Trail blazing was the game of the day. The sky was bright and the day was dry so we got out tools and hit the trails. Armed with a Pulaski, a machete, a small forest axe and some limb saws, we were ready to clean up some trail on the northeast curve of the riverside.
We had been walking this route for some time to access a beautiful spot on the riverbank, but hadn’t cleared anything out there for quite a while. There is a small creek that forms as a rain catch in the wet season here, and we often dunk our boots on accident off that slippery slope. Building a simple branch bridge would suffice.
Austin took his Gransfors Brooks Small Forest Axe so we could clean up some fallen maple above the waterfall, and possibly scavenge some branches for the bridge. The 2lb axe made easy work of the maple, with ample help from our four legged friend.
Doogan had a great time tearing through the jungle with us, biting through branches and wreaking havoc. Along my route machete-ing a true trail and sawing out unruly vine maple or fallen limbs, I found some trailing blackberry stems which I pocketed for future basket making. In these next few dry days I’m going to try to make a blackberry bramble basket craft so I’m keeping reminders.
The muddy hillside above the bridge was previously a tilted tumble on an unmarked slippery hill, spotted with animal dens of some burrowing creature. Not ideal. We re-routed around some fir trees and dug a stone and wooden step into the hillside. Austin made some great wooden stakes to keep the steps in place, and staked a log along the bottom slope to help protect the trail from erosion.
Watch a Sped up Walkthrough of our Trail in our First DTube Upload!
Just yesterday we finished clearing a big space which had previously been overrun by blackberries. That space will hold the tipi this summer. We hope to move and create a good space for the wood-fired hot tub to be revived in the same field. This year we have big plans in mind and we are trying this year to practice patience, patience, patience.
It isn’t easy to make the easy life, but we are really working hard to make this space maximum capacity enjoyable.
So far, so good!
be sweet, stay wild 
@zord189