An existing right of way and trail system near Moody in McLennan County had closed in from both sides until the driveable part was down to a single track. Two acres of corridor widened back out with the Weiler M860A in one day, with the mulch worked fine enough to drive over.
The widened trail near Moody Texas, a clean dirt corridor with the edges cut back under the canopy
A trail that had closed in on itself
Trails do not stay the width you cut them. Yaupon, greenbriar and cedar come in from the shoulders every season, the canopy leans in over the top, and after a few years a road you used to take a truck down is a path you take a side by side down, carefully. That is what was here near Moody: an existing right of way and trail system that still had a driveable track in the middle of it and brush pressed hard against both sides.
The customer did not want a new road. He wanted the one he already had put back to the width it used to be, and he wanted the surface left in a state he could actually drive on afterward.
Why an existing right of way is harder than open ground
Cutting a new trail through open country is straightforward. You pick your line and you take everything on it. Reopening an old one is fussier work, because the line already exists and the good stuff is standing right next to the bad stuff.
The trees you want to keep are the ones closest to the track, since they are what makes the trail worth driving. So the operator is working the shoulders, taking the encroachment back without touching the canopy trees that are two feet behind it, and he is doing it while sitting on a track that is only as wide as the machine. There is nowhere to swing wide and nowhere to back up to. It is slow, and it is the part of the job that decides whether the finished trail looks cut or looks cleaned up.
Mulch you can drive on
The other half of the brief was the surface. On a trail the mulch is not just debris you are leaving behind, it is what you are going to be driving over for the next several years, so how it comes out matters more here than it does in the middle of a pasture.
Coarse chunks sit proud, roll under a tire and work their way back up through the track. Material broken down finer knits into the dirt, packs under traffic and stops looking like debris after the first wet spell. That means extra passes over the same ground rather than one pass and move on. On this trail it was worth the time, because the customer is the one who has to drive it.
What this project cost
- Two acres of trail and right of way corridor
- High horsepower tracked mulcher
- Extra passes for a driveable mulch surface
- Canopy trees along the track left standing
- Machine transport into McLennan County
Trail work gets quoted by the day, not by the mile, because the number that matters is how much shoulder has to come back and how tight the corridor is. Two miles of trail that only needs a light trim is a shorter day than a few hundred yards that has grown completely shut. Send photos of the worst stretch, not the best one.
Questions we get about trail and right of way work
How wide can you make an existing trail?
As wide as the standing trees allow. On a corridor like this one the limit is usually the canopy trees you want to keep, not the machine. Tell us the width you want to drive and we will tell you what it costs to get there.
Will the mulch hold up to being driven on?
If it is broken down fine enough, yes. It packs into the track and knits with the dirt after the first good rain. Coarse material does not, which is why the extra passes are worth asking for on a trail.
Do you clear fence lines and utility rights of way too?
Yes. Fence lines, utility corridors and access roads are the same work as a trail: a narrow corridor with something on both sides of it you are not allowed to hit.
Can you do this without tearing up the track?
A tracked mulcher spreads its weight better than a wheeled machine, and on a dry trail it leaves the surface intact. Wet ground is a different conversation and we would rather wait a week than rut a road you have to live with.
Do you work in McLennan County?
Yes. Moody, Waco, Lorena, Crawford, China Spring and the rest of the county are inside our normal working area.
Before and after
Land clearing around Moody
We work the country around Moody regularly, across McLennan County and the counties next to it.
Got a trail that has grown shut?
Send a photo of the tightest stretch and we will tell you what a day opens up.
Call 512-400-2693