One Small Restoration

It’s been a year and a half since Hurricane Helene tore through our mountains, and for a long time it changed the way I felt about the land and trails here. Many of my own trails I simply left to the storm wreckage. Trees — some massive, too big for our chainsaws — were down in so many places, and I didn’t have the energy to reroute or clear them. But little by little, that has begun to shift. Yellow Birch Trail with ragwort and phacelia, spring 2026 This winter I made my way down our Yellow Birch Trail to look at the Carved Bowl Spring, which had become so buried beneath deadfall and detritus that you couldn’t even find it anymore. But this spring I headed back down there, looked over the creek bank, and thought: I could tackle that. Last week I brought Lance with me, and we did. We cut and dragged away branches, cleared the undergrowth and two winters’ worth of dead leaves, and there it was — still mossy, still making its pretty sound as it trickled down, filled the bowl, spilled…