Building up a seasonally wet trail

[O.T.C.]

Hello to all and seasons greetings. The time is now for me to look at ideas for building up a trail. The scenario is the front 40 of my 80 is wet year after year and no hope it will ever dry. Looking for ideas, material possibilities, and is there any legal type concerns for doing so ? I've been wearing chest waders or hippers to get in there since 1983 and the time has come for it to not be that much work. In chest waders it takes me nearly 40 minutes at a slow splashing walk to get to my main stand, and it's huge effort as you're sweated up almost right away no way around that, frozen takes 6 minutes to walk to the highground. Any ideas or someone to contact maybe would be huge. The front 40 is primarily all tamarac with some balsam fir in the mix, thank you.

[jbell1981]

Could you build a floating walking way over the deeper areas? Do you have an air photo of the area in question?

[SwivelDigger]

Could you corduroy the road? It would be quite a bit of work but it would work. We used to do that quite a bit logging to get across swampy areas.

[delcecchi]

Hello to all and seasons greetings. The time is now for me to look at ideas for building up a trail. The scenario is the front 40 of my 80 is wet year after year and no hope it will ever dry. Looking for ideas, material possibilities, and is there any legal type concerns for doing so ? I've been wearing chest waders or hippers to get in there since 1983 and the time has come for it to not be that much work. In chest waders it takes me nearly 40 minutes at a slow splashing walk to get to my main stand, and it's huge effort as you're sweated up almost right away no way around that, frozen takes 6 minutes to walk to the highground. Any ideas or someone to contact maybe would be huge. The front 40 is primarily all tamarac with some balsam fir in the mix, thank you.

You betcha there are legal concerns. That there is a protected wetland. But you might be able to make a boardwalk kind of thing.

[NWKR]

Talk to someone from your county's SWCD office. If the impact is less than 10k sq ft you can do quite a bit in a wetland depending on the type. A 7 ft wide trail for 1,320 feet will get you across a 40 and it is less than 10k sq ft.

[leech~~]

You betcha there are legal concerns. That there is a protected wetland. But you might be able to make a boardwalk kind of thing.

Like Del said it maybe a wetland and you should get a hold of the DNR and County to see what they will let you do. Depending on the money you have they may let you build it up with rock and class-5 for a small road. Or maybe buy a used Argo 6 or 8 wheeler and ride through it and you can carry a lot of extra gear, folks or haul your Deer out a little nicer. The winter is a good time to cut out a path. The one good thing your mot is doing is keeping others out!

[O.T.C.]

Hmmm and thanks for the ideas, it is quite wet to the point where I'd need 5-6 feet of rock 1/4 mile long. It's quite boggy and it wouldn't be as wet if the creek flowed out of it like it once did, that got backed up further down and so there is no flow out so the people west are happy and the people like me east aren't. Tried to lay down some of the already downed trees but learned when wet they are very slippery and the bark just slides off and it's treacherous and rips up my waders every year which stinks. It was once classified as timber then when things tanked to keep me paying they re-classified it as non-ag land or something. I don't quite understand how it as a wetland how I'd be doing damage with bio types of trail building whether it be the trees that are already there, rock, wood chips, idk. The land is worthless if a trail can't be built up to get into the back 40. Another theory could a person dig it out and then use a boat to get back there, the creek isn't wide enough at it's beginning to get back there and if you did how would you get out in 10' deep muck ? It's quite the swamp, any more theories, will contact soil and water for OTC.

[leech~~]

If it were me! Done deal! I just coped this off the list as an example of whats out there used.

Argo maxll - $3500 (Avon mn )

1999 Argo maxll six wheel drive V twin Briggs and Stratton runs great tires are like new it's hardly been used very clean has a hitch on the back it floats and goes thru every thing I have all the Manuals $3500 obo call

[DREZLER]

Argo's are painfully slow in the water (about 2mph) but at least it's easy going you wouldn't be sweated up. And if theres less than about a foot of water you will be able to clip along pretty good.

