Ga-Ma "trail" on Klein Pella, Northern Cape for the adventurous

[Bex]

I was out there yesterday, but a bit earlier than usual and the shadows was in the middle of the work area afterwards so that I could not take usable pictures.

I finished the entry at the top of the pass.
I did some work further down as well.

I plan to drive through over the top this evening, so will have less time to work, but I wabt to test out my "new" hammer.

I found this old hammer head a few years ago while clearing out an old scrap yard on the farm. I didn't want to borrow the workshop sledge all the time, so thought about fixing this one up. The eye is small though and a wooden handle that would fit through it would not stand the abuse that I will put it through, so I got a plastic handle with a fiberglass core that I could slim down.

I don't like the fibreglas handles, I have broken a few, but this should hold for a while.

[Bex]

I worked on the pass for 3 days with no visible change so I did not take any pictures, but yesterday I made some progress.

Finding cracks and forcing the chisels in to open it up.
The frustrating part is where the rock is loose enough to move, but it is held at the bottom by the weight of the rock next to it.
It saps energy trying to lift it out.

The old hammer is making a big difference, the head is narrow, making it difficult to hit a chisel properly, but it works much better on rock than the newer type of hammer.
The black spot is where something have ignited under the pressure of the blow see the black on the bottom left of the hammer. There is a burning smell when I have a very olid hir and this happens, I believe it has something to do with the iron oxide on the surface. It happened less as the rust wore away on the face. Maybe someone can explain it?

Anyway, this hammer is perfect for breaking rocks, I think it was designed for that.
With the rock in smaller pieces it takes less energy to take them out as I am not struggling against the weight of the surrounding rocks.

And again, rince and repeat.

And finally I have the ledge cleared.

The rock moving is finished on the top 2/3 of this slope, I can now knock down the gravel on the left and rake it over the surface and into the cracks between the rocks to stabilize them.
It does not appear that way, but the rocks on the right half of the surface of the path are piled up more than 2m deep and the slope down to the right is quite steep.

Next I have to figure out whether I am going to go straight down at the bottom or turn to the left. I am not sure yet which will be the best.

[Bex]

I decided to make the turn and started on the bottom of the big rock. I will have to remove it up to where the pick is at least. This will be the hardest part of this pass.

[Bex]

Very slow progress.
I have to plan how much rock I break loose vs how much I need for filling in to work out where the level of the track will be.

[Francois Theron]

I know pictures can be deceiving, but from here that section looks impassable! Good work Bex, its amazing!

[Bex]

It prettymuch is impassable with anything other than a motorbike that is small enough so you can lift it over some of the obstacles, but it is not as bad as it looks in the pictures. It is overcast today so I might be able to take some pictures from further away to give better perspective, he contrast between the shade and sunlit areas are usually too much.

I will hopefulle be able to post a picture of the Hardbody in the pass soon, I tend to work on an obstacle untill I can get the hardbody through and then move on. Whenever my colleauge with the Ranger has time we take the ranger through to see where I have to make it wider or more accessable.

[Bex]

I have been out to the pass quite a few times over the weekend, despite an incedent with a hot 2 stroke morotcross bike that hurt my pride anongst others.

I gave up the Idea to take the turn the left, the hammer was just bouncing off the rock and the chisels would not even enter existing cracks. I could possibly still do it, buti got lazy and started filling the drop to the right to make it a more or less straight climb.

It took about 5 hours to fill it to this level. I get rocks from the sides, break them up into sub 50kg pieces and then roll or carry them into place. First building a wide base for stability and then building up layer by layer.

It is starting to look passable, but there is still a lot of filling to do.

Looking down from the top of the pass.

[Francois Theron]

Great work Bex, as always! What will happen if you get heavy rain? Not a frequent occurence I would think but ususally when it rains in your part of the world, it usually comes down quite heavily.
Is erosion not a concern?

