I don’t think children get to do this kind of thing enough; play in creeks, explore the woods, poke things with sticks….
When I was about 12 several of the neighborhood kids decided to build a bridge across Dixon Branch. When that turned out to be a lot harder than we imagined we decided a short pier would do just fine. We worked for hours trying to nail scrap lumber together to make our pier. Then it rained. Not a trace of our pier was left, ending up somewhere in White Rock Lake.
Color pencil on paper. 14″ X 17″