Building a Bridge

The recent rainy weather has really put a crimp in my property activities.  All of the mud has made it difficult to work in the newly cleared areas and the wet wood is tough to burn.

Unfortunately, burning all wood from cleared areas was supposed to be my main project this summer and I'm over a month behind schedule.

One of the things I have been able to do despite the rain is bush hogging.  Usually I can get away with two full cuts a year and keep things manageable.

With all the rain and cool weather this year, I might have to end up doing four cuttings  Despite taking a beating, my Swisher trail cutter keeps on cutting.

From 2015-05-22

One of my rainy day projects, which I've had on the backburner for a long time,  is building an ATV bridge over one of the sinkholes on the perimeter trail.

I've had some poles I was originally going to use for a pole barn.  I decided to go another direction with the barn though, and so now they've just been sitting around.  I thought this would be a good chance to use them.

Here's a before shot, looking into the forest where the trail will eventually go.

From 2015-05-22

Here I am measuring the gap to see if the cedar poles I cut will reach across the sinkhole.  The gap is about 17 feet and the poles are 19ft, so I should be good.

From 2015-05-22

It was a lot of work dragging the poles down the trail, in the mud.  It also wasn't easy moving wet, muddy poles across the gap by myself.  I was definitely feeling sore the next day.

From 2015-05-22

Originally I was thinking of just putting two poles across the gap and putting some planks across them, but after doing a test with a few 1x6s I decided I definitely need at least one more and possibly two more poles.

I know that I could do 2x6 planks which are lot more sturdy but they are also a lot more expensive. The poles are free, so if I need to "bulk" up, it's much cheaper to add more poles than it is to go with thicker planks.

From 2015-05-22

After wrestling muddy logs in the rain, I was covered with mud from head to toe.  It was worth it though.  Building a bridge has been fun!  More updates to come.

From 2015-05-22