Building Smarter: Essential Gear for Machine-Assisted Trail Work
Favorite tools when building with machines
It sounds strange to talk about hand tools when we’re primarily working with excavators and earth-moving equipment and try to do 95-99% of the work with a machine, including most of the shaping and compacting. It is always more effort when the shovels and rakes get pulled out, so when we pull them out, we really need them to work well for what we do. Here are my top three tools when I am utilizing them along with a machine.
Square shaping shovel
The mighty square shaping shovel is an easy choice and one which has some important features. This is the Cougar shovel that you can acquire in a few places in Canada, and it is manufactured by Garant. The essential parts of this shovel are the size of the flat surface on the shovel and the overall length and width, usually 12 x 10 inches. The other important feature for me is the 48-inch handle. I have seen many cheap flat shovels with smaller flat areas, shorter handles, or cheap wood, and they often break in short order.
This piece of equipment is your surgeon’s scalpel when it comes to shaping take-offs or cutting berms and, of course, for the final packing of lips. I am 5’7”, and I find that the long handle helps when I’m cutting berms to reach deep into the transition. However, I do wish a flat shovel had a more flat overall surface. I know there is at least one trail building company considering making a better square shovel, and I hope my wish comes true!
Earthmoving rake
I purchased this rake at Princess Auto. Initially, it was a Propoint Heavy Duty Steel Concrete rake. I used a cutting wheel to create the teeth and had to re-weld the head to the handle after some use. There are a few trail building companies offering a similar type of rake, and they are a variation of this rake.
I rarely use any other rakes, as this one is great for shaping and moving dirt where it is needed. It’s okay for sifting gravel, however, this is where a regular landscaping rake is more effective than this one. Some versions use a much thicker steel for strength, but I prefer this version as it is light enough to use all day. After three seasons of full-time building, it has been properly used and abused, and it is still going strong!
5 ½ inch Hoe/rake
I acquired this hoe/rake after the fiberglass handle broke, and my local trail association did not want to deal with replacing the handle. After I acquired it, I put a 44-inch handle on it. This hoe/rake is from Rogue Hoe Distributing. It is an excellent tool for grubbing and removing layers that have been compacted. The weight of the head still permits you to swing this thing for quite a while before getting tired. I like to use this tool when I’m modifying a feature or a berm that requires digging compacted dirt.
In addition, I utilize this tool to compact dirt as the face is not completely flat, and it does not gather too much dirt. After six years of owning this tool, I finally broke a tooth on it. This tool is also great for breaking ground when building by hand, but it can be a draining exercise if you do it all day. I really like the fact that you can select three shaft lengths (40, 48, or 54 inches), and you also have the choice of Ash, Hickory, or Fiberglass for the shaft material. You can also choose the big brother to this hoe/rake head of 7 inches, and then it becomes an instrument of sheer brute force to destroy anything in its path!
What about hand-built trails?
Like most builders, I also have my favorites when it comes to building by hand. Here are three tools that see a lot of usage and I feel are key when working in the Canadian Rockies.
Pulaski
This is your surgeon’s scalpel when it comes to cutting stump roots and branches and roughing a line. This is the Raven Lightweight from ShapeShifter Tools. At just over five pounds it has a very similar weight to an old-fashioned Pulaski. It is very different in terms of strength laterally where I usually crack the shaft at the head junction because classic Pulaski was not initially used for cutting roots; they were more used as an axe and are sometimes referred to as a Firefighter axe.
The strong connection between the head and shaft permits you to use the tool to cut roots without fear of cracking the shaft when the root binds. The other big difference is the 39-inch shaft, which is three inches longer than a classic Pulaski. That extra three inches makes a massive difference in the speed and leverage it gives when you hit a root or are grubbing. I acquired this tool in 2023 and have not had many seasons to use it yet, but so far, I’m impressed with it. It is solid and keeps me plugging away for lots of hours and I hope I keep it for many years.
If you are using it regularly, you will need to have a sharpening stone or a file to keep it nice and sharp, and that makes this tool indispensable. When digging in moist dirt, I have only one small complaint: it retains dirt at the junction between the flat top part and the shaft connection. It is a minor issue but one that a classic Pulaski does not suffer from. It is a higher-priced Pulaski, but I feel the value is there for someone who loves to use a Pulaski for building trails.
Clay pick
This particular pick, called Isocore, made by Fiskars, gets rave reviews from me because of the way it minimizes impacts when you hit solid rocks. It does a good job of absorbing impacts. I live in the Canadian Rockies, and we hit rocks regularly. For most people, this pick is not necessary, but for me, I would not want to use any other pick. The shaft is made of plastic and is very durable.
Words: Jerome Pageau Photos: Sean Benesh and Jerome Pageau
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jerome Pageau
I built my first trail at the age of 12 with my dad and I have been building mountain biking trails for 25 years both volunteer and paid work. I am a downhiller and an ebike rider so bring on jumps and corners. I work for Dig Trail Design out of Rossland in the heart of the Canadian Rockies. I firmly believe in giving back to my community and my way is to build and maintain trails. I told my friends that they would need to pry my pulaski from my cold dead hands as I plan on doing it for many more years. I feel very strongly about trails and nature and I hope I can use my voice to further discussions around trails and the people that build them.