I quickly designed a short (and I mean short) loop that goes through and around the mini ravine next to the house. The goal was to make a fun, flowy and smooth single track trail. Since this was going to be my first Mtn bike trail I was hoping to get an idea what works or what doesn't work. I paid close attention to each turn radius and how they link up. The turns shouldn't be too sharp or inconsistent when linked. I also tried to follow International Mountian Bike Association 's (IMBA) rule of thumb and kept the climbing grades to 10% or less.
Galen helped me scope out the terrain and layout.
So far so good! Here is a picture of the beginning of the single track loop.
Here is the trail going into the ravine. I plan to add a short bridge at the bottom of the ravine to avoid mud during wetter conditions.
I used a Pulaski to bench the trail and add banked corners. The Pulaski works really well as the doubled headed tool allows you to chop away at the soil with one end and with a quick flip chop off roots using the ax. The trail is only halfway done as I still need to add the return section of the loop (going thru the ravine again). Since I added another project to the mix - it'll be interesting to see how soon I get back to finishing this one...
