Follow the Trail with Bill Reid,
The Last Green Valley's Chief Ranger

Did you see the full moon Oct. 13? The sky was clear, and the moon was not obscured behind clouds that evening. The fields and woods around the house were lit up so much the stars were partly obscured by the bright night sky. We…

It was five years ago this month, on Oct. 5, 2014 to be exact, that my weekly column first appeared in The Bulletin. My former colleague, Charlene Perkins Cutler, had written this column for more than 15 years. When she left TLGV to take the…

Last Sunday, I led a Walktober paddle on the Quinebaug River National Recreation Water Trail with my colleague, Lois Bruinooge, and eight other intrepid kayakers. We paddled the very first section of the Quinebaug water trail from Holland Pond (also known as Siog Pond) in…

“The Earth’s distances invite the eye. And as the eye reaches, so must the mind stretch to meet these new horizons. I challenge anyone to stand with autumn on a hilltop and fail to see a new expanse not only around him, but in him,…

In my capacity as chief ranger of The Last Green Valley National Heritage Corridor, I have maintained a tradition for the past several years of leading a hike or paddle on the first day of each season. We have enjoyed winter solstice snowshoe treks, vernal…

Last year my wife and I purchased new bicycles. We purchased multi-use bikes with wider tires than the narrow tires for biking on roads. Our plan was to explore the rail trails throughout New England and The Last Green Valley. Our first stop was the…

Welcome to the last week of summer. Sorry, but someone had to break it to you. The Autumnal Equinox in our Northern Hemisphere is Sept. 23 at exactly 3:50 a.m. in Eastern Connecticut. On that day, the sunrise and sunset are 12 hours apart. The…

“Since the glaciers last retreated and since humans began to build and settle down, there have been but two versions of the world: the world made of wood and the world made with coal and oil. One lasted twelve to fifteen millennia; the other has…

Two weeks ago, my colleague took her youngest child to college thereby joining the “empty nest” club. My youngest left the nest more than 15 years ago, but I still remember the jumbled feelings of hope and pride mixed with a tinge of sadness. For…

It was during a Walktober event led by State Archaeologist Nicholas Bellantoni that I first learned about General Nathaniel Lyon of Eastford. Bellantoni took us along the Natchaug Trail in the Natchaug Forest to Nathaniel Lyon Memorial Park and the remains of Lyon’s birthplace home…

A few weeks ago, I discovered a large, bright green caterpillar in the yard. It was the size of my thumb with small dark spots and several hairy spines on its back. The caterpillar was inching through recently mowed grass and I tried to entice…

This is the time of year when the invasive plant Japanese knotweed is blooming in large clusters of greenish-white flowers. This perennial plant blooms in August and September and is quite visible along sunny roadsides in long swaths of green from 3 to 10 feet…