building backyard trails

MEAN IRISH GUY

Horse-faced space dog
so my brother and law and i got to talking tonight. he lives in PA in the poconos and has a buttload of property. so for the hell of it we are going to build a fun little single track / skills area on his and my sisters property. we went out and walked the perimeter of the property this evening and looked at all the options. they have some little swampy areas and some little creek and stuff that we are going to build some bridges over and stuff. plus there are a bunch of rocks that we are going to leave in place for some rock skills practice. theres also some long straight areas that we are going to build a few little jumps on and a few table tops and such. its going to be on the small side, but we just want something thats going to fun and litterally out the back door. ill keep posted on this as we make our progress. we are waiting for the fall so we can start plotting it out better once the brush starts to die and such. wish us luck!
 

dualfisted

Member
I've done this

I did this on my friends property in Ga., it was fun and we had a sick 100 yard downhill, 5 switchbacks, and two log rides that I shaved the top of the logs on and made log stack entries onto. It was fun. You'd be surprised how much stuff you can fit into a small amount of space, the more you switch the trail back on itself, the more trail u can build, just depends how much of his back yard he's willing to use. I want pictures and unlimited access, haha. Good luck.
 

MEAN IRISH GUY

Horse-faced space dog
hahahah of course! 501 crew members will have access for life. hahahaha. this is a aerial pic of the property. the red is the property line and the yellow is area we are going to use. its about an acre and a half i believe. tiny, but its going to be fun.

yard.jpg
 

bonefishjake

Strong like bull, smart like tractor
Team MTBNJ Halter's
there have been a couple of conversations about this in the past and it seems, if you actually OWN the property, the best way to go about laying new trails is to use a dirt bike. unless, of course, you're indepently wealthy and have one of those nasty things that JORBA had on display at the 'fest this past weekend.
 

MEAN IRISH GUY

Horse-faced space dog
well... unfortunatley theres a TON of rocks we have to move and whatnot. but a bunch of it is going to be wood slat bridges and stuff. we are just looking to do some sweet skills course type stuff for some good old fashioned backyard fun. after watching videos of white clay im very inspired. lol. luckily we have a lot of years of carpentry expierience to help us out.
 

Pearl

THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING
i also have a good amount of property, and a mini-bike at my disposal, just need to find the time to walk to walk the line!
 

bonefishjake

Strong like bull, smart like tractor
Team MTBNJ Halter's
good luck man. those things are lots of fun and i had visions of building one in my backyard about a year ago. i laid it all out, started cutting and...well...built a swingset instead. oh well.

anyway, i wish i could remember who made the backyard skinny course in lake hopatcong. it was REALLY backyard. IIRC one of the obstacles was a dog house.

oh, and yes, i meant frank. :D
 

dualfisted

Member
oh snap!!!!!

I think he was talking about you, Frank. :)

That's messed up, I smell a duel.... Mtb chicken, first one to swerve loses.
Scott, if that were my map, there would be yellow switchbacks drawn all over the entire right portion of that perimeter, haha.
 
N

NiceIrishGirl

Guest
Actually...

...it's 2.04 acres..to be exact. Just sayin..:rofl:
 

jdog

Shop: Halter's Cycles
Shop Keep
hahahah of course! 501 crew members will have access for life. hahahaha. this is a aerial pic of the property. the red is the property line and the yellow is area we are going to use. its about an acre and a half i believe. tiny, but its going to be fun.

yard.jpg

I would twist it up a lot more.

Otherwise it will be zero fun once it wears in.

j-
 

Ian F

Well-Known Member
I dream about this... My girlfriend's parents have about 48 acres in the Poconos... on the north-face of the Blue Ridge Mtn ... Everytime we're there and I venture into the woods, all I can do is spot killer DH lines... And to make matters worse, their property backs to a large parcel of private land used for hunting... and above that is the Appalachian Trail... Translation: almost 1000' of 'vert... :drooling:
 

dualfisted

Member
almost 50 acres!!!!!

Oh man, I could put like 100 miles of trails in that space, haha. Man, yer 'rents won't ever know, turn their property into a mtb park.
Scott, u gots 2 acres to work w/ there, better contact the 501 trail crew and get their advice on building yerself a sustainable trail/ park area out there, ha.
 

idbrian

Crotch Rot
well... unfortunatley theres a TON of rocks we have to move and whatnot. but a bunch of it is going to be wood slat bridges and stuff. we are just looking to do some sweet skills course type stuff for some good old fashioned backyard fun. after watching videos of white clay im very inspired. lol. luckily we have a lot of years of carpentry expierience to help us out.


I hope you mean move rocks onto the trail and not off. Check out Blue Mountain in Peekskill NY for info on awesome rock usage.
 

don

Well-Known Member
man, what I would love to do with 2 acres at my disposal :droool:

I agree a dirtbike would make the trails the fastest. You could always rent a skinny skidsteer to cut - it will go quick too, but things will be kinda wide for a little while. Another option is the walk-behind skid with tracks. I've seen them for rent in rural areas.

The most important thing is to plan as best and as much as you can. Really flag out the trail. With fall coming it might be easier to wait until the leaves are down so you can see the contours of the land.

MTBR has a good forum on trailbuilding:
http://forums.mtbr.com/forumdisplay.php?f=57

IMBA has some info too:
http://www.imba.com/resources/freeriding/index.html
http://www.imba.com/resources/trail_building/index.html
 
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