In our community, the tourist season’s endless options contrast with winter’s quiet. Like many organizations in the region, the Boothbay Region Land Trust sponsors frequent events from May through October and then slows down to an offseason crawl. But the Land Trust’s abundant trails, woodlands and islands offer locals ample outdoor opportunities throughout the year.  

Whether it’s for hiking, running, skiing or to simply be in nature, I have headed to  Land Trust trails regularly since we moved here in 1997. I visit my neighborhood preserves for daily travels, and despite the frequency in which I am on these trails, I’m never bored.

To walk Land Trust trails regularly, year-round is to run into strangers so often they become passing friends. Stopping on a daily trail walk to converse about the weather or your dogs is a simple, small community pleasure.

And when the world becomes too much, a solitary walk in the Land Trust’s quiet woods can return my sense of connection to self and the earth. Other times it is not the quiet of the woods, but the noise that brings me back.

For all their visual beauty, it surprises me how often it is sound and not vision that has grounded me while walking Land Trust trails. The explosion as an eagle takes flight, the jackhammer drill of a pileated woodpecker, the sudden exhalation of a harbor porpoise or the raucous honking of geese overhead breaks through the noise of my cluttered mind.

Suddenly, I am back in the present, in the wonder and mystery of life.

The non-human community draws me to the Land Trust trails, as much as their beauty and my need for exercise. I feel peace in the silent presence of trees. When I see fox tracks on the path ahead of me on a snowy morning, I marvel at how this small, delicate creature does so well when the earth turns cold.

To greet a seal who stares back from offshore or stumble upon a family of raccoons nesting in an old tree has been, for me, one of life’s great pleasures.

Walking the same trail daily, I notice how the plants and animals mark the steady progression of seasons. In the midst of mid-winter’s cold, the chickadees begin their long “feee-beee” territorial calls and I, too, begin to think of spring.

When spring truly comes, the mayflowers burst forth from the ground, the trees bud and leaf out and the graceful lady slippers dazzle us along hillsides. Each spring, I wait in expectation for the great blue herons, ospreys and warblers to return to these woods and waterways.

Summer brings a steady progression of colorful mushrooms on Land Trust trails. From the deadly amanitas to the delectable chanterelles and black trumpets, each species seemingly pops up on cue as summer stretches into fall.

Summer also brings a steady stream of two-legged visitors, who flock to the trails to enjoy our year-round treasures. I don’t begrudge them their time here (I’m a visitor, too), but I do bide my time. I seek out the ends of the day for trail walks and even in the midst of summer’s glory, part of me longs for fall.

While walking the same trail daily offers a reminder of life’s constant change, it has also been a joy to see these trails change more because of nature than man over the years. What I like most about the Land Trust is they allow us to appreciate nature just as it is (with mosquitoes, ticks and black flies, too).

As Land Trust members, we join in the greater community that has aspired over all these years to protect land for the enjoyment of all. The Land Trust’s gathering of beautiful places is no small achievement. It is the fruit of many contributions over the years, some very large, most modest, all uniquely valuable.

The Boothbay Region Land Trust would not exist without the support and generosity of its members. I renewed my membership online today. It was as easy and satisfying as a walk in the woods.

To renew your membership or to join the Land Trust, visit them on the web at www.bbrlt.org, stop in their office on Townsend Avenue, or send your contribution to BRLT, P.O. Box 183, Boothbay Harbor, ME 04538.

Sue Mello can be reached at 207-844-4629 or sumello@boothbayregister.com.