What material would you bulk buy to put down in well traveled paths?

[MissIntent]

My husband and I just bought 10 acres and are very slowly turning it into dream farm. We’re in central Texas, and the land is mostly black clay around lots of scattered limestone, and a ton of oak trees.

A local landscaping company is running a 50% off materials and delivery sale for veterans (which husband is) this coming Friday. Delivery fee is by the truck, and the truck can hold 8 cubic yards of material. We want to buy something to add to a tear up paddock, and material to put down in the well traveled paths as necessary.

Any suggestions? Sand? Limestone screenings? Crushed granite? Some type of gravel? If we can, I’m interested in getting two or even three trucks worth of materials and just slowly spreading the material over the next year. We have room on the property and it’s such a good deal.

[clanter]

I prefer the crushed granite (might be called decomposed granite); limestone screening would be second on my list, then pea gravel as a third alternative… the crushed granite stays in place and will provide a hard surface without being a problem if mowed over …

I am pretty sure there will be other suggestions

[Lord_Helpus]

I am probably too late to chime in, but I highly recommend a truckload of “crusher run” (It is probably called something else in your area, but it is tiny pieces of stone that, when packed down, stay right in place and form a firm base).

Or you could get “screenings” or “dirty crusher run” – They are the same thing and they are just ‘unwashed’ crusher run with stone dust, so it really packs down into a pathway with no actual stones for a horse to step on.

I always keep a 1/2 truckload of it out in back so we can put it inside gates where it gets muddy. Or around the automatic waterers where it can get muddy. Or to fill small holes that appear in pastures.

What did you end up getting?

[MissIntent]

We ended up getting 14 cubic yards of decomposed granite and then 12 cubic yards of sand. We’re going to experiment a little over this winter - add just sand to some areas, put fabric down and then sand in others, and still other areas with granite over the sand.

I looked at limestone screenings, and I feared it would could just get beaten down into the clay. I know the best solution is scrape off land, landscaping fabric, then build up layers over it… but that’s either a huge time commitment or a very expensive process. We’re going to try a few other things this year and see what happens.

[clanter]

since it appears you will be building some trails here is a web link to some Federal guides (official tile is : Appendix B—Trail Libraries, Trail Organizations, and Funding Resources).

http://www.fs.fed.us/t-d/pubs/htmlpubs/htm07232816/page27.htm

[Bluey]

[QUOTE=clanter;8934366]
since it appears you will be building some trails here is a web link to some Federal guides (official tile is : Appendix B—Trail Libraries, Trail Organizations, and Funding Resources).

http://www.fs.fed.us/t-d/pubs/htmlpubs/htm07232816/page27.htm[/QUOTE]

Any time you want to do such programs, check with your USDA Farm Service office, the Natural Resources part, for help, information, advice and they may even cost share, some times paying up to 70%, if you fit some of their many conservation programs.
Your taxes at work and they love to be useful.

[clanter]

[QUOTE=Bluey;8934504]
Any time you want to do such programs, check with your USDA Farm Service office, the Natural Resources part, for help, information, advice and they may even cost share, some times paying up to 70%, if you fit some of their many conservation programs.
Your taxes at work and they love to be useful.[/QUOTE]

US Forest Service also, most of the trail data is from them… I was on an advisory board back in the 1990s when there were all the budget cuts, the US Forest Service who is responsible for the Caddo and LBJ Grassland wanted to expend the grasslands uses (to insure their jobs would not be cut). This group I was with worked directly under the US Forest Service to plan the expansions of the trail systems … we had a goal of about 200 miles within the two divisions of the Caddo and LBJ.

Most of the trails were completed by about 2004

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The catalyst and core of this committee was the Texas Arabian Distance Riders Association which every one in north Texas should give thanks for without their efforts I do not believe this trail system would have been constructed.