How To Build BMX Dirt Jumps
How To Build BMX Dirt Jumps
1 - Location
2 - Tools
3 - Layout
4 - Clearing the area
5 - Building Jumps
6 - Misc

1-LOCATION
A wooded area is the best place to build. Trees provide nice shade in the summer as well as logs for building jumps with. Grassy fields are a pain to clear and the dirt tends to be sandy. A spot that with an accessible stream is a plus, but make sure that a little rain won't flood the whole place. The best place to build on is on your own land or friend's land. This way, your trails won't get torn down unless you want them to be (but why would you want them to be?) And if anyone messes with you or your jumps, after all it is your land, and you have the authority to tell them to leave. This, however, is hardly ever the situation. Most often, trails are built illegally on someone else's land. If these people they don't want you building on their land, your trails will be gone. If your trails are secluded enough, and you don't cause a lot of noise and problems for the owners and the neighbors, you shouldn't have too much trouble.

2-TOOLS
shovel(spade) - pointed shovel used for digging
shove(square) - flat bladed shovel used for scooping up loose dirt, rocks, etc.
pick - used for loosening dirt, very useful
rake(dirt) - a stiff rake used for shaping jumps and smoothing trail
rake(leaf) - used for clearing a path
broom - used to clear trails of dust.
axe - used for chopping trees and getting rid of roots
handsaw - same use as the axe except much slower
wheelbarrow - for hauling dirt, good for getting dirt onto the top of a jump
roller - cement or steel cylinder with a handle for packing jumps (especially landings)
The more tools you have, the easier and faster building will be. You can build with just a shovel and a rake, but it's always nice to have the right tool for the job. It's a good idea to hide your tools or take them home when you leave. otherwise someone's sure to come along and steal them. Also, keep your tools in good condition and they will last longer. Sharpen axes, keep air in wheelbarrow tires, don't leave tools out in the rain.

3-LAYOUT
Watch some jumping videos, find some pictures of good trails and check out some other trails to see what they got. Good trails will have flow. They loop back on each other making it possible to keep on hitting the same lines over and over until you get too tired. Once you have a spot, take a look at the area and decide what you want to build. Try to use the natural features of the land as much as possible. It's always easier to build a jump through a ditch than trying to build a tabletop over it. Map out in your mind what is going to be where. Don't try and draw it all out at once, just start building a few jumps and add later.

4-CLEARING THE AREA
Once you figure out what is going to go where, then it is time to start clearing a path. If you haven't done it already, use a rake to get rid of the leaves and other crap. This is easiest in the winter when there is only leaves to rake, not a bunch of weeds and poison ivy. The only easy way to deal with thorn bushes is a lawn mower. So just use the a shovel to try to hack through it. Use the axe to get rid of any roots in the way. It's a good idea not to cut down any trees unless you absolutely have to, or they are dead. By cutting down dead trees you are helping the forest because it makes room for new trees. To get rid of a tree, use an axe to cut as close to the ground as possible. The easiest way to deal with the remaining stump is to build a jump over it. Otherwise, you can dig around the stump and chop it out. Do Not try to burn the stump out. The roots can smolder for days after the fire is out, creating the potential for a major forest fire. Once the tree is cut down, you can stack it up for jumps. Go down the length of the tree, chopping off the branches. With a little practice, often you can lop off a branch with one swing. When you come to the part of the tree where it gets too small to use, cut that part off. Now cut the trunk into sections about as wide as you want your jump to be. A chain saw can make this job go very fast. However, chain saws tend to be noisy. If you are near houses, don't even bother bringing it there, chances are good that you'll get yourself into deep shit and maybe get your trails torn down. Don't use it to cut roots, you only dull the blade and get dirt where it shouldn't be. Keep the chain sharp and taught and make sure your using the correct fuel/oil mix.

