Walk

Learn the birding basics while enjoying Halibut's coastal rocky bluffs or the Coolidge Reservation, where we'll see swarms of birds! Kids will develop their observation and memory skills, and walk with foundation knowledge of an activity that will last their lifetime! We'll be birding at Halibut Point and Coolidge Reservation at the same time, so just show up at either property (we're not traveling between the two). No registration necessary.

Newburyport's Great Pumpkin Lighting and Stroll is a new family, friendly event that will take place in Market Square. Families are encouraged to bring a carved pumpkin that will be lit and placed on the stairs of Market Square for all to enjoy! Each family will receive a votive candle that will be lit all at once at dusk - approximately 6:15 PM.

The elusive fairies and gnomes who live in our forest are sometimes too busy to build their own homes. Let's help them out. But first, we'll learn about these mysterious and magical creatures. We'll play games, create fairy and gnome art, and then hike to the Hemlock Forest where we will design the homes. When we return as twilight is descending, we'll have hot cocoa and cookies to reward ourselves for doing a good deed. We'll sit by the woodstove to enjoy our treats and listen to a story about fairies and gnomes.

Join us for this circumnavigational hike around the outlaying trails of Ravenswood Park. Enjoy off-the-beaten paths, beautiful habitats, including a lovely pond, a swamp and rocky woodland. Trade in your treadmill for the trails, and get some exercise on this five-mile long hike of Ravenswood's rocky outer loop. Please note, there are some steep hills. Meet at Stage Fort Park (parking lot, rear, left)

Can you imagine eating the home that you grew up in? Some insects lay eggs inside plants and cause strange-looking growths called galls. The walls of these miniature "bug castles" give the developing insect larvae food and shelter. This is evidence of another fascinating relationship between insects and plants. We will examine a variety of galls and learn about the lives of their inhabitants. On our walk, we'll hunt for as many kinds of galls as we can find.

"Around the corner there may wait, a new road or a secret gate..." -J.R.R. Tolkien. The Trustees invite You to A Walk in the Woods with J.R.R. Tolkien! More than a nature walk: experience through literature the adventures that await just outside your front door! Explore the sights, sounds, smells of the forest. Your guide will be prepared with material to be read aloud from Tolkien's trilogy using the roads and unique settings in Ravenswood Park as background.

Bring a picnic lunch and explore Choate Island in Essex Bay with your family. Choate Island, part of the Crane Wildlife Refuge, is home to a variety of plant and animal life. It is also the site of the Choate family homestead, the Proctor Barn, the White Cottage, and the final resting place of Mr. and Mrs. Cornelius Crane.

Take a full tour of beautiful Green Meadows Farm with an overview of our certified organic vegetable farming and sustainable animal program. Green Meadows Farm operates a CSA and runs a farm stand open to the public. In the Farmstand, you'll find our own seasonal vegetables plus a variety of natural and organic dry goods, local cheeses, milk, meat and fun gift items for children and adults.

Come enjoy a hike at the Ipswich River Wildlife Sanctuary in Topsfield, one of Mass Audubon's largest sanctuaries. Visitors will have the opportunity to enhance their hike by visiting naturalist-docents on the sanctuary trails. Docents will be stationed at a wildlife observation tower overlooking a freshwater marsh and alongside a beautiful fall field. Visit them to learn about the fall migration of monarch butterflies, and the needs of migrating waterfowl.

Join the Friends of the Lynn Woods on this Trails & Sails 2012 walk through to Dungeon Rock and inside Stone Tower. Lynn Woods Reservation is the second largest municipal park in the greater Boston area. This 2,200 acre forest reserve consists of ponds, wetlands, streams, deciduous & evergreen forest and rocky ledge. The ponds provide the drinking water for the residents of Lynn and surrounding communities. Wildlife abounds in the forest. More than an aquifer, wildlife preserve, wilderness experience, Lynn Woods is a unique adventure.