Ben and I spent a few hours clearing the pasture more, I had mowed to the bottom of the pasture, but in places where the briers or trees were really close, one strip was not wide enough and everyone walking last Sunday was prickered. So we got loppers and the mower and went to town. It's not wide enough for a car, but you could walk through with a pack and not get snagged up. All the way from the gate to the trail into the woods. That's no small feat!
We could hear the creek from the pasture, so Ben finally caved and went off to look at it. I finished up the last section and decided to see if I could find him, so I headed down the old path to the creek. Even though we have not cleared it in years, it's still really open for the most part. A couple hours with the loppers to get the privet and vines back and it will be easy strolling again.
The dog pool is GONE. The bank washed and it's not deep any more, just wide.
But about 200 feet further down, there's a new deeper pool that has appeared.
Jess tries out the shallow end.
Lovely!
Look how clear the water is! All that rain, so pretty!
I walked all the way to the new to me log road that goes up to the cliffs without seeing Ben. That's as far as we usually go, we have only been past the cliffs half a dozen times. So I turned back and followed our 'new' trail from Sunday back to the little creek below the pasture.
This really is a log road and it really is WAY easier to walk up than the usual route.
I don't know!
The log road either ends here or just fades to the point that I can't see it because it gets really steep again. We have a pretty good path in place to just above here, so I am going to connect the two and make a good circuit for walking. It doesn't matter that it's a fairly short walk, that climb still makes me sweat! Once I have the way clear to wear a pack, I can walk up and down several times a week with my pack on and get some better stamina.
Up on top, there's the start of the fire ring! It's in just about the only spot with no trees above and despite the angle of the photo, it's flat there. We will have to take down the smaller dead trees before I feel okay with heading back there with kids! There are downed trees from the storms, too, mainly limbs and brush.
When I got to the creek, I decided to move some rocks around to make crossing it easier. I tried to stay dry, but...eh. I have other shoes.
Yes, I was doing work and hiking in cotton. I love scrubs!
While I was bent over messing with rocks, I heard this noise. It sounded like a wild bear or rabid monkey. I FROZE. It really could have been a boar, my biggest fear in the woods. Or a crazy person, EVERYONE'S biggest fear in the woods.
I turned slowly after the second guttural snorting sound, figuring my Kuma boy would have alerted me to actual danger. He was 50 feet away hauling a deer leg bone up toward the house looking very unworried.
I scanned the hillside and saw...something terrifying in a tree! It was Ben! He was way up this skinny tree hanging on with one hand and flailing around. He snorted again. I cussed at him and told him I nearly just peed in the creek. He was DELIGHTED. Oh dear. So far it's only ever been Jake who considers a job well done only when I use the word. 'jackaninny'.
He came down to help, we each worked on one side of the creek to make a sturdy platform of rocks, then cleared out between them until the water was about 10 inches deep. Then we hauled/slid a huge rock down the creekbed and levered it into place.
The result is a sturdy bridge instead of a slick muddy bank!
Ben landscaped a while longer moving rocks from the hillside pile down to where we had moved things around in the creek. The banks are clay up there and need a little protection.
The little falls just below the bridge
These usually don't pop up until late winter or early spring. It's a wet weather spring, they are all over the place. Water just bubbles right out of the ground and flows down to join the rest of the water.