5- BUILDING JUMPS
Jumps
To build jumps, stack up logs where you want the jump to be, about as high as you want it to be. You don't have to use logs, you can use rocks, garbage, cars, little brothers or whatever else you can find in the woods. There are two purposes of this. First, it reduces the amount of dirt you'll need to build the jump, so you don't have huge holes everywhere, which is also less work. And second, it creates a basic shape and form to the jump which makes shaping and packing the jump easier. When you stack up logs, lay them across the path. If you have them going the directions of the path, it will be difficult to build and cause ruts. The rule of thumb is, pile up the dirt, and then shape it. shaping every single shovelful is just going to waste time. This is where the pick comes in. A pick can loosen dirt very quickly allowing it to simply scooped up with a shovel. This is especially helpful in dirt that has a lot of rocks, roots, etc. Cover the logs completely with dirt, and pack it strong enough so you can kick it to pack it real tight. Now, throw the rest of the dirt on, shape it and pack it down. Really pack the face of the take off and the landing because jumping and landing will cause ruts. There is no way you can learn how to build a good lip by reading an article, it takes a great deal of experience and practice. All I can do is describe what a good lip is like. A good lip is smooth with no bumps or kinks, and it should be an even arc from the ground to the tip. A lip should be 45 degrees minimum. This will send you the farthest. The steeper you make it, the more air you will get, but it won't send you as far. Most lips at trails are steeper than 45 degrees. You should build your lips at least a foot wide and six inches thick at the peak. that will help keep them from falling down. the wider and thicker the peak the longer it will last.

The Landing is just like the lip except you want it wider and probably longer. For rhythm sections, make the landings short and steep so you can nosedive and carry speed for the next double. For trick doubles, make it about twice as wide as the lip and not too steep, but not too shallow. If it's too steep, you'll overclear it but if it's too shallow, the landing will be hard. Use your judgement.

When building rhythm sections, it's a good idea to round out the space between the landing of one jump and the takeoff of the next. Make it so that from the tip of the landing to the tip of the takeoff, it is basically one continuous arc. This will help you carry speed and make it through the pack easier.

Berms
To build a berm, basically outline the outer edge of a curve with a pile of logs, and cover it with dirt just like a jump. The berm should start before the curve starts and end after the curve ends. The tighter the curve is, the more speed you will lose going around the berm. A tight, steep berm can be a good way to slow down after a big trick double. For a berm going into a jump, make it a wide turn so you can get through it without losing a lot of speed. The faster you are going to go around the berm, the taller it should be. Otherwise, you will have to slow down to stay on the path.

6- MISCELLANEOUS
Jump styles
Double - two jumps, one to jump off of and one to land on
Tabletop - same as the double except it's a single jump, no gap in the middle
Hip - a double that you have to turn in the air and land
Roller - a single jump for rolling over, manualing, etc
Changing jumps
Depending on the size, jumps can often be easily torn down, and rebuilt or moved. You shouldn't do this, though, unless it is absolutely necessary. It can be just as much work to move a jump as it is to build a new one, and by building a new one, then you have more jumps. If you want to move the takeoff or landing to make a double bigger, you could build a new double instead. This way you have an easy double and a harder double.
Working in teams
Working in teams is a great way to get things done fast. If your building a new jump, have one group getting logs, one group stacking them up and starting to dig. Later, have one group digging while another uses a wheelbarrow to take the dirt to the top of the jump. Manage your workforce and you will get a lot more work done. Try to keep everyone working on something. If someone isn't working, then you're not building as fast as you could be. You can build a three foot high set of doubles in an hour, and a whole rhythm section in a day. You don't have to try to work fast or hard, just as long as work for a few hours and don't stop every five minutes to take a fifteen minute break. Try to get all your friends and tools together and build.
Maintenance
Trails need far more maintenance than do wood ramps. Often, especially when it is dry, you will have to rebuild the lips. If there has just been a big storm, you might have a lot of rebuilding to do. You'll have to rake and sweep the paths from time to time. A wide pushbroom is the best for sweeping dust off the path.
Water control
Water is often a problem at trails. It likes to collect in the low spots in rhythm sections and at the bottom of berms. Dig holes and trenches to get rid of water. If you just lay plywood over a puddle, you can ride it, but it won't dry up when it stops raining. If you make it so the water doesn't collect there in the first place, you'll never have to worry about it. If you need a bridge across a stream, one is easily built using two logs and a few boards. The logs should be at least eight inches thick. If it is a big gap, use thicker logs. Stretch the logs across the gap about two or three feet apart, and start nailing the boards down on top one after the other. This is a fairly easy way to build a strong bridge.


