© J.N. Urbanski – Usage prohibited without consent

In the midst of cabin fever the winter before last I was out in the freezing, driving rain with the dog and decided to make a trail out of an old logging road on our property. We’d been using this trail through the forest, the dog and I, for some time and, unexpectedly – because it was about -10F at the time – the urge to start a trail came over me. To this day, I’ve no idea what prompted this move, but back then I just didn’t want to go back inside. I traipsed around in the forest for a couple of hours collecting large stones with which to line the trail until I was soaking wet and my woolen gloves had numbed my hands. Over the past year, we’ve added to it by lining the trail with a branches that look like they might one day thicken like a hedgerow.

Almost a year later, after a particularly long winter, we’re picking it up again in earnest because we’re felling a stand of trees to season for firewood – the memory of last winter will be as long as the season itself, I fear – and to open up a small clearing around an ancient apple tree that needs more light. I dismantled a long rock wall, grassed over the resulting empty space and lined the trail with those rocks. Never under estimate the power of landscaping to quiet the mind. If your mental state feels like hauling a large rock up a hill, why not try actually hauling rocks up a hill?

There have been a lot of branches from the felled trees to line the trail, that now runs through the forest around our property, one end of which stops in a glade: a stand of spruce that surrounds a mossy clearing that’s just perfect for a fire ring and circle of teepees or a cabin. There are other branches off the main trail that lead to places in our forest, like a rocky outcropping that hosts a piling of historical garbage a metal bed frame, the metal innards of an old Harrington piano, glass bottles of moonshine, cans and metal trays. There’s also a clearing with hammock hanging under a flowering archway. I’m adding old signage that I’ve picked up over the years on my travels. I’m also adding some knickknacks I’ve collected in my wanderings around the Catskills.

This endeavor has taken the best part of a week and I’m only really halfway through, but it’s made me closer to the forest to spend more time on meditative manual labor outdoors and less time in front of a computer. I now know most of the trees better than I did, and it’s nice to finally make use of the woodland.

© J.N. Urbanski – Usage prohibited without consent

© J.N. Urbanski – Usage prohibited without consent