So last year I cut a trail in my backyard.
I installed signage, built a sketchy north shore drop, and then a picnic table.
The question that you guys have been asking the most is, how on Earth did I get my wife
on board with this.
To some degree it’s just a matter of domain.
My wife has full run of our living space, and if she wanted to install french bulldog
doorknobs, I would be at her mercy.
But still, she’s been a really good sport about me tearing up the yard.
So there’s no reason we can’t make berm creek look more presentable, while having
a little fun in the process.
First thing’s first, the fun.
After the North Shore drop, berm creek hooks left and runs straight to the other side of
the yard.
We’re going to reroute the straight section up the hill to add some distance
and flow.
To make the trail look more intentional, we’re going to line it with a ton of rocks—exactly
one ton of rocks.
Of course, the rocks need to be transported manually into the yard.
Remind me to build a wheelbarrow with disc brakes in a future video.
While the main purpose of the rocks is aesthetics, they will settle into place and bolster the
trail to some degree.
I did briefly consider how the rocks would impact safety on such a narrow trail.
Rocks are the least of my worries.
Once we cleared all the rocks out of my pickup bed, I rented a tiller to break up the soil
behind the turn.
A gas powered tiller, rototiller, or whatever you want to call it, effortlessly breaks through
the crust and churns up the soil.
It would have taken Alex and I hours to do this work with shovels.
We were even able to mix in fertilizer for the flower bed.
I also tilled the actual trail.
With all the soil churned up, we could reshape it a with a rake and pack it down.
By adding contours and berms, we could improve drainage and make the upper sections more
fun to ride.
Alex did most of this work, paying me back in sweat for all the work I did on his van.
We also bought a whole lot of plants, including ferns, bushes, and even a small Japanese maple
which should grow in nicely.
We dug oversized holes and added fertilizer to ensure these plants would take root.
I can’t wait to see what they look like after they’ve had a chance to grow in.
For the flower bed, mulch.
LOTS of mulch.
Most of you know that mulch helps prevent weeds from growing in your flower bed, but
it also helps the soil retain moisture.
Since the soil in my yard is almost entirely red clay this is particularly important.
Clay tends to crack and crumble when it dries, which means you need to keep wetting it down
while packing it to ensure the soil bonds to itself.
With rocks, mulch, ferns, and berms, my backyard was looking better than ever.
But we’d need to give it all a chance to dry before riding it.
The next morning we did.
This additional turn is one of the funnest additions we’ve added to Berm Creek.
It’s at the point on the trail where you have the most speed, but it’s mellow enough
to torch at full tilt.
Three berms in a row feels really good.
The berm at the far end now extends all the way to the next turn, creating a new line.
You may recognize this ramp from another video which I’ll link to below.
It gave us just enough kick to gap into the berm from top section of the trail.
As we experiment with different lines around Berm Creek, we may decide to dig them in and
make them permanent.
One of the biggest things we accomplished was making berm creek fun to ride in either
direction.
You can even start at the north shore drop, ride up goodman ledge, and then drop back
into the bottom in one shot.
All in all we used 1.5 tons of rock, 1.5 cubic yards of mulch, a 5 foot pickup bed full of
plants, 6 bags of fertilizer, a 24 hour rototiller rental, and two days worth of labor.
The cost was under $1000, which is pretty impressive for a landscaping project of this
magnitude.
My yard looks better than ever.
If you didn’t know what you were looking at, you may mistake this for a walking path,
and a really unique picnic table.
I hope this gets the gears turning for some of you guys, as I’m sure there are ways
of building stealth backyard trails that totally blend in with your patio.
What types of things could be built in a normal yard that nobody would recognize as a mountain
bike feature?
I’m excited to see what this community comes up.
Thanks for riding with me today, I’ll see you next time.