BEGINNERS TO BUILDING DIRT JUMPS
Beginner Dirt Jump Building
If you're new to dirtjumps, trying to find a place to learn how to jump can be almost impossible. If you go to most established trails, the jumps are so big, you end up just looking up (and I mean, up) at them in awe with your jaw wide open - then deciding you'd rather just go get a Slurpee. Finding a 'rookie' trail is not easy, so like many riders, the only way you're gonna learn is if you build your own, and start small - real small.
STUFF YOU'LL NEED
Obviously you need a place to build them, that's relatively flat and big, has pretty good dirt (minimal rocks), and hidden from prying eyes. The next step is to buy the implements you'll need. The most important items of course are the shovels. You'll need several spade type shovels (those are the kind with a pointy tip), for digging and moving large amounts of dirt, and you'll also need at least one flat edged shovel for shaping the jumps. Cheap shovels can be bought at discount hardware stores for as low as , though sometimes you may want to spring for the next not-so-cheap-but-still-cheap shovels that go for about , they'll last just a bit longer. Depending on the spot you pick, you may have to move dirt from one spot to another. You could go the cheap route, and scavange for some of those big white 5-gallon plastic buckets, which can hold a pretty good amount of dirt, you'll just have to find some friends with good muscles. The best thing though, is to spring for the cheapest wheelbarrow you can find, which can be found for about . Then, depending on your location and time of year, you may want to buy at least a few cans of bug spray. Don't laugh, being eaten alive by hungry ravenous mosquitos can easily change your mind about building a trail.
PLAN YOUR TRAIL
Once you've got a good spot to build, shovels, and a few good friends to help, the next step is a plan, and the idea is to plan for the future. Don't build a big doublejump in the middle of your spot, because you'll find yourself running out of space in no time, and end up building new jumps backwards (in front of your first jump). Determine what direction you want to go, and where you're gonna start. From there, you'll want a long enough straightaway to be able to pedal fast enough to make the first jump without any problem. Keep in mind that if you intend to get serious about dirtjumping, your jumps will get bigger and bigger each year, so you may need more space in the initial straightaway to get more speed for the bigger jumps. Also note where the trees are (assuming you have trees), and plan to snake your jumps through the trees. Don't start cutting trees down, for several reasons. First, it's really cool to jump through the trees, the trees give you shade, they keep the soil intact because of their root systems, and you don't want to cut trees down anyway, unless you're a retard and have some hatred for nature. Trees are also very helpful as a structural base to support a jump. Note that if you're building through trees, you can't have a pit (the area where you land from one jump to the takeoff of the next jump) next to a tree, because of the roots of the tree, so the idea is to build the takeoff lips or the landing lips next to the tree itself, with the pits in between the next set of trees.
MEASURE DISTANCES
Once you have a general plan for what direction your jumps will go, you'll need to measure distances so you'll know where to start building them. For beginners, the best size doublejump is no more than 2 feet high. This may sound wimpy, but don't kid yourself, you can break your neck on a 2 foot jump just as easily as on some huge one, and the skills required to jump a 2 footer is the same skills required to jump bigger jumps. Actually, to jump smaller, tighter, more technical jumps, is almost more difficult, for it requires greater precision, hence you'll learn your jumping skills better. The next measurement is the distance between the lip of the takeoff jump, and the lip of the landing jump, which for a 2 foot jump, should be about 8 feet (you don't need a measuring tape, your feet will work just fine). Now mark where you want the takeoff lip, the landing lip, and start piling up dirt.Don't even try to shape the jumps yet, your only concern at first is to pile up as much dirt as possible. Even though the jump will only be 2 feet high, you'll be packing down the dirt, so you'll need a LOT more dirt than 2 feet worth. Make the jump about 4 feet wide, and use the best dirt you can find. Try to