I own about 40 acres of heavily wooded land in the Poconos. I recently purchased an ATV and have been working to build trails on the property. It's been hard work, but fun to slowly build the area where I can go. Mostly just cutting down trees and cutting branches.

There is one section of my land that has about an 8 - 10 foot sheer "cliff". It is nearly a 90 degree angle at the bottom...so too steep to climb. I was thinking about trying to build a ramp to access that section.

I was thinking of getting 5 2x6's and placing 2 together on each end and one in the middle (laying on their end...the 2 inch side touching the ground). Then, building decking with 2 x 12's and making it about 5 feet wide. I would put 4 x 4's along the each end as a "safety" measure "railing". Pressure treated lumber all around.

To make the angle reasonable, the length of the ramp would have to be about 2x the height of the cliff (so say 16 feet long).

Any thoughts / advice? Would this work? Is it super-dangerous? My quad weighs about 550 lbs and I'm another 185.

 

If I'm following you correctly you would have a rectangle with one end laying on the ground at the top of the rock and one end laying on the ground out from the bottom of the rock with 2-2x6's nailed together on each long edge and one in the middle. You would then put 2x12's across as decking. You'd then add 4x4's as a rim on the long outside edges. If you are going to span that kind of length I don't think the 2x6's will be enough where you'd have the weight of your quad, you, and the 2x12's on the 2x6's. If anything you should do it in reverse. Meaning I'd use 5-2x12's that are 16' long for your support and use 2x6's for the decking. I'd even consider one more 2x12 in between the long, outside pieces.

 

You have my idea exactly correct (except I would use screws instead of nails). Thanks for the suggestion..makes sense.

 

Moose has the right idea!
Might want to add 3/4" strips on top of the deck following the direction of the 2x6. It will help keep it from being a 16' atv slide when its wet.

 

Thanks. Good idea on the strips. Definitely not the type of slide I want to ride on!

 

My 2 cents use 2 16 foot 6x6s spaced 4 feet apart screw on some 2x decking with cleats and your done if the trail allows you might be able to construct close to home and skid it out if you cut angles on 6x6s might be a little dicy getting over cliff and down on an angle but could skid all materials to build site on site We use 7 6x6s spread out over 12 feet for our club [built well over 100 diff. length bridges] when we construct our snowmobile bridges in nh and they hold up piston bulley groomers can get some pict if needed those are the projects I find real rewarding

 

Thanks. That's a lot different than I thought. But certainly seems sturdy. I'd like the ramp to be 5 feet wide...but I guess the 6x6's can still be 4 feet apart (is that what you are suggesting?). I could build at my house...the place is only about a 10 minute ride from my garage. I'd be coming from the downhill side, but I think I could bring it up against the ridge and then maybe go to the top of the ridge and winch it up. I have a small portable generator and I was just going to bring up there and build on site...but this may be easier.

Do you think I need anything at the bottom to keep it from sliding down? I'm guessing not, this thing will be a beast and probably won't move at all.

 

If you don't have a tractor or something that will drag an assembled bridge that far I'd go with the build it on site method. Pressure treated wood adds up quickly weight-wise. Up in Claremont, NH we built several bridges and assembled them on site with generators, power tools, and nail guns. Worked out well.

 

you could leave about foot of 6x6 with no decking on and dig a small pocket into lower side to set end in and as moose says if its a lengthy ride in should prob. build on site to reduce strain on atv and be able to adjust for site cond. and you could always put on edge board if your afraid of slipping off side wish I lived closer Id love to lend a hand
Good luck sounds like fun project play safe and get us some picts when you get finished
this is a picture of a load of pt we hauled from drop site with atvs and trailers for about 15 snowmobile bridges in 2010 22,000 lbs worth

 

That's a good design, and you may simply be able to use logs from trees cut down on your own property.