Howdy all. I have a 33% avg grade, highly overgrown slope (~450’ length, ~160’ elevation change) at the edge of my property that was originally used by a railroad company 130 years ago to slide trees down to where they were building railroad ties. It is now exclusively a deer path (the poo on my knees can attest to that) and I had to scramble at several points to get up.
If you were in my deer poo covered shoes (and assuming I had cleared all the brush and fallen trees), would you build trail stairs, e.g.
or a small set of switchbacks (space is tight as I have like 30’ of width to play with), e.g.
orrrrr would you just clear it out well and deal with sprawling for a few steeper parts? (my least favorite option as I would like to hike this several times a week when it’s done)
I’m concerned with long-term maintenance but am willing the put in the upfront work! TIA