Oh yeah you’ll be fine just getting to something hard or hardish. I wouldn’t spend the $$$ on geotex or grid in that case either.
Have you ever tried to scrape the muck off yourself? Usually there’s a point where sloppy sticky mucky stuff stops peeling away, and instead of poop you’ll find hard ground. That’s what you’re looking for. Your excavator guy should know the drill and be familiar with whatever local soil type you’ve got, too.
I’m going to try this week–get a shovel and dig to see what’s down there. There’s too much muck to scrape by myself, hence the excavator, plus he has to be there anyway to move the substrate into place. Plus, get rid of deep, dangerous ruts put there by the previous owner that currently render the neighboring pasture unusable 
.
For the record: it would have been better to do this project during the summer–now is clearly not the ideal time, with all the recent rain, although the soft ground does look like it will facilitate knocking down and filling in ruts.
Geez, sounds like a mess. Scraping it off will be such an improvement, you’ll love it!
Agree on skipping the geotex. In your climate and set up refreshing the screenings every couple of years is inevitable with or without it. I have it in my overhangs but not in my dry lot and even here in (now forever dry PA) having is more of a pain. I top off/rebalance about every 3 years with fresh screenings. No where near the amount for the original set up but always more than I could imagine I need. Amazing how the stuff “disappears” over time. Good luck with your project. Big pain/expense but totally worth it.
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