Help Needed for Removing Coniferous Forest Floor Detritus

(Hey, complete newbie here, so if I posted this in the wrong place, I apologize!)

So I'm hoping to build a little place (10ft X 20ft) in a bit of woods not far from my house.

The land was originally planted for timber, so the pine trees are rather straight, tall and evenly spaced apart.
The spot that I've chosen is a lovely one deep in the woods. I've got the area marked out and am hoping to remove the trees this weekend in order to get the lumber I need and begin flattening the area & digging the foundation holes.

Unfortunately, I'm having a lot of trouble removing the kind of spongy forest floor layer to the point where I'm at my wit's end.
I've tried raking it but it clogs up between every second pass and you either have to bang it a few times or manually pick it out. There's also a lot of little roots under this layer so it gets stuck on that as well.
A shovel was also not very helpful but it could be because of the kind I was using (a curved blade).
And I've tried to do I by hand but I'm not going to lie, all the kneeling and standing is really hard on my knees to the point where I can only do it a few times.

I've tried googling suggestions but most I think are meant for removing pine needles from lawns (mainly a leaf blower is suggested and while the idea is entertaining, I don't think it would work for my situation).

I also thought of some sort of digger or something similar.
However, access is a bit difficult as the path through the forest to the spot is rather narrow (about 7 ft) and I'm worried that if I go that route, I'll have to cut down more trees which is something I'm trying to avoid as much as possible.

Any suggestions for this predicament would be appreciated!

Hi Iona, and welcome to permies!

You might be able to fit a Boxer, Dingo or similar tracked machine down that path. I used one to move dirt left over from excavating a mini pond, and the blade did a pretty decent job of leveliing things off. I think one of these would have enough grunt to push the duff out of the way and scalp the little roots, as long as you did shallow passes. (btw, that's not me in the photo but could be a professional stunt driver on a closed course)

Iona, Welcome to the forum!

Iona said, "So I'm hoping to build a little place (10ft X 20ft) in a bit of woods not far from my house.

Is this a garden bed that you are building? Or what?

Iona said, "to get the lumber I need and begin flattening the area & digging the foundation holes.

This sounds like a building? Though you posted in the "Growies Forum." does this need to be moved to the "Natural Building Forum"?

I would use a shovel.  One with a flat edge rather than a pointed one for digging.

First, try to scrape back what is loose and then put it in a wheel barrel to be hauled somewhere.

Once you get the loose stuff, you can decide if more needs to be removed.

With a 7' path, you can get a Bobcat in there easily. Better, chat up a neighbour with a compact tractor with loader, pay him a few dollars and share a beer, and add a local resource to your "tool box."

Edit: If you are focused on hand tools only, a dandelion rake would work fine. I get them free from my local take-it-or-leave-it at the eco-station -- silly people think it can only be used to rake dandelions!