So after thinking about it for a couple of years, we finally decided to put a pump track in our back yard! I thought I'd post up some progress pics as we go along.
I hired some local trail builders, The Shovel Crew, to do the work since I'm lazy and need instant gratification. Today was the first day of four build days that will be spread over the next week or two.
The first step was to mark up the yard. The shape of our yard naturally suggested the layout, which goes along the perimeter of the available space. The yard is 65' long, 25' wide at the widest point, and 15' wide at the narrowest point. I knew I wanted medium-sized rollers at 10' intervals, so the only big remaining questions were whether to incorporate a table top or step-up, and how much to vary the roller height. I decided a step-up would be fun, and the Shovel Crew convinced me that rollers of varying heights would be best, and they also suggested a crossover from one side of the track to the other that will allow more line options. Here's the marked up yard:
The next step was to bring in dirt. We wanted the whole track to be above the surface level of our yard for better drainage, since we live in Seattle. My guys were able to find a 50/50 clay/sand dirt mix and we brought in about 28 cubic yards in 2 dump truck loads:
We're committed now! The next step was to move the dirt from the driveway to the back yard. The mini-excavator had a perfectly sized bucket to fill a wheelbarrow. With 3 guys rolling wheelbarrows back and forth, the dirt started to move pretty quickly. They started by just filling in the outlines with a base of dirt.
Once the whole track was filled in with a layer of dirt, a plate compactor was used to pack it down:
I hired some local trail builders, The Shovel Crew, to do the work since I'm lazy and need instant gratification. Today was the first day of four build days that will be spread over the next week or two.
The first step was to mark up the yard. The shape of our yard naturally suggested the layout, which goes along the perimeter of the available space. The yard is 65' long, 25' wide at the widest point, and 15' wide at the narrowest point. I knew I wanted medium-sized rollers at 10' intervals, so the only big remaining questions were whether to incorporate a table top or step-up, and how much to vary the roller height. I decided a step-up would be fun, and the Shovel Crew convinced me that rollers of varying heights would be best, and they also suggested a crossover from one side of the track to the other that will allow more line options. Here's the marked up yard:
The next step was to bring in dirt. We wanted the whole track to be above the surface level of our yard for better drainage, since we live in Seattle. My guys were able to find a 50/50 clay/sand dirt mix and we brought in about 28 cubic yards in 2 dump truck loads:
We're committed now! The next step was to move the dirt from the driveway to the back yard. The mini-excavator had a perfectly sized bucket to fill a wheelbarrow. With 3 guys rolling wheelbarrows back and forth, the dirt started to move pretty quickly. They started by just filling in the outlines with a base of dirt.
Once the whole track was filled in with a layer of dirt, a plate compactor was used to pack it down: