Big Improvements on the Homestead

It was a pretty big weekend for us.

Late Friday, the DOT finally fixed our ford, which had gone from a low spot in the stream we could drive across before Helene hit to a deep gully you would need tank treads to cross after the flood. Instead of replacing it with a culvert, which they said they would do, they simply filled the stream with rocks. It took five dump trucks loads, each one followed by a bulldozer to smooth it out and track it in.

First came two dump truck loads of rocks that average at least 6 inches across, which is known as riprap. Then they put on two loads of ballast, which is like large gravel about three inches in diameter. Finally, they spread a load of gravel with rock dust in it on top. This material is used for dirt roads around here.

A Temporary Reprieve

So where does the water go? Right now, it is percolating through the riprap and going under the newly built road. In less than 48 hours, the water on the uphill side has risen a foot or so. We expect one of three things will happen over time:

1. The water will wash away this new crossing, and the DOT will have to come back and either dump more rock and gravel on top of it or replace it with a culvert. We’ve been told all current road repairs are temporary, so this would fit that possibility. The only question is when it will wash out. My guess would be during the heavy spring rains.
   
   
2. Alternately, the water could rise above the rocks and gravel and flow across it. Should that happen, we would once again have a ford. Maybe, over time, sediment and small rocks from the stream will build up on the up-hill side, making it more solid. This would be the optimal solution from our perspective as we like the ford because it forms a barrier that keeps out most of the casual vehicle traffic.
   
   
3. It is also possible both could happen. The water could rise above the road, creating a ford, which will eventually wash away the rocks, especially after a heavy rain.

We don’t know what will happen because none of us have ever made a ford or seen one made before. Maybe this is how it is done. As long as they keep dumping rocks in there, we can keep driving across it, even without a culvert.

The Next Step

Also on Friday, three volunteers from an out-of-town charitable organization came up to help us clear out the dirt from the landslide, cut trees, and repair the 6”x6” pillar holding up our carport that had been broken by the landslide.

The job must have been larger than they expected because not much got done. They sent a guy with a tractor that had a back hoe, and while he did a fine job, his equipment just wasn’t up to the job, partly because while removing the dirt, he uncovered two rocks so large I would consider them boulders. They weigh more than his tractor, so he could not move them. (We did not know these boulders were there under all that dirt.)

The two laborers, while friendly and willing to help, didn’t have the saws or the experience necessary to tackle our big trees. Together, we removed some smaller trees, added to the burn pile, and moved some firewood that had gotten sucked into the landslide.

The organization came back on Saturday with three times as many people. My neighbor also joined us and brought his skid steer, which was more powerful than the tractor. By the end of the day, at least 75 percent of the dirt was removed, although the boulders may be a new yard ornament for the foreseeable future. The volunteers also cut up a big fallen tree out of my neighbor’s yard, which landed in his pond. The large trees that are only our steep landslide area were left because the consensus is we need professionals or heavy equipment to remove them.

By the end of Saturday, the pole was shimmed back into place and was once again holding up that corner of the carport. We attached it with 2x4s lagged into place. Barring another landslide, it isn’t going anywhere.

I no longer fear the roof will droop under its own weight or that a heavy snow load might be cause problems this winter. I will try to replace it in the pillar in the next month or so, but I am confident we could go six months or a year with this temporary repair if we have to.

Freedom and Recovery

On Sunday, my neighbor used his skid steer and dump truck to transport the piles of dirt he removed from the landslide area to the private road. The dirt filled in around the larger rocks and he packed it down to make the surface smooth enough to drive over. The road needs ballast and gravel, but the wait time for gravel is months because so much road building is being done. This temporary repair should hold unless a big rain washes the dirt away.

On Sunday evening, we drove my truck off the property for the first time in more than five weeks and then back up. Success! Then we returned my friend’s loaner truck.

Driving around is one of the last steps to getting back to normal. We now have grid power, our solar power system has been repaired, a new generator has been purchased and will be here before Thanksgiving, we have Wi-Fi thanks to Starlink, we’ve been to Sam’s Club, and we can now drive our own vehicles again. With the bulk of the landslide’s remnants removed and the pole temporarily fixed, life feels like it is back to normal, at least at our home. This will hold us until the final repairs can be done, the road can be rebuilt, and the ford improved.