[O.T.C.]

Wow Leech lol, I should advise Frosty on this one, I'd love to see if you could make it in that thing, once you do if you can I could just canoe to the highground and back. If you miss a bog on the hop in it's waist deep stuff. Makes me mad I didn't video some of that journey although you have no free hands on this trip grabbing any tamarac you can. I don't think there'd be a deer left in there if I roared in on one of them, it's a solid idea for getting me and a deer out, Frosty could that thing make it up my trail, would think after a few runs I could use a duck boat so maybe if I cut the few tamaracs out of the way.......now the trail is solid ice so getting in during muzzy is easy usually, rifle season is brutal but man the heaven that awaits once you get to the highground seems to make the sweaty journey worth it, but it's no fun putting on frozen stiff chest waders when it's time to leave again, that's the worst part really.

[O.T.C.]

Thanks again Leech 3,500 hmmmm, need to analyze, if anything could make it up in there that's the machine, trails already wide enough to get that up in there since they logged it off 50 years ago. Really nothing new has grown in since, wonder what a 1/4 mile of zip line costs lol, could zip line the goat out also lol. It really is a rathole in there and it's hard to believe these deer use it a lot, they find a root structure above water and bed right there, wherever there's a scattered tamarac in there with grass,cattails,willows there's a bed or 9 under it, then toward dark they hop over to where it starts drying up, where my shooting lanes are, and they work there way out of the swamp, eat all night, and are in where they want to bed b4 legal light quite often. Had a lot of bucks on trailcam in there the last decade or so and retrieving that is out of the question until sometime during opening day. Then I stare at those iced up chesties and think oh man, can't wait to hoof out, it's quite the challenge and of course it's dark on the way in and out making it tougher.

[O.T.C.]

In all honesty about this the # 1 reason is safety. If a friend or myself or whoever might be hunting up in there if there was an emergency type scenario it wouldn't be a good thing, there'd be no carrying someone out, no getting help in there without darn near killing the people trying to help, helicopter would be it really. One thing is for sure the weather so far is ideal, snow depth is ideal barely any, for working hard in there very soon, I hate to mess it up as dozens and dozens of deer winter there but it has to be done one way or another and all options are on the table.

[leech~~]

Ya, I'm not selling the Argo, it was just an example that I found for you to look at. Some of these are quitter running then others. Once you get some wood cut out of the way it should go pretty well. The best part is pulling out a deer or that buddy who had a heart attack on the back 40!

[delcecchi]

And btw, waist deep water is more than "seasonally wet".

[O.T.C.]

lol no doubt seasonably wet no doubt, it varies on the route, shin to knee deep in much of the route, there are 4 really touchy spots where I veer around those into a bit better boggy clumps etc. When I see the first sign of a green tree(Balsam Fir) I'm home free, but man how do you dress light enough ? Ok, then how do you carry your stuff in ? Ok, so I could leave enough in a waterproof/mouseproof container with an extra pair of sorels which is what I've done. The heavier you are the worse this is. The headlamp is huge for me, used to tape a flashlight on my hat in the 1980's and guess what into the juice it went making the rest of the route in the dark a real adventure. You can imagine when I text the boys got one down, dressed maybe 200 bills and my phone is silent for many hours after that report, getting him out is another adventure. Hunting solo, who would want to head in there, my season ends and I got a lot of time then, because of this trail I can't hunt Sunday nights in there or I'd never get him out. Tried pallets in a ways once, was ok for a couple years, then the nails etc ripped all my boots up, the boards started snapping, you can't even see them anymore they've sunk under. I think from the replys I've gotten no matter how you slice it I'm in for a lot of effort, time, and grunt work.

[O.T.C.]