[Bex]

Erosion is a concern, the path is on the side of the gully, higher than the floor and I tried to keep the entrance to the path higher than the floor. I am also sloping it down towards the right, looking from the top, so that water will not run down the path al the way.
Saterday's rain of about 15mm did show me where I could potentially have a problem, so I will see what I can do about it.
The catchment area for this little gully is very small, with 95% of the plateau sloping to the other side ending at a big drop over smooth granite shelves. I want to walk down to inspect those closer, they could potentially make a good boulder type challenge.

[Daniek]

You just need to have some "speed humps", that are not perpendicular to the road, on your road section to channel the water off the road. These could be in the form of cross channels also.

[Bex]

Progress is not really vissible at the moment , so though I work on the pass every evening I dont take pictures every day.


This picture looks exactly like the previous ones despite the fact that I have filled in about another 2 ton on rocks since the previous one.
So I though i would show what I am doing.

This is the area that I am filling in. I am not simply quickly stacking up a few rocks like you would on a dificult obstacle so you can get over it, I placed big rocks at the bottom in a strip about 6m wide. Then I fill the gaps with smaller ones, ending by hammering the smaller one into the gaps to make a stable platform. Then I repeat the processgoing narrower till the top layer will be about 3m wide. Each layer raises the level by about 300mm and the total heigh at that point is about 1.8m.

So I sellect some rocks that I can move closer to the area that i want them in. The glove is for scale , The total weight of those is roughly just under 1 ton.


I then drop them down into the area.


I look for fault lines or weak areas and try to hamer the chisel in with the small 4 lbs hammer untill it sticks in place, then I take full swings with the sledge to try and break it open.

Continue the process placing the pieces where I want them untill it is all gone.

And it looks again like nothing has happened.
Then I repeat the process.

[Bex]

You just need to have some "speed humps", that are not perpendicular to the road, on your road section to channel the water off the road. These could be in the form of cross channels also.

Speed/water humps work, I made one at the top, but on the climb itself I can not see how to do it, the climb is steeper than it looks and the surface below is rocky, so vehicles will tear it up.

[Daniek]

Bains did this with prisoners..... Is there something you want share with us. Great work and something to be proud of. There must be big feeling of satisfaction when you are done with a section and the 1st vehicle passes over.

[Bex]

My projects are a bit smaller than his, but as you mention, the satisfaction is the main motivator. The Hardbody is usualy the first to pass over it.

I did a quick calculation yesterday and worked out that I filled in about 25 cubic meter of rock on this pass. With the gaps I estimate about 1.5 ton/m3.

[Francois Theron]

My bek hang oop! Exceptional work Bex

[johan65]

..... and the surface below is rocky, so vehicles will tear it up.

Gooi maa n stukkie konkreit.

Ongelooflike werk Bex

[Bex]

Ek is te lui om beton te gooi.

[Daniek]

Ek is te lui om beton te gooi.

En die klip is meer "natuurlik". As jy dit doen soos jy beskryf het, behoort dit goed te hou.

[Bex]

I also think the way I built it will make it last a few rains without too much damage.
The previous posts show the final stage of a layer with lots of small rocks and gravel. That was the 4th layer. I now started on the 5th and final layer.

Each layer starts with big rocks to raise the level. Then smaller rocks go in between and get hammered in, finally I get some really weathered rock that I pound into gravel to fill the aps between the smaller rocks.

In this state the sharp broken edges would really tear apart tires. The level needs to go up a little bit more before I start to finish this layer.

[Bex]

Pedro helped a bit on Saterday, so on Sunday I felt that i have reached the required level.

This level is now with the big roks in place and smaller rocks packed into the gaps, and more weathered rocks on top.
The next step is to bed the smaller roks by hiting them with the hammer, and then crushing the weathered rock into gravel to fill the smaller gaps.
I took a video to show the start of this process. Take into account the video was after about 1hour 30 min of work, so I was pretty tired and ready to go home.


At the time I took the video it was after about 1hour 30 min of work, so I was pretty tired and ready to go home, I just wanted to see what it would look like.


The grey area is where I started on it. I have a lot still to do, but the next 2 weeks I will have less time, so progress will be slower.


Below the top slope the next 20m will be quick, then there is a bunch of loose round boulders in the sandy wash that I will move with a digger loader.
I am hoping to have this trail drivable by Mid March.