keep leaves and twigs out of the dirt, for if you don't the leaves will prevent the dirt from being packed down hard, and will eventually decompose and your jump will fall apart. Obviously you don't want to have rocks in your dirt either, cause, well, rocks hurt! Even small rocks, which may seem to blend into the dirt when you first build them, will get partially exposed after a few rains, which will be cemented into the jump like a giant cheesegrater, ready to rip your flesh away like so much Cheddar should you fall on it. Once you have some really big wide piles of dirt where you want them, start packing them down by walking on them. Still don't concern yourself with shaping them yet, your main concern now is to pack the piles down nice and hard, starting on the top, creating a flat top, and then packing the sides down (smacking the sides of the jumps with the back of your shovel helps too). Now that you've created two big packed down piles, your #1 double jump is starting to take shape. The next step is to shape the takeoff lip, which is the most critical part of a jump.
SHAPE YOUR TAKEOFF LIP
The shape of face of the takeoff jump, is the same as the transition of a ramp. Nice and curved, round, with no flat spots. Take your flat edged shovel, and stand directly in front of the jump, and without moving your position, start carving the face of the jump from the top to the bottom, in nice smooth curved arcs. Be consistant, regular, and create a nice curve. Create the curve, or transition, so that it almost goes to vert. In other words, standing from the side of the jump, the top of the lip of the jump should be just short of pointing straight up. It may seem that with the lip so steep, you won't be able to clear the distance, but a little basic physics will prove you wrong, which is just another reason why you should be serious about school, for your physics, geometry, and math classes all come into play. If you roll a ball at speed at your jump, even though the lip almost goes to vertical, you'll see that the forward motion of the ball will send the ball arcing quite a distance, which is why you have the landing jump about 8 feet away. This is why it's so important to measure your distances before you start building your jumps. As you're shaping the jump, carefully pack it down by either smacking it with the back of your shovel, or having a friend hold you from tipping over, and pack it with your feet, being careful not to screw up the transition with your feet. When it gets pretty much packed down and the shape looks good, you can also use your bikes front wheel while sitting on the bike, by rolling it up and down the jump like a big breaddough roller, just be careful not to flatten the very top lip of the jump - keep the transition continuous up to the very lip. Once it looks pretty good, then repack the top of the jump flat, which will lower the jump just a bit, but then you'll have a good strong dense jump.
SHAPE YOUR LANDING
The next thing to do is to shape the landing 'jump'. This is a lot easier to do, for though you do want a transition (curved shape), you don't want it quite as steep, otherwise it'll be too tight, and you'll hang up your rear wheel too easily. Make the landing transition milder, and also make it a bit longer, almost twice as long. The landing 'jump' should be wide, and well packed down on the edges, so that when a rider goes a bit off course, and 'case' the landing, it won't get totally destroyed.
FINAL PREP
Now the only other thing left to do, is to water down the jump, that is if you have water available. What makes a jump rock hard is water, allowing the jump to be soaked, and then dried, essentially cements the jump. If you don't have water available, you'll just have to wait for some rain. Just remember, don't ride your jumps when they're wet, otherwise you'll groove the jump badly with your tires. Of course, you know after all that work you've done to create your first double-jump, you're not about to wait for rain, you're gonna test it out. Time for the fun part...
DIRTJUMP BASICS
