Natural Paths and Walkways

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A Roll-up Boardwalk

I don't know how many country places I've seen in the spring with an assortment of wobbly old wood planks laid over mud holes on the track between house and drive, or all the way down to the road so the kids don't get mired down on the way to the school bus stop. I've also used planks to plant the early garden and to get maple sap to and from the evaporating pan at the backyard fireplace. But planks don't last long and it's a waste of good wood better used to make shelves or a playhouse.

A temporary path of sand or organic mulch will keep a mud path passable, and can be tilled into the garden or forgotten when no longer needed. . .but it needs continual replenishment.

The best temporary path I've found is a flexible "boardwalk" of rot-resistant wood slats spaced with beads or plastic washers and strung moderately loose on rot-proof nylon cord. Being flexible, the path can be rolled up to be carried to a different location or into storage. Length of each section is up to you, but I find that five-inch lengths are easiest to manage

You can purchase this walkway ready-made in six- or eight-foot lengths, straight or curved, for $8 or $9 a running foot. But the commercial variety is made for looks and is as broad as a sidewalk-half again as wide as you really need. Plus, it's sawn from "PT"-pressure-treated wood that's been infused with CCA, a heavymetal brew of chromium, copper, and arsenic. If it's toxic enough to keep woodhungry termites and dry-rot fungi at bay for up to a half century, it sure can't be good for other living things, including you and me, the kids, and pets.

Besides, it's cheaper to make your own roll-path from naturally rot-resistant wood, nylon cord, and plastic-pipe spacers. Cost is a dollar or two a foot using one of the naturally rot-resistant south ern yellow pines and maybe twice that using northern white cedar or western red cedar from the lumberyard, or a good-keeping native wood such as sassafras, red mulberry, or mesquite from a local sawmill.

As the photos show, I made my newest roll-path from 1 3/4"-thick, 10"-wide California redwood, which is normally too rare and expensive an option, but I managed to salvage it free from a suburban deck-building site (the boards had too much yellow in them to satisfy the client, I was told). Here are the steps.

1. Cut Board to Step-Width

I divided the boards into step-width sections that would offer just enough sidetoside distance to kneel comfortably and to walk without having to squeeze my ankles together. For my big feet, that's 16 inches. I then ripped the 10" x 16" board into 16"long strips.

In past roll-paths, I'd cut each strip to be taller than it was wide, which caused the narrow-footed strips to flop and wobble as I walked on them.

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