Improving the Ditches On the Old Dirt Road

Wednesday June 11, 2025 Guerneville CA.

Road work

I haven’t had time to work on the old dirt road for some time now, so today I got after it.

But first I had to fuel up Skiddy.fuel1

Ditching the road

I worked on this part of the road and  worked my way down it. My purpose today was to improve the ditch on the right as it was above the road. A ditch that is above a road is more prown to wash out in heavy rain storms and needs a lot of maintenance after each rain storm which is a lot of work and can do a lot of erosion damage. I didn’t get a picture before I started. I put the dirt on the left side of the road as it had a lots of out- slope so there was plenty of room for the extra dirt.ditch3

As you can see in this picture, the ditch is now below the road surface and has a nice gentle slope into the ditch, which is much better and much less likely to wash out.road

I don’t really like ditches, but sometimes they are necessary as there are a lot of springs that pop out of these hills when it rains hard.

I continued on down the road ditching as I went. The skidder is good at this as it turns on a dime/road so I just scoop as I go and work on down the road.ditch4

I worked the ditch on down around this hair-pin turn before the ditch went off the road and hill.ditch5

This is what the road looked  like when I was done. A nice ditch and the left side of the road was also greatly improved which widened out the road a lot.road2

Every time I do something like this, I’m closer to being done on the road and the road gets that much better.

Nice day.

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3 Responses to Improving the Ditches On the Old Dirt Road

  1. KennyD says:

    Working on dirt roads is like painting the Golden Gate Bridge. Once you think you are finally done, it is time to start all over again. Think that was the inspiration for asphalt years ago.

    • Bob says:

      Yes, you are right about that. I’m trying to do it right to demonstrate to the locals how to do it right so there is very little maintenance. I do have an out. I’m turning it over to the state park after this next winter.
      Bob

  2. Barb says:

    That looked really good. You do nice work, Bob.

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