I concur.  Just seems very washed out and eroded.  I'm sure the weather def plays a role.  Also the amount of traffic.  Still a fun trail and the new section is a great addition.

Yea, its time again for some rootectomy work at Beatty.   

The joy doesn't come from removing the roots as much as debating root removal here on the forum. Actually a few years back David (gravitythief) and crew did put a bunch of new dirt on an uphill climb going back to the tennis courts. It worked for a while. The cedars are all still there on the right to hold the dirt in, but the dirt is long gone now. 

Root removal is just one part of the solution. Dirt might be appropriate in flatter areas, and reroutes in others.

Beatty gets a lot of traffic and therefore a lot of wear. 


Sounds like a good time for some volunteer help!  Sir not appearing will post up soon.

Another example of adding dirt at Beatty is the section where we did a fair bit of rock armoring - in front of and around roots - on the section close to the fenced in area where they keep the Trips for Kids van and other Park materials. This was part of a reclamation of a section that got badly widened by go-arounds. After adding the rock to protect and level off the exposed roots, we threw a lot of dirt over the rocks/roots. That work was done maybe 3-4 years ago (maybe longer). That section is now exposed again - most all of the dirt we added has eroded away. Most of the narrowing trail barriers we added are still there and the the rocks and roots are in pretty good shape (still fairly smooth), but that whole section and particularly the section just preceeding it is now again getting widened by go-arounds.  The trouble with adding dirt around exposed roots is that it will ceratinly need to be repeated in the future. It's not a permanent fix. (I now realize, this is the section Sir just mentioned above.)

On our more heavily used trails like Beatty, our best defense against go-arounds is to remove roots that folks will try to avoid as the exposure gets worse. If it's possible for the users to go to one side or the other to avoid the hit (even really small bumps), they will. It's almost second nature - I find myself doing it unless I make a conscious decision not to. Sometimes if there is no easy way to avoid the root, we end up with a "feature root" that everyone must deal with (untill some clown decides to re-route a whole new line).

My own theory is that the trail work we should always do first - before any other projects - is to take out roots that are just starting to or or eventually will lead to go-arounds. (We can leave most of the the existing or future "feature roots" as they generally can't/ won't cause the go-arounds.) This is our best use of limited trail work time cause it keeps the trail from getting new go-arounds and widened and braided sections that will take a lot more time and effort to fix later. It's also very difficult to reclaim these widened and braided sections to look natural again. 

Like most of us, I don't encourage "dumming down" the trail or removing feature roots that won't cause problems and that often add some challenge and improve skills to maneuver. But particularly on these heavily used trails, continued root exposure is a constant - it will always keep occurring and preventive removal of these newly exposed roots is (IMO) the easiest way to manage the problems they cause. (Of course, if I only spent a fraction of the time doing such preventive maintenance as I do thinking about it as I ride Beatty, I figure I could easily "prove" my theory!  ) 

MX Mac had it right above when he said that after 2 laps at Beatty - you are pretty damn beat up. And forget about it if you have sore wrists or hands or whatever. Looking forward to swinging a tool and gettin' after some of dem roots soon.

Would it be possible to reverse the trail direction for a year or so?  I bet that could decrease the erosion on only one side of the roots and may aid in reducing how rough it feels.  (I know the "stunt section" wouldn't work reversed, but you could still run it in the same direction and it shouldn't be too confusing)

What about building wooden features over the rootiest sections?

Shredder wrote on 08/25/16 at 7:09pm:


Now we're talking.

jaybase09 wrote on 08/26/16 at 3:22am:


We're talking about rehabbing/redesigning worn out unsustainable trail. Don't drag this into "Tarheel Trailpavers hurr durr" territory.

I agree that a few small wooden features could be very beneficial to a trail like Beatty.  That place gets so many casual bikers that will almost always take or make a path around a rooted area which ultimately causes more harm.  If there's a workday in the near future and I'm in town I'll be there.