Underfoot

On the forest trails of Madeira, roots don’t just break through the surface — they become the path itself. They braid through stone, cross the trail, and vanish back into the undergrowth, as though the path simply continues somewhere deep in the thicket.

Many such trails run alongside the levadas — old irrigation channels that have carried water across the island for nearly six hundred years. They were carved into the mountainsides through dense forest, and the narrow tracks beside them once served only for upkeep. Today, they are popular hiking routes, trodden by thousands each year.

But the forest does its work regardless. Roots heave the soil upward. Leaves blanket them each autumn. And the steady passage of feet tamps it all back down into a single surface.

At some point, you can no longer say who made the road first — people or trees.

Madeira, Portugal.
October, 2017.
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