Trail Demonstration Project - Great Seal State Park

As a mountain bike enthusiast, I often work with those who build and maintain multi-use trail systems; those trails that are intended to be used by hikers, cyclists, and equestrians.  When trails cross ravines or intermittent streams, equestrians require that no bridges, logs or other debris be placed at the crossing.  In most cases this can be achieved.  However in cases where springs or groundwater seeps feed the system rendering the crossing wet all year long, stabilization is required.  I selected a demonstration project location where logs had been placed in the channel to stabilize the crossing just below a groundwater seep.  The logs compounded the problem by impounding the upstream flow.  The solution required that soil/ground water could flow under the compacted crossing location, that surface water could flow through the ravine during precipitation and that the crossing point would remain stable on the surface.  The solution involved the following:  1) The logs and silt were removed , 2) Narrow trenches were excavated in the channel by hand in line with the direction of flow, four feet long, eighteen inches deep and two feet apart, 3) twelve inch by one inch by four foot vertical slotted pipes were buried in the trenches, 4) using native fractured rock and soil, the stream bed soil profile was reconstructed.