After the big rain on 01Sep2017, Shadowwood had a big puddle that I thought was or would become a pothole. I used it to try out a few things like using rocks for fill and transporting the 200 plus pound plate compactor with the tractor.
This is how it looked at the start, and the tools I started with. I may not use the pickaxe again. It splashed me pretty bad, and kicked one rock right up into my lip. Bad idea.
This shows the holes after digging out with the pickaxe. Reference manuals call this "scarifying." Supposedly the new fill grabs dug newly ground better than ground that's been smoothed over by car tires. By now, most of the water that started out in the puddles is on me.
Flattish rocks are laid in the scarifiedd holes. This is my innovation. I think the large volume of the rocks may help reduce settling of the fill material over time. If nothing else, they will provide a telltale if the fill washes out.
Here are two buckets of gravel in the holes. The buckets are 5 gallons, with weep holes drilled into the bottoms. The gravel is "ABC," aka "crusher run." That means that it has the "fines," which means sand down to rock dust, particles that come out of the crusher that makes big rocks into little ones. The fines make ABC into good fill for potholes etc.
After about 5 minutes with the plate compactor, the gravel is both tamped down and spread out a little.
This unusual rock placed on the western bank is a marker. There is a 12 inch diameter hickory just out of frame to the left.
Done and dusted, with the plate compactor on the tractor lifts. Total time: one hour.
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