Building up a seasonally wet trail

[eyedr]

My dad gets 12 foot long pallets with 4x4 hardwood lumber runners at work. Those last a long time and work great for us getting in and out of the duck slough.

[delcecchi]

Some pallets with or without foam floatation would work great. Of course it would take a lot of pallets to make 1300 feet, and might still get you in trouble for putting stuff in a wetland...

Did you ever hear from the various officials?

[O.T.C.]

Had that land for sale for 7 years, everyone wants it, but not without at least a semi sorta dry walk in. Had it priced under what the county says it's worth the last 3 years, had a lot of requests by muzzy hunters for permission, but no 1 came with an offer. I should've took some pictures so it would be a little easier for you all to see what I'm dealing with, now frozen up it's easy skating anywhere in there, what would using bio-degradable products, how would I be harming that wetland ? Here's the deal, if I don't get a trail of some sort built up in there someone is gonna die in there so I'd rather risk penalty than float a dead friend out of there or myself some day. Thought maybe the state would buy it and WPA it, since the plugged un-named creek in there has tons of ducks and geese at times. idk. Waiting to hear back from OTC people in Fergus.

[Tom7227]

A friend was cited for building a road through an area that was a lot less wet than what you have described. Before long Soil and Water, the DNR and the Army Corp of Engineers got into the picture. They filed some sort of lien or something on the property and so he couldn't have sold it even if he wanted to.

He used a Komatsu to dredge material from the sides and build up the road. The local CO found it by using Google Maps and saw a straight line through the area. After nearly two years of hassling back and forth he ended up hiring an attorney who specialized in dealing with those agencies. Ultimately a compromise was reached and he had to narrow and cut down the trail into a path.

In short, do not do anything until you have worked it through with the agencies involved - DNR, local Watershed District, County. I don't think you can do anything to deposit any material and not get into trouble. The boardwalk on posts might end up being acceptable but that is only a guess on my part.

While the zip line looks like fun I think those things only work in one direction. If you do it be sure to have plenty of food and water cause it could be a long time getting back.

[Black_Bay]

Is using a canoe or small jon boat out of the question?

[BLACKJACK]

How about some sort of boardwalk? The do it at lots of state parks to cross boggy areas. Use 'forever' materials like plastic decking and steel posts, build a couple hundred feet every year, have a boat at the end to ferry yourself the rest of the way?? Or a duck boat and mud motor??

[O.T.C.]

Thanks again guys for the posts, hear ya Tom, kinda waiting on that, haven't done anything to the trail yet, just cutting downed trees and shooting lanes and trails etc. Better get my ducks in a row b4 I do anything, bottom line is if they say I can't I'll say then what am I paying taxes on, you need a new listing called "unusable land" and or why doesn't the state buy it and WPA it, there's plenty of ducks and geese using more so the creek portion on it. Should be interesting what response I get. This trail years back was fairly dry, but many springs have sprung in the NYM and Heinola areas that have made things a bit yuckier then they once were.

[mmartin]

Thanks again guys for the posts, hear ya Tom, kinda waiting on that, haven't done anything to the trail yet, just cutting downed trees and shooting lanes and trails etc. Better get my ducks in a row b4 I do anything, bottom line is if they say I can't I'll say then what am I paying taxes on, you need a new listing called "unusable land" and or why doesn't the state buy it and WPA it, there's plenty of ducks and geese using more so the creek portion on it. Should be interesting what response I get. This trail years back was fairly dry, but many springs have sprung in the NYM and Heinola areas that have made things a bit yuckier then they once were.

My father-in law went to the county and asked them. They told them he could build one roadway through his land to access the back piece.

[O.T.C.]

Thank You for that update ! It used to have a road back to the higher ground when they logged it off in the 50's. Was gonna say I see these pallet/board things giving drier access to maybe open water or whatever and thought how is that allowed ? That's all I would need to do but but but when those pallets deteriorate, I've ripped way way too many hip/chest/knee highs on those so we removed the few we had and I'd like a more not permanent but better solution like the wood chips theory, maybe I could bring in a chipper, there's more than enough timber down in there to do the trail and there'd be no foreign wood or anything involved but idk. I could add compost like leaves etc. A catapult and a parachute theory lol ? Safety is still the concern, zero help or it would take much time to get any help back in there and I don't hope that call ever gets made. How do so many deer mangle their way through that stuff ? heavy hunting pressure I guess is why, they never used to use that mess in there like they do now and there's no chance of sneaking around in there to roust them up. 1 buck in particular must have bedded at least 50 times in the same spot, looked like a sewage oxidation pond where he kept laying.

[Red Cabin]

My father made a walking trail across a very wet area on his property using a combination of wood snow fecne, plastic snow fence, and gravel. You could drive a lawn mower across durring the driest times, the rest of the time you could easily get through on foot wearing hunting boots.

[O.T.C.]

Hmmmm. Going in this wkd to wail away, concerned over a quick shift into spring eliminating how many weekends there might be actually left to get some work done, but time will tell, however it's almost shed time, 1 more month to wait ! The buck report is nothing shedding yet on t-cams. But, I better focus on task at hand lol, but guarantee I'll be distracted by running the loop for sheds.

[O.T.C.]

The seasonally wet trail work hasn't begun yet, but the shooting lanes, deer trails, etc. have been cleared, 1 more day with the Stihl and I will be to the point of analyzing that trail. 1 thing for sure is I will video that walk in the best I can next fall as I doubt I'll have that work done this year, hoping for next winter having what I need ready to rock. Not sure if it's low deer numbers or lack of deep snow but there isn't much wintering in there this winter. In 1983 a bucks only first weekend (3 day season) lottery doe the 2nd weekend(2 day season) old zone 4 and the trails and tracks of deer were 20X what I'm seeing this winter. Cow paths crossing the road in many places, barely even see the remnants of a trail this winter, pretty depressing kinda.

