Before anything new could go up, a lot had to come down. We started by clearing the brush and trees that had grown over the property. In October 2021 we tore down the old camp and burned what was left of it, one pile at a time.
Then came more clearing. Load by load and pile by pile, the woods gave back the ground underneath. The work was slow, loud and smoky, and every day the land opened up a little more.
By the end we were standing on bare dirt for the first time, looking at the hole dug where the cabin stands today. It didn't look like much yet, but to us it looked like a beginning, and it was the first time we could really picture the cabin standing there.
