The Realm Trails came about solely because of the Fur Kids! Their Great Escape and their sudden designations as "indoor dogs", combined with the need to walk them daily and the out land trails becoming clogged with off-road vehicles, I was forced to look for a safe alternative place to exercise The Girls. The only place left to look was right there in my own back yard! :D

The work began in January 2000. Not having ever had any experience with this sort of thing, I went into some chat rooms online and asked "How do you build a hiking trail?" When the talk turned to shovels and chain saws, I backed away. Manual labor is not one of my favorite things and I figured that surely there must be an easier way.

My first brilliant idea was to use newspapers. I figured that this would work well. The papers would biodegrade and by the time they did, the trail would be pretty well established. So, off I trudged, carrying several Sunday papers into the woods with a spray bottle of lightly soapy water. Crumple a sheet, soak it with the water and carry on. Y'know that "theory" stuff? How everything should work "theoretically"? Well, the concept that the newspapers would dry out quickly (they never do indoors!) and be blown about in the wind never crossed my mind... until the next day. I'd dropped wadded up pages of the paper over roughly 500' of prospective trail. During the night there was a bit of a wind (drying out the papers donchakno!) and the next morning, the trail markers were everywhere, even in the creek! I was faced with two days of picking up the newspapers, which I swear multiplied when I wasn't looking!

Well, I thought, maybe if I use the deadfall... Yeah! That will work - and no clean up involved! Once that option was discovered, work on the trail really started moving along and in less than a month, I'd gotten around 1,200 feet of trail blazed through the Realm Woods.

The trail is an expansion of the dog trails that have been developed by the neighborhood dogs over the years. At least the straightest parts of the trail are dog trails ;o) Dogs don't "meander" through the woods - they go straight for their destinations! They are all over the area and most likely the trails on the other properties have been developed following the original dog trails.

I had planned it so the trail started and ended at the front porch and had been working on the South side for several days before finally getting down to the "flats". That's where the land quits being the side of ravine and levels out somewhat. About three weeks into the trail blazing I decided to start working from the North side and connect up with the South trail, making the circle complete.

The trail begins at the porch, turns right and meanders back and forth across the slope of the ravine in short "S" fashion until reaching the southwest corner of the backyard fence, then the "S"s expand in length and reach a bit farther to the south with each turn before reaching the "flats". The trail then follows north along the creek to the property line before turning east and coming back up the ravine -in a much more gentle incline!- hang a right at the propane tank and head to the porch.

On 22 February 2000, the circle was made whole. Wow! That was really an exciting moment for me! I had been so intent with the blazing of the trail, it took me a few moments to grasp that I'd actually connected the North side to the South side! I started whooping and hollering, The Girls got caught up in my celebration and danced all around me! The memory of the moment is a delightful mind video I get to replay anytime I want! :D

There's about 1,200 feet of trail that runs the perimeter of the property.

Pictures. Gotta take pictures! Fetch camera and extra film and begin snapping pictures of my creation.

... ... finally get the prints

... ... ...huh?

Where's my trail? (blink)

Well, nutz! Taking pictures of a newly established trail in the woods is about as easy as taking pictures of a black puppy in the deep shade... I know it's there, but I sure

wouldn't see it if I didn't know it! blech.

Don't let a little thing like that stop me though! :D I keep working on the main trail and start branching off to the interior. And take more pictures! ;o)

Well, you can see the problem -or not! Yes, there is a trail... but it's just not very visible in these shots. :::Sigh:::

Realm Trail in April	Realm Trail in May

Realm Trail in July	Realm Trail in August

Realm Trail in November	Realm Trail in January