How did you begin building this tree fort?
Griffin: Out of boredom, I started building a small teepee with found branches last summer, but then it broke. My friends, Ethan, Crew and Ahna helped me in rebuilding it.
Crew: We kept adding more and more branches to it and soon it became this large fort instead of a teepee. It took about two months.
What kind of materials were used?
Griffin: A Styrofoam block, large branches, sticks and twigs, straw for the inside and rocks.
Crew: Dead cow parsnip. If it's alive you'll get a bad rash! We place it on the roof to keep water from seeping in. Pine branches are also used to keep it dry.
Ahna: A golf ball, a glass bottle, un-inflated balloons and a party streamer connected to a bouncy ball. I found the bouncy ball from a thrift store.
Where did you learn how to make forts?
Griffin: I'm self-taught. I've made enough with friends for fun and we just figured out what worked and what didn't.
Do you blueprint or go in freestyle?
Griffin: All freestyle.
Whats your favorite part of this tree fort?
Ahna: I like the tree on top of the fort.
Griffin: I like sleeping in it.
Crew: It's peaceful.
Are there any rules for your fort?
Ahna: No littering! Except if there's party streamers.
Crew: No breaking of the tree pieces.
Griffin: No spitting in it!
What kind of games do you like playing in it?
Ahna: We like to climb the trees. As we're climbing, we find more materials to add to our fort. We also like building little forts in the trees.
If you could invite any famous person to come play with you in your fort, dead or alive, cartoon or realistic, who would it be?
Crew: It would be Indiana Jones because he's already used to the wild.
Ahna: Yeah, he wouldn't be like, "Ewwww!" when he sees our fort! Maybe he can help us add more things to it and make it look awesome!
Griffin: I would invite George Washington because he was our first president and he cut down a cherry tree.
Could you ever see yourself living in your fort?
Crew: I actually pretended to live in it once with my friend from Oregon. We pretended to be "hunter-gatherers" and I tried to kill a rabbit with a stick. Ideally, I'd like to find oil out here, build a mine and make money out of it to support myself.
Do you think youd still play in it when youre grown up?
All: Yes!
Ahna: If it's still there! We'll just keep adding to it and make it bigger.
Any advice for future fort builders?
Ahna: Make sure your parents will let you build one. Also, you need a way to get inside your fort! You can't make it too small.
Crew: Keep it clean and neat so it won't fall apart. Use rocks to fill in the holes to keep everything together.
Griffin: Don't give up!
Rejoy takes pictures, draws things and designs for the special content department of Alaska Dispatch News. As a little kid, she used to make her own forts out of blankets, pillows, and cardboard while pretending to be Mowgli from The Jungle Book. She resides in Anchorage where her inner Mowgli still likes to frolic in nature.
This article appeared in the April 2016 issue of 61°North, a publication of ADN's special content department. Contact 61°North editor Jamie Gonzales at jgonzales@alaskadispatch.com.