Before you attempt to jump your first dirtjump, you need to understand the physics involved. If you look at your now shaped double-jump from the side, you'll see that the line of trajectory the object (you on your bike) has to travel, is a nice arc. You start going straight, then hit the transition on the takeoff jump, and arc smoothly and curved, hitting the apex at the center between the takeoff lip and the landing lip, then start pointing back down, to match the landing perfectly, just as if the double jump was filled in with dirt completely like a big round mound of dirt. There are two things you must focus on to jump correctly, 1) do NOT overjump, and 2) make sure you nosedive into the landing, so that your front wheel almost nosebonk's the lip of the landing. The key to jumping a double-jump, is to jump no higher and no farther than you need to just barely make the distance. If you overjump in a rhythm trail (a rhythm trail is 2 or more doublejumps linked together), you'll never make the next jump because you won't have enough room to pump. The idea is to jump very low, in what is referred to in BMX racing as 'speed jumping'. In BMX racing, the fastest way around a track is on the ground, not in the air, because pedalling in the air doesn't work too well, so the idea is to get back down on the ground from a jump as quickly as possible. On a dirtjump trail, the idea is to land as close to the landing lip as possible, so that you can immediatly pump into the landing pit and jump the next doublejump. Unlike in BMX racing, the only pedalling you'll ever be doing is at the start before the first jump, so it's even more critical that you jump low, land pointing nose down at the very lip of the landing, and immediatly pump to the next jump, etc., etc.
WHAT YOU'LL ACTUALLY BE DOING...
Even though you just read the two things that are critical to jumping correctly, I guarantee you that as a beginner, you will do exactly the opposite. Just like in any freestyle trick, fear is the only thing that will prevent you from doing it correctly. On your first attempt, you will be so worried about not making the distance, that you will 1) completely overjump by a good two feet, and 2) land rear wheel first. Being that you only have a single doublejump, neither one of these mistakes will bite you, but if you had built two doublejumps linked together, you would crash big time, either into the face of the second jump, or loop out off of the second jump smacking the back of your head as you crash, never making the second jumps landing. That's why it's critical that you get the first jump dialed way before you ever build the second jump. Once you learn to jump low, nosediving into the landing, then you have to continue that motion by pumping down as if you were about to hit another jump. If you jump it really well, you'll notice how smooth your takeoff and landing is, as if you never left the ground... there will be no jerky motions, no hanging up of your rear wheel, and you'll almost not even realize you landed, and your speed will be accelerating as you land. When you get that dialed, then, and only then, is it time to build the second jump.
BUILDING THE SECOND JUMP
Building the second jump is, of course, identical to the first jump, except for the shaping of the pit (the area between the landing of the first jump and the takeoff of the second jump). The pit, should be just that, a round curved pit that continues the landing transition down and then up, into the next jumps takeoff transition. There should be no flat spot in the pit, just a nice curve. By making a pit, you'll end up digging below ground level, and because of this, water drainage becomes a problem. There are two ways you can create drainage. One, is to either dig a deep channel, from one side of the pit at the deepest part, and continue that channel far away from your jumps, or dig a short channel, to just a couple feet away, to a deep hole. If you use the hole method, make sure you don't dig it too close to the pit, because if you crash into it, say with your feet or hands, you can injure yourself way worse than the actual crash, possibly breaking your ankle or wrist in it. Just remember that for every pit, you should have drainage. If you build a jump with a new pit, and get too lazy and not build the drainage, and it rains, the next time you come to your trail you'll find a deep lake.
RHYTHM BABY, IT'S ALL ABOUT RHYTHM
When you have multiple jumps linked together, that's when dirtjumping is so much fun. You pedal like crazy to the first jump, then jump, land, pump, jump, land, pump, jump, land, pump, without ever having to pedal again. And the longer you make your rhythm trail, the more fun it is. Most rhythm trails start out as a 6-pack, which is 3 double-jumps in a row, but they can grow as far as you have room to grow, and even if you don't have room, you can curve them into turns, essentially creating a big round trail, possibly linking back with itself to create a big circle.


