Hardscaping an Otter Slide

OK, so it's not exactly an otter slide but it was a muddy slope that was very slippery in the winter. Even in the summer the steep slope made carrying kayaks a pretty scary operation.

We started by building a solid landing that could support the bottom step of the landscape ties. Each run of the 8x8 landscape ties is scribed to fit the sandstone rock that lies just under the soil. The rock added complexity by forcing us to work around it, but also let us pin the landscape ties to something very solid.

This is the new landing with the mudslide above. The rock is only 4-6 inches below the mud.

The new steps. We created a series of boxes made of 8x8 pressure treated landscape ties. They are all, but 2, pinned into the sandstone with 1/2" rebar.  The boxes still need to be filled with material and top dressed with mulch or pea gravel .

Using a hammer drill we chipped a pocket into the sandstone
that would accept the 8x8. A hole was then drilled through
the wood and into the rock and a piece of 1/2" rebar was
driven in to pin the wood to the rock.