So with the sun rising at 7:30am, we met up at the bottom and made our way up to Snakes and Ladders. Over the years I have strived do as much work pertaining to drainage on the trails as I can in the fall riding season. This fall is certainly turning out to be a wet one. So far I've been able to get the bottom of the trail dialed, but the rock face section is turning out be an issue once again.
Last week I was able to get up to the trail during a torrential downpour and I watched how the water flowed in a problematic section. Due to the terrain (rock face) and a natural spring that flows out from a section on the trail, there is often a tremendous amount of water flowing down the trail in a certain section. Due to the terrain, there was no way for the water to easily drain off the trail.
After careful study of the water flow, I figured out a spot where we could get the flowing water off the trail and eliminate any further damage to the trail.
We dug a trench perpendicular to the trail. A wooden trough was then built and inserted into the trench for the water to flow into and off of the riding line. Once the trough installed, it was immediately apparent that the water flowed directly into the trough and off the line as planned.
The trough at the bottom of the rock face.
The cedar lined trough
On the right is the high side with the water flowing down from up the hill. On the left is the dry side. After the trough was installed, we rocked in a little more of the trail a little further down and then packed up for the day. When we left, there was not a drop of water flowing past the trough and it was working just as we had planned.
So we then made our way down to Shotgun and then out to our cars. Not a bad day of building and a lot was done to improve the trail. Next week I hope to fix a few more sections on Snakes that have 'issues' and the new guy said that he would once again like to come out to help.
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