EXPERT GUIDE TO BUILDING YOUR JUMPS BIGGER Advanced Dirt jump Building


"...One jump is just that, a jump. A rhythm section is a flowing stream of air and ground accompanied by a feeling like no other..."

Intended Audience This article is for those who have already read the section, "How to Build Your First Dirt Jump". If you haven't read it, then read it now and then come back after. Not only should you have read this article but you should have at least built two jumps in a row that you've made using the techniques mentioned in the How-to. All of the skills and techniques you learned will still apply. It would also be a good idea to know how to jump the little trail forward and backward. If the jumps are rollable then learn how to roll your rear wheel through the dip in the double. Do that forward and backward too. Roll one and jump one. Get really comfortable with the small stuff because once you start adding larger sets the commitment factor and the corresponding fear factor rise dramatically. Friends who couldn't jump the small jumps comfortably are going to be crapping when they see your new larger jump. This larger jump that I am going to discuss is perfect for the third set in your rhythm section. If you already have a third set, it will be happy as a fourth. I do not want to encourage you to destroy and rebuild the jumps you already have. We want you to build outward from them, because, lets face it folks, you want more jumps. Leave the small ones and build after them, a large and varied rhythm section is what every dirt rider strives toward (one can also build next to the existing jumps but that discussion is for another time). Advanced Dirt Jump Toolkit You will need a couple of things before you start. Your advanced tool kit should include shovels and a few additional items: long handle spade and square shovels, an axe a pick, and a rigid steel rake. The long handle spade point shovel is the workhorse, as it does most of the real labor. As stated in the other article, get a good one. It needs to be able to chop through small and medium sized roots, and it needs to be able to pry out stubborn rocks embedded in the earth. The long spade gets a lot of use and needs to stand up to it. The long handle square shovel is used for loose dirt, and is an invaluable tool for scraping and shaving the surface due to its flat blade and straight edge. Some like to pack the jumps with the bottom of its flat blade, but I have found that this leads to broken shovels. I also believe that foot-packing is more efficient in general. Do what you like, but try not to be without this tool. An ax is necessary for chopping out roots, don’t let these things malform your pit. Trail builders go to great pains to preserve the trees, but some of the roots may have to go. The closer you dig to a tree, the more roots you will have to deal with. Remember, avoid cutting a main root or a tree could fall on your trail (or your head) during a storm. I remember paying only .99 for the ax that we still use today. A pick is sometimes needed when the ground is so hardpacked that spade shovels are slow going. Depending on where you are building trails. you may not need this tool. The last tool is the rake. A rake can reveal and remove slight bumps and lumps in your supposedly flat surface, will dislodge small stones and bring them to the surface, and it will find roots that you didn't see. These annoyances should then be removed from the trail and tossed aside. When flipped over, the rake turns into a dirt smoother and pusher. A rake is nice to have but it is not totally necessary, so if you are on a budget, get an ax as your first non-shovel tool. Supplementary The short and usually D-shaped handle versions of either the spade or the square shovel are not as desireable as the long type. Shorty squares are particularly prevalent at the trails. They are often used for smacking down dirt, but are hardly ever used for serious digging. They lead short unfulfilling lives as they are often broken without ever really being used. The long handle versions have better reach which is helpful when you are shaping a jump while standing on top. Short spades are also less useful because they can not reach down into deep holes to bring up the dirt. Your back will be plenty sore without the extra bending over that a shorty shovel will cause. Actual Building Advice Before you build a larger jump that follows a smaller section, you need to consider how much speed can be carried through the existing jumps. If the small section seems slow, the landing of the last jump can be built up to allow a greater amount of pump to be extracted upon landing.For the purpose of this tutorial, our hypothetical section consists of two small doubles . The built-up landing shows that dirt piled on the second landing can make the jump longer and higher. This transformation into a step-up helps to make the transition from a small section to a larger one more gradual and thus easier (i.e. the section should get larger gradually). When you jump correctly it is possible to gain speed through each pit and clear increasingly larger jumps. The Pit Technique If you haven’t already, now would be a good time to make use of the pit technique. This technique involves digging down into the space after the landing and before the next lip. This makes your jump seem taller and this effect can easily be doubled because the dirt you removed from the pit can be put on top of a lip or a landing, making it even taller. So, after you make the second landing bigger and longer, you can then start digging down into the pit. The pit is very similar to a halfpipe in concept. It is a curved ramp that allows you to pump and gain speed. A dirt pit should be smooth, flat across and about four feet wide. However, a pit is unlike an actual halfpipe in that it does not need to have any flat-bottom. A pit should be bowled out into one large curve, and not like two quarter pipes with a flat area between them. If you are digging down and you encounter a root, do not cover it up and hope it will go away, instead, dig around it deeply down into the surface and chop it out with your ax. Now would be a good time to throw any pesky logs or rocks on the ground where the lip dirt mound is going to be. Here is an example of the bowl shape of the pit between two jumps. There is no flatbottom part. The entire surface curves. The landing is on the left and the slightly lower lip is on the right. The reason that the next jump's lip is lower is because this trail is slightly downhill. Note how both the lip and the landing are clean, squared off and do not have exposed logs or other trash.

