Things I find in the woods

So I spend time out in the woods almost every single day. Partly because I have a young and active dog who needs the exercise, and partly because I just love being out there. But I’ve talked about my love for the forest so many times I’ll spare you the lecture this time. 😉

Instead, I want to talk about the things I encounter while mucking about in the bush.

I’m an explorer by heart and that means always looking for new places. If I see a path I haven’t walked before I HAVE to follow it to see where it leads. And if I see a hill or a mountain I immediately want to climb it to see what’s up there – and what’s on the other side. One of my favourite things to do is to go off the path and head straight out into the greenery. Just wandering around, letting chance decide where I end up.

Of course, a lot of the time all I find is impenetrable marshes and other dead ends. Or someone’s backyard, that has happened more than once. 😬 But occasionally you find nice little surprises, and I want to share a few of those in this post.

Here are some things I’ve found this summer:

Little battlements/walls

I stumbled upon these in the middle of nowhere in the woods. It’s an area north of my house, on a low rocky ridge. No roads or trails lead here. I had walked from my neighbourhood straight into the forest and scaled the ridge aiming for a little dirt road I had seen on a map. A few 100 meters before I reached the road I found these.

There’s several of them, more than just these photos. They are scattered about the area seemingly at random and pretty far from each other. All are about knee-height or slightly taller, and 1-2 meters in length.

Looks like little battlements or medieval walls. They look too new and poorly built to be ruins, but also too small to be anything useful. I think they might be built for some kind of sport? Or kids playing war games? Someone with a stone-stacking hobby? 🤔

Stone altar

More interesting stone piles! I came back to the area with the “battlements” and instead of walking straight north I turned east for a bit. I found this a few 100 meters from the battlements. Still no trails anywhere near. It was by pure chance I even saw it!

I assume the people who made this are the same ones who built the battlements. The stones are very sunken into the moss so it looks like it’s been here for a while though.

It felt pretty cool seeing this altar-like structure, but also a little eerie. Do we have some sort of ritualists in these woods? 🧙‍♀️🧙‍♂️

Kåta/teepee

Another find in the middle of nowhere far from any trail: a kåta. Well, the poles of one at least.

A kåta is a traditional Sámi (the indigenous people of northern Scandinavia) tent made from wooden poles covered in cloth, skins, or other materials. Very similar to the teepees used by native Americans!

This kåta I found looks like someone’s camping spot or similar. There is no cloth or other kinds of draping, only naked poles and a garden chair and some kind of stove/heater inside. Saw some equipment too, like knives and mugs and such. Lots and lots of felled trees around too.

I didn’t want to get too close or touch anything as it didn’t look abandoned. Bit weird since, as I said, I found no path leading to this place. After a few minutes, I realized this might be where someone comes to get high – and that’s when I booked it out of there. 😬

Good luck sign

I live close to the local riding school and found a new (to me) path leading east from one of their paddocks. Fittingly enough, 20 minutes along the path I found an old horseshoe nailed to a tree stump.

I took it as a sign of good luck! 🍀😊

Hollow tree with twigs inside

This odd tree is right at the beginning of the forest. Only a 5 min walk from my house actually. It’s hollow, but inside it, the twigs are still intact.

I’ve personally never seen that before, and after asking around it does seem like an unusual occurrence. I showed it to my dad who worked as a woodcutter/lumberjack his whole life (so knows everything there is to know about trees) and he had only seen it once or twice too.

Looks kinda freaky if you ask me. Like almost unpleasant to look at. But quite interesting too.

Bonus: miniature T.A.R.D.I.S.

Wait, is that..? The T.A.R.D.I.S?!

You can find plenty of weird things going on in civilised places too. 😜 It’s made of painted stone, probably some kind of brick. I don’t know the people who made this little statue, but I like their style!

Finding these interesting (well, I find them interesting anyway) things and places makes exploring so exciting! There is so much going on out there just waiting to be discovered… Especially if you dare step away from the roads and trails and wander off into the unknown. The gods only know what you might find. 😊💚