Building Drill Roads
Part 1
November 2017
winter drill roads are small narrow roads that KoO and Xena built in the winter of 2016-17 for access to the mineral claims just south of the Kingdom. we used old school technology to get these roads built because of the deep snow and non frozen ground conditions. i'll add a link to making these roads last winter but for now i'll explain what we are doing this year to get them opened up.
we start with day 1 on the east side of the mineral claims which are divided by Muter Creek. Muter Creek is a bad creek because it has lots of floodplains and really never freezes solid during the winter months. so we do everything to stay away from it for safety and costs related issues.
of course our roads grew up over the summer because of lots of rain and moisture from all the snow we recieved last winter.
the KoO-Tracks work good on the silver chevy truck with the rule of "if you can walk it, you can drive it". last year we had problems with this area being wet and non frozen in january so i knew it would not be frozen this november.
the 6 foot bar went through the non-frozen muskeg as it is was going through butter with no resistance.
i figured it would be smart to back up the KoO-Tracks so the truck doesn't sink out of site while i walked to the creek to see if it was frozen. the last thing i need to be doing is salvaging my truck.
more non-frozen muskeg but my boots are not wet yet.
the KoO-Tracks can pack the snow down very nicely because that is what we want. snow is mostly fluffy and needs to be compressed to make it solid and firm.
this is all we were able to do on this first day with getting some of the snow packed down so it will start freezing up. on day 2 we head to the west side of the mineral claims but the KoO-Tracks have to be trailered out because the access to the west side drill roads is off the PR 396.
my son is like me and loves her 1997 yamaha ski-doo because it is obsolete. we own 4 other new style machines and she always drives this one.
KoO-Tracks at the start of the north access road to the mineral claims. this drill road has been here since the early 1940s and still is in good shape for what we are using it for.
the snow is about 12" deep and the KoO-Tracks have no problem with the non-frozen ground underneath plus the hidden rocks too.
when we came to the end of the good ground on the north access road, i stopped to check to see if there was any water under the snow. there is lots of water and about 20 feet from where it was last year. the KoO-Tracks had no problems backing up as the water flowed in the tracks.
i spent the big bucks and painted the 6 foot bar yellow so it shows up better in the pictures i take for my Kingdom Followers to follow along. in 2015 there was no water here when Xena was quading on this trail. now there is 16" of water and very soft muskeg underneath.
now that we know how far we can go with the KoO-Tracks on the north access road. we just drive back and forth packing the snow down so the ground will freeze up.
the KoO-Tracks are working good and no dramas at all.
once the snow gets packed down, it gets very boring driving back and forth but listening to AC/DC helps.
