advice on freezing up a woods road

[47sawdust]

I've got a rough piece of property here in vermont,ledge,swamp,up and down.I'm trying to create a road that I can run the tractor over to get out some spruce and hemlock.My thought is to fill in the low spots with slash,hope for some good snow to cover and run over it until it packs down good.
How would you do it?
Thanks,
Mick

[huskyxp]

I worked in fort mcmurray hauling muskeg (swamp dirt) with 100 ton trucks and they would drive frost in the ground by draging couple huge old tires around, it actually worked we'll! 

[wfcjr]

Not sure how I would do it....


But I would be concerned about the sidewalls of my tractor tires and a stout, sharp piece of slash.  If they meet,
the slash may win.

[Ed_K]

After putting in the slash and pushing some snow on them,drag another hemlock over the rd,that'll freeze it in.

[thecfarm]

swamp,do you mean a bog that does not freeze?  I have one of those. I been filling mine over with rocks. I myself would not trust to cross it. The bog is just floating land. Walking across is always iffy. One minute I'm all dry,the next,one leg is in the water. Too much rotting stuff keeping it warm. But if you want to try it,go WIDE.   ;D  How long the swamp?

[Firewoodjoe]

Do what you said. Then drive it keep broke up till it's solid enough to just drive. Then drive more.

[chevytaHOE5674]

You either need to keep the snow off of it or you need to keep the snow packed down to get the frost driven into the ground. That assumes you have enough cold weather.

[loggah]

we used to freeze them in with a dozer,get a little bit of frost and drive thru it busting it up and driving the frost chunks down in or pushing snow in it and mixing it in,generally takes a real cold day and just keep working it it will eventually freeze tight. while we were doing it we also had to keep cleaning the dozer tracks.If you have plenty of brush and chips it will also work,i know in one woodyard we pounded about 10 cords of 4'  pulp into a mud hole before it finally caught.

[Gearbox]

First you need to get the grass and moss knocked down to get some water up to freeze . use a 4 wheeler sled or whatever you got pull a small spruce then work your way up to the tractor . In MN we log almost all swamps in the winter . Freeze them down with a wide track cat . Gearbox

[celliott]

Whatever you do, do it soon. Gonna get COLD this week!

[xalexjx]

the more tops/ debris you put in there the more it will firm up and the faster it will freeze

[Maine372]

brush/slash will work like rebar in concrete, both in mud and snow. you can use dead and rotted tree stems to fill in low spots and spread out the weight of your machine in soft areas. snow will insulate the ground, but can be used to smooth out rough areas and build a layer of protection between tires and sharp sticks.  if you have running water you can throw some over the snow and that really freezes it stiff!

[47sawdust]

Thanks for all the replies.I'm using hemlock slash and slabs from my mill to make a passable base.As it snows I'll continue to cover and pack it in.As soon as it's good going we'll get rain and a thaw.Oh well,beats watching TV.
Best to all,
Mick

[g_man]

I had a place that I could not get to stay froze up no matter what I did. It was on a tractor road I wanted to use all the time year round. Finally I corduroyed it with used RR ties that were free for the taking at the time. Now it is good year round. Your mill slabs should be just as good for that. This is the spot that wouldn't freeze.



 

gg

[lopet]

good idea 

[dustintheblood]

We have a swamp that didn't even freeze last year despite it being insanely cold.  This winter, everything's shaping up well.  We corduroy'd about 250 feet in during the summer (by hand) across the very worst spots, and then laid down the slash before the first freeze, and have been packing it down daily since. 

It's about a half km (1/3 mile for our american friends) from the main trail into the area we're working, so after all that grief, fingers are crossed for this coming weekend to get in an get er dun