I had a big bunch of regular chores to knock out around camper and cabin this morning. Nothing unusual about that. I won’t burden you with details, save to say that all went well and surprisingly quickly.
Finishing early opened the door to a Friday without any firm plans. I reviewed my own mental list of things I want to get done. (We’re still in “cheap or free” mode.) I also summoned Deb’s voice inside my head, hinting at what she’d like to see.
I remembered her wishing recently for a walking path from the cabin to the summit area. Great idea. It’d give us an alternative to a half-mile Ranger ride down the road and up the cut. From what I’d seen, it shouldn’t be too difficult to do.
So that became my aim for today — not to build the path, but to scout the terrain upslope and determine the easiest and best way to get from here to there. I grabbed my hophornbeam walking stick and picked my way up past The Amphitheater.
Technically, I suppose, it’s still late winter here in Ozarkansas. Today the calendar turns to March, however, and on this clear and mild day it was hard to believe that spring isn’t springing (though it certainly hasn’t entirely sprung).
Helping make the case were splashes of green amid the browns and grays — cedars, sure, but mosses so vibrant that they looked otherworldly. I got down close to the rocks and decaying wood on which this soft growth takes root. I considered the companion lichens, those bizarre and colorful life forms rising from both fungi and plants without stems or leaves.
It was a pleasant diversion. I could’ve studied that stuff for hours.
I wandered this way and that along the rock-strewn slope. I was looking for a route that’d be friendly and inviting, with brief climbs broken up by flat stretches that follow the contours.
I’m pretty sure I found it. The path will crest at the foot of Deb’s cousin’s tree stand, which is right on the buggy trail. Dancing Tree is only a few steps away, with the walking path to the summit just beyond that.
Clearing will be a low-effort proposition — leaf rake, loppers and battery-powered chainsaw. We’ll remove only what’s necessary to create a single track, perhaps twice shoulder-width and about eight feet tall. Fortunately, trees and brush aren’t at all dense on that slope. Compared to other clearing I’ve done around the homestead, this’ll be relatively easy.
So scouting the path was a success. I thoroughly enjoyed the process.
Now, if you suspect that it also was an excuse for me to spend more time in the woods, I can’t say you’d be wrong.
You’ve seen this guy here once before, presented then without comment. He descends on the bird feeder, mounted to one of the camper’s windows, a couple of times every day. He’s damned agile, with feet stickier than those of your run-of-the-mill housefly.
The whitetail herd Deb saw in a neighbor’s yard yesterday had moved on this morning, all 11 of them, to a pasture a half-mile north. By the time she came Home this afternoon, seven were back at the neighbor’s.
Take care of yourselves, Patriots. Stay calm. Stay sharp. Stay free.
#WiseUp #LibertyOrDeath #Ungovernable
#LetsGoBrandon #FJB