A Little Trail Work

It’s late spring now and the ferns and other perennial plants in the woods are nearly full grown. So the trail that Bennet and I would take is now overgrown with ferns and other things. One plant I was worried might be poison ivy but it’s wild sasperilla. 

The only section that really needs work this year is a section that hasn’t traditionally been a path.  I pulled up ferns and sasperilla and cut down a couple Norway maple saplings and a dogwood.  I also raked leaves and moved some branches.  I still need to cut a path in that log though.

It's lovely to see this beautiful striped jack-in-the-pulpit.

Stairs in the Woods

The next section along the path after the new section we built last spring (moving a bunch of boulders and creating stone steps), is a short, steep section leading up to a large, flat boulder.  We thought wooden stairs would be best here.  Colin used mostly reclaimed or leftover lumber for this project.

He built it over two weekends. He built most of the steps and hauled dirt to fill the treads.  We used stones on the side to keep the dirt in place.  The next weekend, Colin finished the bottom two steps.  He also moved some more large stones to build a small retaining wall to create a landing at the bottom of the steps.  Evelyn helped Alyssa plant two non-invasive, native ferns, and they transplanted one Christmas fern from elsewhere.

Trail Tour

 Grandpa asked for a tour of our trails, so the girls and I shot a little video of the trails as they are, highlight work that we've done in the past, and talked a little about what work we'd like to do on them in the future.  This is a good time of year to work on the trails because there are no bugs and there are no plants, except for the Christmas ferns and one solitary trillium.

Of course, as soon as we shot the video, it's outdated.  This afternoon Colin and Alistair worked on another section of the trail, replacing a rotten edging log, adding some more edging logs and brining up some more soil to even out the trail.

Trail Work

This time of year is perfect to do work on the trails in the woods.  The temperature is pleasant and there are no bugs.  This section of the trail has always been okay, but we improved it by leveling an uncomfortable cross fall.  We moved some dirt last fall.  We lost a tree a couple of weeks ago in a storm than conveniently landed near the trail.  We cut the top of the tree to use as edging on the downhill side.

The bottom of the tree was blocking the trail up into the woods.  It took some time with our little saw, but we managed to cut it half to clear the trail.

Pulling up Ferns

Our trail in the woods is looking great after our work on the boulder section. The straight shot up the hill is not great, but it is functional. Unfortunately the trail down is impassable after the ferns unfurl. This afternoon Alyssa spent some time pulling ferns and weeds and cutting back some small trees to clear a path once again.

Springtime in our Woods

We have spent a lot of time outside this spring, taking advantage of the unusually early and warm spring.  The black flies are out now, which makes it less enjoyable.  Unfortunately we don't have screens on our porch yet, so the only refuge is inside.

We have spent a lot of time up in the woods.  Alistair has been climbing on rocks, jumping over logs, and finding treasures (like old dog toys and an angel garden ornament).  We've also been working on the paths.  Today we went for a walk in the woods.  Alistair enjoys hiking to the top to see our neighbor's tractor and sit on the stone fence.  He also like so to blaze new trails and clamber up some of the big boulders.

Most of the ferns are opening.  We have some Christmas Ferns, but most of the ferns are the common ones above. 

We also have a few purple Trilliums and some Jack-in-the-Pulpits, which are a fun plant.  I especially like the striped one shown below.