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# Posted: 8 Jul 2016 02:48pm
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We have a short path to our new cabin from our fire pit and picnic area, and as it is becoming well worn, it basically turns into mud after a rain. I would like to lay down some landscaping cloth and put in some landscaping material to cover it, but am having trouble deciding on material: cedar mulch vs gravel vs pavers etc.

Any practical advice? The path does have slight inclinations, and I want something that works well year round in snow country.

hueyjazz
Member

# Posted: 8 Jul 2016 03:33pm
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First, I would upgrade the landscaping fabric to Geotec fabric. The landscaping stuff really isn't meant to be travelled on. Mulch is the cheapest but isn't going to cut it during the winter and you need to add more every year.

Gravel would be the next cheapest and easiest to put down. Tree roots really won't alter It much and may be your best solution but is likely the least aesthetic.

Pavers are nice but should be linked and are hard to keep level unless you really prepare the bed with gravel and sand and get rid of any offending roots and rocks.

I've got a stream that runs through my property and gives me an ample supply of large flat rock. The clay from the stream bed also works pretty good as grout but doing any large area is a major project

bldginsp
Member

# Posted: 8 Jul 2016 04:04pm
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I've seen pavers fail so many times that I would never consider them. Especially in freeze country where heaving will certainly screw them up.

Stone or concrete stepping stones on gravel works pretty well. That's how I did the path and landing to my little bath house. So far so good.

image.jpeg

creeky
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# Posted: 9 Jul 2016 10:27am
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Northwoodsguy. I like your plan. Seems to me like landscape fabric and some cedar mulch are the way to go. Cheap. Easy. What a morning of work. Around here 50 bucks will fill the back of a pickup truck with mulch.

If all you have is a path that you want to keep clear of mud. The landscape fabric will hold the mulch in. Sort of. And you're not mowing? So you won't be flinging cedar clumps all about.

You could even let the fabric go. Let the cedar set into the soil and then the stuff on top stays clean but held by the cedar below.

Makes a real nice natural pathway. Yearly or so additions of cedar may be required. In the winter it'll lock up pretty good.

The problem with gravel. Especially the broken stuff, you can't walk on it except with shoes. So it's real uncomfortable.

If you have kids, or like to walk amongst the trees in flip flops or bare feet (my personal fav), keeping to natural easy to maintain may be the best solution.

.02

Steve_S
Member

# Posted: 9 Jul 2016 10:46am
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I went to a place in New York which had the most interesting paths across the entire property... The fellows there built their paths like the old Cordwood / Corduroy roads. They took off the topsoil and laid logs tightly in the path (4' wide) creating the base which they topped with cedar mulch. I spoke at length with one of the guy's and he said it had been like that for 40 years or so and they never had issues and they just rake it and re-top it every spring... He said they rake the mulch down to the sides to prevent vegetation from growing over the sides and the walks are always fresh and their tractors / atv's have no issues with sinking or damaging the land....

Maybe an interesting solution for you if you have the material at hand and time to spare. It's also environmentally neutral and should last several years.

skootamattaschmidty
Member

# Posted: 9 Jul 2016 02:20pm
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We went to a sawmill and got a trailer load of sawdust for free. We laid that down on a number of paths and around the front of the cabin. Works great and keeps the weeds etc away. The best part it was free!

KinAlberta
Member

# Posted: 10 Jul 2016 06:43pm - Edited by: KinAlberta
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I'm liking the idea of crushed gravel more and more, but our place is in a forested area.

"Like, man, if I see one more house go up because of wood mulch. You're living in the boreal forest for God's sake. Don't put wood mulch around your house. Pick rocks, pick anything, but wood mulch? My God, I can't take it anymore." (See below)

David Staples: How big of a beastly fire will it take to wake us up?

David Staples, Edmonton Journal, May 11, 2016

"It was intense, it was intense," Coutts says of the ember storm. "That's what gets you, all these embers, all these small fires all over the place. They're burning wood fences, burning wood decks, burning mulch.

"Like, man, if I see one more house go up because of wood mulch. You're living in the boreal forest for God's sake. Don't put wood mulch around your house. Pick rocks, pick anything, but wood mulch? My God, I can't take it anymore."

Coutts, fire chief in the Town of Slave Lake, is an expert on why some homes burn in a wildfire and others don't.

He never used to give the issue much thought. His attitude to wildfire changed five years ago when the infamous Flat Top wildfire blew a storm of embers into Slave Lake, shooting past the pumper trucks lined up on the outskirts of town, and igniting more than 400 homes and structures.

"It was the biggest ember transfer in the recorded history for a wildfire," Coutts says.

http://edmontonjournal.com/news/politics/david-staples-how-big-of-a-beastly-fire-will -it-take-to-wake-us-up

Urge to live with trees, nature may be leading wildfire to our front doors
Wise choices of building materials and landscaping could limit potential for fire damage
By Adrienne Lamb, CBC News May 15, 2016

... After the devastating fire of 2011 in Slave Lake, Alta., Flannigan recalls seeing the front walk and driveway of one home in the community lined with mulch. That led the fire right to the front door, but the home's green lawn was untouched.

"It just needed a wick, it just needed a path and away it went."

...

But Coutts says no matter what you call it, it boils down to returning to the lessons that kept Canadian pioneers alive.

"Homesteaders would come out and they would say: 'Down this..."

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/wildfire-homes-gardens-landscaping-safety-1.35 77259?cmp=rss

NorthwoodsGuy
Member

# Posted: 11 Jul 2016 06:20pm
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KinAlberta- That's a really interesting perspective. I hadn't thought of that, although wildfires are very rare where we are because we get so much lake effect precipitation (it's been over a century since the last one blew through).

I also do worry about how mulch would work in the winter. But as creeky says, it is much more comfortable than gravel. Concrete stepping stones may be a nice compromise. I'll have to look around at what places in our area have...

skootamattaschmidty
Member

# Posted: 12 Jul 2016 12:07am
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At home I have a couple spots where I have mulch and then have random pieces of flagstone to walk on. My in laws have made a similar walkway and it looks sharp.