off the consensus line. Hope it works great for years.


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## dragonslayer (May 5, 2006)

Before and after of new trailwork of a 40' bridge across a boulder field. The trail really need to go through here to make it work. The area also sees a fair amount of drainage during heavy rains. A bridge seemed to be the best option here.


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## woodway (Dec 27, 2005)

^^Nicely done!

Hard to tell from the photo - did you peel the bark off the stringers?


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## dragonslayer (May 5, 2006)

> Hard to tell from the photo - did you peel the bark off the stringers?


Didn't have to peel them. The stringers and the tread are eastern red cedar. Plenty of dead trees in the area with the bark and most of the sapwood weathered away leaving the naturally insect and rot resistant red heartwood. We've built several bridges using the cedar I think the oldest one is over ten years old and still looking good.


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## Trail Ninja (Sep 25, 2008)

dragonslayer said:


> Didn't have to peel them. The stringers and the tread are eastern red cedar. Plenty of dead trees in the area with the bark and most of the sapwood weathered away leaving the naturally insect and rot resistant red heartwood. We've built several bridges using the cedar I think the oldest one is over ten years old and still looking good.


Pain in the butt nailing down those half round deck boards isn't it? I've done a few of those bridges. I ended up notching the bottoms or the stringers so they'd stay flat.


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## dragonslayer (May 5, 2006)

Trail Ninja said:


> Pain in the butt nailing down those half round deck boards isn't it? I've done a few of those bridges. I ended up notching the bottoms or the stringers so they'd stay flat.


It can be a little bit of a pain getting started, I nail them with 40d pole barn nails. Two nails on each end locks the treads down and keeps them from rocking.

Sometimes i do trim or flatten the stringer or the bottom of the tread to remove knots or other bumps, but it's mostly to get a more consistent tread height.


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## Cotharyus (Jun 21, 2012)

Trail Ninja said:


> Pain in the butt nailing down those half round deck boards isn't it? I've done a few of those bridges. I ended up notching the bottoms or the stringers so they'd stay flat.


This. Small notches, and 4" torx screws. The screws are more expensive, but I've never had one back out due to freezes.


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## Wildfire (Feb 4, 2004)

I keep forgetting to take "before" before pictures but I actually remembered on this project. And it's hard to go back and find the original spot where the "before" pick was taken. Up here in AK, the ground is finally thawed (mostly) and the digging season has begun. A lady hired my company to build a trail on her 10 acre parcel near Palmer, just putting the finishing touches on now.


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## kiwi_matt (Jul 25, 2008)

This has been a long work in progress. Now that it's more or less finished it's time to go back and rework the berms and think about adding more features.

Clicky: Track the Ripper - Lake Mangamahoe - YouTube


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## 9.8m/s/s (Sep 26, 2005)

Late to the party, but here's one of my before and afters-


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## Ridnparadise (Dec 14, 2007)

The thread started with storm damage. This is the result of a controlled burn. In this spot 2 big trees collapsed across the trail taking out neighbours. This was one of a number of similar jobs. We are not allowed to use chainsaws or other mechanised tools, so the old 1937 double buck hardwood saw got a workout. Part of the process was closing about 50m of ride-around.






































Seems like a thumbnail from another spot attached due to my error


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## mtbty (Jun 15, 2012)

Wildfire said:


> I keep forgetting to take "before" before pictures but I actually remembered on this project. And it's hard to go back and find the original spot where the "before" pick was taken. Up here in AK, the ground is finally thawed (mostly) and the digging season has begun. A lady hired my company to build a trail on her 10 acre parcel near Palmer, just putting the finishing touches on now.


jeep road?


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## jeffw-13 (Apr 30, 2008)

ZigaK said:


> A large Larch fell over the path accesible by bike/foot only. Had to carry a 5kg hand winch to drag it away.


And now, for something completely different


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## jeffw-13 (Apr 30, 2008)

This is the largest of 3 mud holes along a 20 yard section of trail where it flattens out at the top of a climb. This spot has been a soggy mess for two seasons. There's several roots on the low side that prevent water from draining, then bikes & horses go through and you end up with this.









Rather than trying to work with it I decided it would make more sense to reroute on higher ground. This is the before









And after.

























I stacked dead fall to block off the muddy section and to direct traffic to the new route. Surprisingly, someone has removed it twice now. Oh well, if they prefer mud then have at it! The old trail is on the right. One of the mudholes is visible










While I was at it I fixed up this old log pile that no one rides anymore. The new re-route hits it at a more direct angle and makes it more enticing to ride. There's a go-around just to the right for horses, hikers & wusses. 










The only tools I took with me were this










and this










I love that swinging weed cutter for trail work. It cuts through weeds like butter and woody brush as thick as your thumb with a hard swing. After I clear the brush I use it to scrape the organic material off the tread. Very handy multi purpose 
tool if you have a long walk to your work area.


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## Bogrider (Mar 31, 2014)

This is a two way section of trail. A bit of a flows downhill or a short little climb with a few roots. People around here don't realize our trail cam not handle wet riding due to the soil so we get a lot of ruts from bikers. Took me about four hours by myself. I'm proud of it.


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## L. Ron Hoover (Feb 1, 2006)

Been a while since I posted in here. Between work, kids and trying to squeeze in trail building and riding my net time is limited these days. Usually by the time I get to look at mtbr I'm too tired to post anything meaningful. I have been following the thread and there's definitely a lot of very impressive work documented here. Time for me to contribute again.

These pics are from a longtime problem section. It's a wet area crossing that ends with a small creek. Years ago, someone put in a 2x6 skinny but over the years, that's deteriorated and traffic has turned the approach into a pretty good mud hole. So we were looking at about 70' of bridge in a pretty inaccessible area. 30 minutes hike from the nearest access point. It's also all softwood forest with no cedar or other reasonable wood on site. Luckily, there's a transmission line that passes about 5 minutes hike above the site, so we used an ATV with a trailer to drag 50 pieces of rough 2x6 in there to build the bridge. What used to be a flow killing swamp is now a fast blast across the bridge which sets you up nicely for the technical climb right after it even though the transition onto the bridge isn't quite finished yet.

Before:


















After:


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## kiwi_matt (Jul 25, 2008)

Nice work


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## woodway (Dec 27, 2005)

Here is a before-n-after for a simple fix that only took an hour or so to execute. These fixes are so satisfying because you get immediate feedback on your work.


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## L. Ron Hoover (Feb 1, 2006)

woodway said:


> Here is a before-n-after for a simple fix that only took an hour or so to execute. These fixes are so satisfying because you get immediate feedback on your work.


Nice work! I wish we had that amount of dirt around here. It's either bog or rocks for the most part.


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## pascale27 (Aug 26, 2011)

replaced and old decaying bride, new one is all pressure treated wood and dug into the ground so it's flush. 15ft long, 3ft wide, New bridge pic is looking in the opposite direction


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## TORQUE-29er (Nov 26, 2008)

I like building "skinny's"

Before..








After..


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## Vittetoe761 (Sep 24, 2012)

Before









After


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