Long Island gardens and parks ideal for spring nature walks
Jaime and Bernice Theresa Acevedo, of Queens, take photos during a forest bathing walk at Sands Point Preserve. Credit: Linda Rosier
A self-described lover of nature, Nancy Lizza says forest bathing walks, a walk in the woods, where you’re calmly taking in trees and observing nature, makes her feel happier and healthier.
“They really have this whole way of slowing you down, so that you actually take it in,” says Lizza, 64, who works in sales and lives in Centerport. “It’s not like you’re just going on a hike or you’re just going on a walk in the woods. You’re really experiencing nature.”
Lizza has done a half-dozen walks led by Linda Lombardo, a certified forest therapy guide who’ll lead a series of forest bathing walks this spring at Sands Point Preserve.
Based on the Japanese tradition of shinrin-yoku, a forest bathing walk entails spending time in nature to foster deep connections between walkers and their surroundings.
For Lombardo, the walk is an opportunity to be truly present.
“The walk itself becomes this liminal space, which is the in-between place,” says Lombardo, who over the years has led more than 200 walks. “You’re being in the present moment. There’s no destination. You’re just there.”
On the way out of the woods, Lombardo explains, there’s a process of “incorporation,” where anything you might have gleaned on the walk, you can take with you, incorporate it into your day to day.
Genevieve Casse of Saratoga Springs, left, and Dan Mizrachi of Stony Brook with tour guide Deborah Del Vecchio at the Bayard Cutting Arboretum in Great River. Credit: Morgan Campbell
Lombardo’s forest bathing walks are geared for individuals, couples or friends.
“Everybody gets to participate on their own level,” she says.
At the beginning of a walk, Lombardo explains exactly what people can expect over the next two hours.
“I try to dispel any rumors about what they might be going to do,” she says. “I did have somebody come with a towel. I guess they thought we were really going bathing, because the beach is there.”
Stroll the gardens at Old Westbury Gardens in Old Westbury. Credit: Debbie Egan-Chin
Forest bathing walk at Sands Points Preserve
The walk takes people from Castle Gould to the pond, along the trails, sometimes to the beach, taking a tea break along the way. At various points, the group gathers in a circle and people are invited to share their experience, before heading off to another part of the woods.
Though many trees are still bare this time of year, there’s plenty to explore and get curious about, like the textures and colors of bark, unique shapes of branches, birds’ nests amid the branches and the ground and sky through the trees, notes Lombardo.
“Use your senses,” she says. “Notice textures, colors, smells and just connect with that tree.”
WHEN: 10 a.m. to noon April 22 and May 20 (open to families only)
COST: $30; $5 for children; registration required
Participants in a seal walk at Montauk Point State Park. Credit: Gordon M. Grant
INFO: 127 Middle Neck Rd., Sands Point; 516-571-7901 sandspointpreserveconservancy.org
Spring tree I.D. walks at Old Westbury Gardens
At the end of April, Carey Russell, a naturalist, photographer, filmmaker and educator, will lead spring tree I.D. walks at Old Westbury Gardens.
“As the gardens begin to wake up in April, the spring tree I.D. walk, which is returning in its second year, is a really nice way to highlight some of the earliest bloomers on our grounds,” says Lisa Reichenberger, director of education for Old Westbury Gardens.
Russell will teach the basics of tree identification, which can be somewhat challenging this time of year, when the leaves have yet to emerge.
“It’s a nice program that gives people an idea of those early spring indicators, how to identify by ornamental bark, by unique leaf and flower buds, by the growth habit and other different ways to decipher one tree from the next in that early spring season,” says Reichenberger.
A participant notes things that bring them "awe" during a forest bathing walk at Sands Point Preserve. Credit: Linda Rosier
Among the hundreds of trees to observe are flowering cherries and dogwood, yellow magnolia, weeping, fern, copper and American beech.
WHEN: 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.; 2 to 4 p.m. April 29
COST: $25 per person; registration required
INFO: 71 Old Westbury Rd., Old Westbury; 516-333-0048, oldwestburygardens.org
Tours of blooming bulbs at Bayard Cutting Arboretum
Every year for the past four years, hundreds of thousands of bulbs have been planted at the Bayard Cutting Arboretum in Great River.
Visitors can join a tour to see the dazzling display of the historic collection of daffodils along the great lawn and a wide variety of bulbs planted throughout different areas of the 691-acre arboretum.
“It all starts usually in early March with our snowdrops galanthus and it goes all the way to early July with our allium,” says Kevin Wiecks, executive director of the arboretum. “In April, you’ll see what we call ‘the blue wave.’ It is a transition of different blue-colored bulbs, starting with early blooming crocus, hyacinth, scilla.”
April at the arboretum is also a time for early to mid-blooming daffodils. In May, there will be late-blooming daffodils, crocuses and tulips.
Besides the bulbs, there’s an array of early-blooming perennials and trees and the Royce rhododendron collection.
WHEN: 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. Wednesdays and Saturdays
COST: Parking: $8 per vehicle; Limited to 15 people, tours are free; registration required
INFO: 440 Montauk Highway, Great River; 631-581-1002, bayardcuttingarboretum.com
Seal walks at Montauk Point State Park
April is your last chance to take a guided walk at Montauk Point State Park to spot seals sunning on the rocks.
The hikes take place at low tide when the rocks are more pronounced and the seals are hauling out to sunbathe, says Tom Dess, park manager of Montauk Point State Park.
How many seals you’ll see depends on various factors, including weather and wind conditions.
“I think the record we ever saw was 70-something one day,” Dess says. “But normally, you go down there, you’re going to see a dozen or more around up on the rocks, some swimming.”
The guide will point out plants and trees, shoreline birds and seals throughout the two-hour, two-mile walk
“You never know what’s going to wash up,” says Dess, noting that after a storm you can see starfish, lobster, clams and other shellfish on the shore. “You can see whales going by. The whales have been very prominent the past two years everywhere out here.”
WHEN: 11 a.m. April 1 -2; 10 a.m. April 15-16
COST: $4 per person, children under 3 are free, plus $8 parking fee
INFO: 2000 Montauk Highway, Montauk, 631-668-5000, parks.ny.gov/parks/montaukpoint
