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

Thanksgiving ushers in a season of celebration. We set aside our hectic lives to gather with family and friends to break bread, give thanks and enjoy cherished traditions. Roasted turkey with all the trimmings has usually been our mid-day meal, and when I was growing…

Some of our region’s mammals and birds either hibernate or migrate to survive the cold winter season of limited food resources. Snug in dens they snooze through the cold weeks and months or fly thousands of miles to tropical regions full of insects and blooming…

“This dropping into a sleep that seems so close to death is one of the strangest adventures of the animal world. The flame of life, for months on end, sinks so low it almost–but not quite–goes out” — Edwin Way Teale, from “Autumn Across America,” Chapter…

The wet months of July and August may have put a damper on summer vacation plans, but it sure did wonders for the number of wild mushrooms found in the woods. I am the first to admit I have very little knowledge about mushrooms, wild…

There are several folktales when it comes to forecasting the severity of winter weather, and one I have heard quite a bit this fall is, this winter will be severe because oak trees are producing so many acorns. Recent hikes in our woods have been…

“As long as the light lasts in these mid-October days, we want to spend each sunlit moment out-of-doors. The silent tide of the autumn colors that has been rising during the earlier part of the month has held for several days now at its peak.”…

This holiday weekend marks the half-way point of The Last Green Valley’s Walktober. So far, the weather has been mostly glorious and allowed our beautiful Heritage Corridor to shine. With three more weeks to go, however, Walktober really begins to heat up as the temperatures…

I visited my grandparent’s old place in New Hampshire this past weekend to tend to the flower gardens and lawn. The tranquility of a glorious early fall day was interrupted by the constant staccato chip, chip, chip call of several resident chipmunks. I lost count…

Already the leaves are starting to change color. The red maples catch my eye first, especially those growing along streams and wetlands, with their bright red leaves shining in the afternoon sun like a warning flag – winter is coming. Soon, each day will start…

Wednesday at 3:20 p.m. marks the Autumnal Equinox, the official end of summer and the start of the seasonal change towards winter. For some, autumn is their favorite time of year with cool sweater weather and the colors of fall leaves changing from shades of…

“A good trailsman always leaves a trail a little better than he finds it.” ‑‑ Edgar L. Heermance, “Father” of the Connecticut Blue-Blazed Hiking Trail System, from Connecticut Walk Book, 20th Edition, 2017. Some of the wonderful outdoor resources we have in the 26 Connecticut towns…

My friend Dick Waterman from Hanover, one of the three villages of Sprague, is a regular reader of this column. Thanks to his inquisitive nature, coupled with years of documenting the natural world in his neighborhood, he has provided me with several ideas to share…