Uggh. I tweeked my back digging up old gravel the other day. I was trying to pace myself and only do a half hour per day of shoveling, hauling, dumping, raking gravel but I overdid it a little bit. I should be back on it by Tuesday. With any luck, by September or so this eyesore will be a reasonably flat expanse of beautiful Bermuda.
This gravel is about 1' deep at its highest point, and a lot of it is packed in clay, so pretty brutal work at times.