Leader: Melanie Choukas-Bradley Location: Boundary Bridge, Rock Creek Park We’re delighted that the author of the award-winning book A Year in Rock Creek Park, and the critically acclaimed City of Trees, will offer her 20th year of Nature Forward walks in the country’s oldest urban national park. Under her expert guidance, you will witness the start of the annual floral miracle of Virginia bluebells in the floodplain forest, while the buds of the tulip tree and American beech swell to bursting. We’ll hope to catch the earliest spring ephemerals in bud or in bloom—bloodroot, spring beauties, trout lily, wild ginger, and cut-leafed toothwort, among others, as we explore both floodplain and upland woods at a leisurely pace. We’ll do a bit of “forest bathing.” Melanie is also author of Wild Walking—A Guide to Forest Bathing Through the Seasons. Throughout, we’ll keep our eyes and ears open for belted kingfishers, wood ducks, migrant songbirds, and tiny spring peeper frogs. Expect some uphill/downhill on natural surface trails which may be muddy and/or slippery. Please note: There are no restrooms at our meeting place or along the route.