by Julie Gowel ·
Friday, October 25, 2024
While the full moon rose in the night sky on Friday, Oct 18, volunteers from the Harvard Conservation Trust led a group of almost 60 hikers through a winding, candlelit path on the Burgess-Brown trail at the end of Murray Lane. Seasonably temperate weather and a cloudless, starry view delighted the crowd of hikers that ranged from young children to older adults.
This was the second annual hike under a full moon hosted by the HCT. Bob Douglas, a trustee, served as guide, weaving the “creatures of the night” theme into the spooky October event. Interns for the HCT had placed battery-powered tea lights along the half-mile path, along with red string lights at various stops in the woods where Douglas would pause to impart wisdom about local, nocturnal wildlife.
“Part of [the HCT’s] job is to purchase lands, houses, orchards, etc, but part of that conservation job is also to open it up to the public,” said Douglas. “Jacques Cousteau said, ‘People protect what they love,’ and this is our chance to get people introduced to the wild places in Harvard and hopefully learn to enjoy them and protect them.”
Hikers were offered red cellophane to cover the bright lights of headlamps, lanterns, and flashlights, dulling the intense glow of LED bulbs. From the front of the group, gazing behind at the hikers, it appeared as though a long serpent was slithering side to side, red eyes glowing in the dark every few feet as the group meandered its way along the trail. HCT Vice President Ben Urquhart added to the eeriness with a synthesized soundtrack of owl hoots, bat clicks, and coyote howls to accompany Douglas’ lessons on the critters.
“I liked Bob’s explanations,” said Devika Kommineni, a Harvard resident attending the hike with her husband Sreeni. “He has a good sense of humor.” Accompanying the Komminenis was their good friend Veena Shankar of Sudbury. “I think my favorite part was walking in the dark,” said Shankar. “You see the woods in a different way, which you would never have seen during the daylight.”
“It felt like a really sweet, intentional experience,” said Whitney Lauritsen, of Los Angeles, who was attending with her father Marc Lauritsen of Harvard. “I was also thinking about how generous [the HCT volunteers] are with their time. Putting something like this together, bringing the town together, all the effort that goes into this—there’s a lot of people involved.”
One of those volunteers was intern Shehla Rahman, a senior at the Bromfield School. “We went on a hike before the main event,” she said. “We followed along and placed the candles and wrapped the different landmarks with the red lights.” One of those landmarks was an antique hay rig that served as a lit backdrop to Douglas’ discussion about owls, particularly the barred and great horned varieties native to Harvard.
Another stop along the trail focused on bats. Hikers asked many questions about the vampire bats Douglas recounted seeing on a trip to South America. Adults were intrigued by the lifesaving properties of the vampire bat’s saliva, which works as an anticoagulant to keep the blood of their favorite prey, cattle, flowing until they are finished feasting. Children were delighted by the toy bats Douglas supplied as a memento of the moonlit adventure.
As though it were planned, the rising moon reached visibility at the conclusion of the hike, which ended with a brief lesson on coyotes and a group howl to punctuate the night. Guests snacked on cookies and pretzels and drank mulled wine and cider, fireside, before departing.
Harvard residents Jim and Lauren Farrell are no strangers to events hosted by the HCT. “The wonderful thing about Harvard is just how much conservation land there is, and to be able to enjoy that is really one of the pluses of living here,” said Jim. “[The HCT] had a contest a few years back where they gave out the book of all the trails,” said Lauren. “They had a punch card, and on each of the trails there was something to punch the card. It was a lot of fun.”
The next HCT event is Run for the Hills, a 5-kilometer trail race and a 1-mile fun run on Sunday, Oct 27, at 10 a.m. Participants are welcome to wear costumes. The Harvard Conservation Trust is a volunteer-driven membership organization that encourages people to support their mission by joining. Information about events and the HCT can be found on their website at harvardconservationtrust.org.