Does a guy almost need to bridge a bunch of it, could I put 2 tamaracs length wise about 4 feet apart or enough for dragging a deer out and darn near make a ladder out of them, but how long would that last and how long before the nails are rusted and gone ? Every 10 feet of easy walking in there is extremely valuable. Someone dumped wood chips on my approach and pushed them into the first 20 feet or so and that is really nice, but then it ends, does anyone sell that kind of material on the fairly cheap I wonder ?

[O.T.C.]

Think I will contact soil and water and tell them that's the issue, too much water and not enough soil. I believe the wood chip idea is best case scenario but how many ton would that take ? Up front where someone was trying to be a smarty pants and dump wasted wood chips or whatever I wish they'd come back lol. That settled in nicely and basically turned into soil almost as now a few trees are growing like weeds right through that stuff. No nails to deal with, no wader slicing edges, no pallets, no slippery tamaracs, etc. If it was like it is the first 30 feet or so you could darn near after it settles in take a 4 wheeler with no problems down that, but to run that another 300-400 yards or so that's a lot of wood chips lol, who has my answer out there, as I told Frosty in there this fall this swamp is gonna kill me someday lol, he didn't disagree lol! The other side note advantage would be I could actually get back in there in the spring/summer time to plant trees on the highground and also when my football gig is up start bow hunting and that's the long range plan. Ease of checking t-cams, etc.

[B-man715]

With whatever material you use, first lay down some quality geotexile fabric.

The wood chips would be a great and inexpensive option for you. Talk with the local municipalities, often times they have a big pile they have to pay to have hauled out.

[MinnesotaMike]

O.T.C.

Google Mn DNR Wetland Types, it will show you the different types of wetlands. MN SWCD takes this VERY serious, I had to build a small driveway across a field, it turned out to be classified as a wetland, holy hoops did I have to jump thru. It can be done but it takes time.

DO NOT bring any outside material ( woodchips ) into your wetland area, I was told by my SWCD guy that I could chop up the existing trees and chip them but I could not bring anything from outside of the woods.

Or you could just do it and deal with the consequences later, up to you.

Good Luck

[leech~~]

Oh helll, with all the hassles with the cost of filling and DNR! I say just ZIP-IT!

[O.T.C.]

Thank you all for the replies, I'm with Leech I want to zip line that baby ! Thank you to Minnesota Mike also, I don't want any or much hassle over this and B-man also, wish I could 1 year haul all the leaves that are a mile away at the compost area for the town, lay them 1 year, let em sink etc. It just is getting too dangerous really, like a smart ND resident told me out there one year hunting his farm, Where's the nearest hospital ? Said wow no clue, he said 2 hours that way, do not get hurt young man ! Best advice ever. Same here, could take a long time and much effort to ever get assistance. Thanks again guys and that really helped a lot, still with Leech, could you picture a 240 pounder dressed come flying out to the HWY unclip him, drop him in the truck and I'm off lol.

[delcecchi]

Does a guy almost need to bridge a bunch of it, could I put 2 tamaracs length wise about 4 feet apart or enough for dragging a deer out and darn near make a ladder out of them, but how long would that last and how long before the nails are rusted and gone ? Every 10 feet of easy walking in there is extremely valuable. Someone dumped wood chips on my approach and pushed them into the first 20 feet or so and that is really nice, but then it ends, does anyone sell that kind of material on the fairly cheap I wonder ?

Tamarack lasts a long time. So do Stainless Steel deck screws. Building a quarter mile of boardwalk would be a real project.

[leech~~]

I'm with Leech I want to zip, could you picture a 240 pounder dressed come flying out to the HWY unclip him, drop him in the truck and I'm off lol.

Hellya! How fun would that be to zip in patch black in the mornings over to your landing tree!!!! Live life on the edge my friend!

[Pinusbanksiana]

Sell the land and buy some that you can access by dry foot.

[fishin_magician2]

pallets, pallets, and more pallets. you will have to keep adding every year. I do it to get out on my duck pond. Those plastic ones wont bust or rot. But they will float away.