The woods are alive with possibilities: Retreat into nature, meet mushroom pickers, collectors, and explorers.

Build cabins and scenic trails, create crafts, or start inspired projects. This is the way to the forest.

Step into the woods —refuge and escape and home. Some go there to hike or fish. The people and projects presented in this book do so much more. Join them as they gather honey from wild hives and pick mushrooms from beneath secretive oaks. Build a cabin of your own, or a look‑out up in the treetops.

Bike trails, walking paths, woodcrafts. Anything and everything to experience the forest, both architectural and intangible. With profiles and essays that inspire us to step off the beaten path and photographs that bring the experience home, Wildside is the guide to modern outdoor activities. Obi Kaufmann’s works of poetry and illustration echo the feeling and vibrations of the California wilderness. Working within the realm of conservation and possessing a passion for defending the wilderness, his creations spin a thread of environmental awareness and artistic honesty. Christian Watson interweaves tradition with his perspective as a millennial. He sheds technology and creature comforts to live within the world and the landscape. Juniper Ridge captures the scent and essence of the wild; their dedicated crew is at home crafting around a campfire and foraging for ingredients off forest trails. These members of the cast of characters, and of hunters and gatherers, share the joy they receive from existing with and within nature, side by side with the murmurs and growls of the outdoors. Wildside is their collective narrative.