A quick chat with Uncle Google tells me that Bobcat of the Quad Cities will rent a 418 or 323 mini excavator for $150/day, $225/weekend, $450/week, or $1350/month. Seems fairly reasonable to me.

I would imagine we could get quite proficient operating one in the matter of a couple weekends and then could really make some hay building trail...especially if we go through and do rough clearing ahead of time. One has to wonder...would the county be OK with us operating an excavator in their forest preserve?