Lecture
Every kid I know thinks that they can save a ton of time and effort by filling the space under the jumps with various types of trash, but this is mostly untrue. The fact is that the time it takes you to find some large pieces of trash and drag it to dump in your trails is time that you could have better spent digging. The only things that you should put in the jumps are large rocks, logs from fallen trees, and roots that have been removed from the ground. Putting these in the jump gets these things out of the way and saves a couple of shovels full of dirt but that’s all. These things are laid out on the ground before the dirt throwing has commenced and are then completely covered by dirt. If these things are not buried deeply they will eventually come to the surface and annoy you. When you look over your trails you do not want to see logs sticking out of your jumps. Why? Well logs and dirt are dissimilar materials. Dirt sticks to dirt better than it sticks to logs. If a log is sticking out and it gets hit in a crash or if it gets stepped on the vibration can crack the jump and loosen the soil. The same effect can occur if a log comes to the surface due to dirt-wear and natural erosion. A log sticking out can be easily lifted by a visiting vandal, and this can temporarily ruin a jump and your day. As vandals are lazy by nature, they will not usually pick up a shovel to do real damage to your jumps. It would be too much like work.

Back to Work
The dirt from the pit should go to both of the ends. On one end, the bulked up landing could probably be widened. The top corners should be squared off and at least 5 or six feet wide - the wider the better. But remember that a landing that is 6 feet wide at the top is going to have to be much wider at the base. On the other end of the pit dirt can be heaped on the logs and filler for the future taken off of the third jump. From the side, your dirt should look like this. At this point you may want to get on your bike and see whether or not you can clear the larger landing and get some pump in the new pit. Hopefully you'll feel ok landing the step up. If not, you may need to steepen and enlarge the take-off lip. Pile about three to four feet of dirt on where the lip will be.

Pack the top down so you can stand and jump up and down to compress the soil. Pile more dirt and repeat. Start sculpting the curved lip shape, and pack down the area that will actually be ridden by stamping your foot repeatedly. Put your weight behind it and stamp up and down the transition. Chances are that the lower part that was dug out for the pit is hard packed soil. The new upper part with the soft dirt has to be packed to match. Pack down the sides and back too. The lip should be a foot and a half to two feet thick at the top. Square off all the corners and start throwing dirt down to build a big landing. You may take dirt from the two feet (2’) directly after the base of the lip as this makes a trench across the gap that needs to be jumped (this trench is extra incentive to make it to the other side). Do not take any more than two feet or you may make your jump farther than you can fly. You are also going to have to get dirt from somewhere else. Usually it comes from the side, but sometimes you can dig a deep hole next to the trail and use the dirt for the jump and the hole as a drainage pit. One last place to get dirt is from the pit of the next jump. Ever onward in the quest for more rideable terrain.

People always want to know exactly how long and how high everything should be. The fact is that when I'm building I never use a ruler and I usually just pace things off. You will need to learn to trust your eye. Most smaller jumps, like our hypothetical pair of doubles, are two to three feet high and six to eight feet from lip to landing. The larger size that we are discussing here, our third jump, is usually four to five feet high and nine to twelve feet long. The lip should be more vertical. The landing should be large, wide and steep. The idea is that upon landing you will accelerate further so that the next set can be even bigger.

About Dirt,
There are different kinds of dirt. At the trails where we are currently digging, there are three kinds of dirt. Unfortunately the most prevalent type at these trails is sandy dirt. Some of it is pure sand and some is mixed with topsoil. All of it sucks. Sand, no matter how hard it is packed, never stays packed. When it dries out, it loosens up and blows away in the wind. The second type of dirt at these trails is the top layer. This layer is the collector of all dead leaves, bugs and other broken-down organic matter, that add to the composition of the sand and help it to pack better. . The third type of dirt here is clay mixed with sand, which packs rock hard and doesn't erode much over time.
Now get a shovel, and start digging...