[lungdeflator]

We had a similar situation on our little piece, not bad enough for waders, but it mightve gotten that way after a few passes with the ATVs.

It is only about 100 yards long, so this might not be very economical for you.

We called around to the power companies and found some that had telephone poles for free. Also found some free RR ties. And then a bunch of landscaping timbers from Minerds. RR ties went down first, telephone poles went perpendicular on top of the ties, then the landscape timbers went parellel to the RR ties.

All of the materials are made to be out in the weather and elements so this "bridge" will likely be there for for for forever haha.

We were able to catch the timbers on sale for 1-1.50$ I can't remember....

[O.T.C.]

Hmmm thanks for the update, an atv one year did not help and it got buried, my dad's friend back then wasn't too smart and he was lucky to ever get it out of that slop. I was pondering material that can stand being wet or frozen year round, was going to go in there tomorrow Dave Dahl said 20 in the cities so thought even 15 and fairly calm would be ok just accu weathered the high is 1 with a -19 chill and gusts to 30mph from the N NW so we'll wait on that for a better weekend. The un named creek that runs through my land there was a soil and water letter sent to all land owners who would maybe benefit from that creek actually flowing again which we would've all shared in the cost but of course that got shot down immediately once most found out what they would've been on the hook for which is understandable but that also means I'm swimming from here on out unless I get that trail built up.

[O.T.C.]

Reading the report of the week in cuffs and collars right now and no no no sorry Leech, im not the guy in Pierz requesting a permit to zip line to my stand, maybe I'll be the 2nd ever lol.

[leech~~]

Reading the report of the week in cuffs and collars right now and no no no sorry Leech, im not the guy in Pierz requesting a permit to zip line to my stand, maybe I'll be the 2nd ever lol.

CO Paul Kuske (Pierz) received notification from the county Soil and Water Conservation District about an approved permit for a person to place several large poles in a wetland for the purpose of building a zip line to the individual’s deer stand. It was by far the most unusual permit request ever received.

Lol, well it looks like I'm not the only crazy out there! I would almost bet it was someone that read this thread!

[O.T.C.]

Maybe Leech lol, tgif to you and thanks for the laugh per usual. I about $^&* when I read that thought oh lord Leech guy is gonna see that lol. I do drive through Pierz weekly lol so I'll be checking from Chico's place to LF for this, guy could maybe make a few fins off this on the side.

[leech~~]

Maybe Leech lol, tgif to you and thanks for the laugh per usual. I about $^&* when I read that thought oh lord Leech guy is gonna see that lol. I do drive through Pierz weekly lol so I'll be checking from Chico's place to LF for this, guy could maybe make a few fins off this on the side.

Please do find out if he gets it approve. I want to start Mfg my supply of "Camo Hunting Zip Lines" now before next hunting season!

[O.T.C.]

And when you test drive it I'll be the one to sabotage your cable over the worst muck in the swamp the day before! I'll leave you a snorkel and flippers at the crash site hanging on a tamarac, blaze orange, can't miss em unless your eyes are plugged with swamp juice. Heading in there Saturday with the Stihl again, kinda working backwards on the project, after Saturday it will be all about the trail, in a way I wish I could just dig out a channel and boat these deer back to the road but of course if frozen I'm out of luck etc and the ice wouldn't be thick enough of course either. Zip line it lol.

[LightningBG]

Do you have any aerial photos of this place?

[O.T.C.]

Not really, a surveyor did send me an overhead but it's overlayed in red. Heading in there tomorrow, this fall when I head in, swim in nearly, I will video as I go and post it so the ones that want to see the struggle it truly is can. Most of the bucks have shed now and they winter there, hoping to find a few matching sets and get the Stihl cranked up.

[CaptainMusky]

If a creek stopped flowing and that is what is causing your issues that is where this solution should start. Your voice is just as important as everyone else's here there is no reason you should be getting all the water while others are sitting high and dry. The county or someone should be focused on getting that creek flowing and it shouldn't be at your cost, that is what you have been paying taxes for all these years. All the other landowners as well.

Then, once that is resolved you should have a much more manageable situation and can develop a more reasonable solution to getting to where you need to go. If that water continues to rise it wouldn't surprise me one bit if you start losing your deer activity in that area.

There should be some really good aerial views from google earth. I would understand why you wouldn't want to post your address ( :-) ), but you could do this on your own and save a snapshot to share.

After that creek issue got settled, then I think you could look into building a floating bridge of some sort. 50 gallon plastic barrels would work great for floating various logs, lumber etc on top of it.

1/4 mile is a long dang way though. That is something you would have to attack over several years I would think.

How about a flat bottom Jon boat with a long rope line strung along to pull you through?

[LightningBG]

How about a flat bottom Jon boat with a long rope line strung along to pull you through?

That's one way I was thinking too. could you clear a good enough path to float a boat? Dry is good, wet is OK, both is tough.

[derbier122x]

Any updates or photos of this yet?

[fr0sty]

It really is a wet, nasty tangle in there.  Floating bog, blow downs and the like.  I guess that's part of what makes that swamp a place where you could tag a monster.  Too bad the county wouldn't see to clearing that drainage ditch out,as it would be nice to dry that place out a bit.  I may be heading into my piece of that swamp during the 4th weekend and  will try and remember to video that.  I don't have nearly as wet of a slog a otc does though, but you will get a bit of an idea.