Despite what you may think, there are signs of life in the forest in the winter! It may be a little more difficult, but we can still identify woody plants from their buds, bark and other features. This will be a scenic walk along the Gwynns Falls, where we will see some nice rock outcrops, signs of abandoned street car tracks, a champion tree, some beautiful houses, and some newly planted trees that are short enough so we can reach the buds.

We will meet at the corner of Clifton & Fairfax roads, near the entrance to the Windsor Hills Conservation Trail. This walk will be about 1.5 miles. It is recommended for adults and older children. 

Thayer Young is a volunteer with the Friends of Gwynns Falls/Leakin Park, and tries to walk each trail in the park in each season. He recently worked with FOGFLP to update and redo the trail map brochure that is available at the main entrances to the park and can also be downloaded here. His day job is making maps and databases for small nonprofits, but he also loves to identify plants and is working on a plant list for the park, with 200+ species so far.