Steep hillside staircase

Please post ideas and links! My kids and I are building a staircase into a steep hillside (roughly 35 degrees.) So far we have no idea what to do because we are not builders. But we have guessed that we need risers to keep the hill from flowing down the deer track like a river of dirt. So we're planning to use 16" firewood quarter rounds (generally white fir) that are 10" wide, for a 10" riser, and to space them about 14" deep for the run. There are a few places we can make landings and zig-zags so it won't be one long straight ladder. We're thinking we will drill holes and pin them to the ground with rebar or cedar limb spikes. then we'll fill the stairs with clay and top with mulch. Do we start at the top or the bottom? Any ideas appreciated!

Photos would be good
Start at bottom
Test rebars to get suitable length
consider a side rope hand rail
why not use existing soil to fill in
mulch may be slippery
how many steps

Unless you have a dry climate, fir or other softwood partially embedded in the ground will probably start rotting in a few years, so I would plan for easily replaceable parts. Fir pins, while an attractive idea, will rot even faster. Do you have any black locust you could use for stakes to hold the risers? Osage orange and some other species are also supposed to be rot resistant.

To drive wooden pins or stakes, unless the soil is soft and rock-free, you really need to make pilot holes first. A digging bar (around 4-5' long and heavy enough to drop and drive a hole with its own weight), wiggled sideways at each drop to make the hole open enough to continue progress, will give a path that a stake can be driven into. If you have to work while the soil is dry and hard, water poured into the hole and allowed to sit for a bit will make it much easier to drive a good hole. For a stake projecting around 8" from the ground to hold a 10" riser, I would recommend setting the stake no less than a foot deep; 16" would be better. Making the hole deeper than this lets the stake drive easier.

Have you seen this:

https://permies.com/t/270831/giant-log-stairs-plans

Kris Winter wrote:... then we'll fill the stairs with clay and top with mulch. Do we start at the top or the bottom?

What you're describing seems more of a "terraced path" than what I'd call stairs. 10" wide and high seems too narrow and not deep enough for outside stairs, and too much height for each step.

A quick search came up with this guideline: "Outdoor stair dimensions should typically feature a tread depth between 10 and 14 inches and a rise of 4 to 7 inches. These measurements ensure a comfortable climb while complying with safety standards."

If the hillside is too steep to manage that, and you can't do enough switchbacks, you might be better off doing a combination of stepped paths followed by an actual ladder, followed by more stepped paths, followed by another ladder.

In my ecosystem, I would be totally looking for some way to use rock borders filled with clay, rather than wood. You could spend a lot of time building this but without a lot of maintenance, it could become a hazard.

If you can do it right for your ecosystem, you may get a lot of use and joy out of it.

Yes, pictures and diagrams would be helpful.

I'd seen videos on building outdoor stairs on the Wineberry Hill YT channel.

Here's one of them:


Not sure if this really helps you, or not.