Reston residents Paul Rasmussen and his wife Brenda Rasmussen brought their granddaughter Anna to the evening hike at Walker Nature Center. Ryan Dunn
On Nov. 13, Reston Association hosted an evening hike at the Walker Nature Center on 11450 Glade Drive. The hike was led by naturalist Ken Rosenthal, who led a similar group with a target audience of grandparents and grandchildren the previous year.
“The Reston Association senior advisory committee coordinates events for seniors and this event is part of their annual work plan to meet the intergenerational concept,” said Reston Association special event coordinator Ashleigh Soloff. “This is our second annual nature at night event.”
Twenty persons assembled for the evening hike, which lasted less than an hour. The Walker Nature Center is located on 72 acres of hardwood forest, bisected by Glade Drive. The nature center is the heart of Reston’s 1,300 acres of open space and provides a variety of educational and recreational resources, programs and facilities. The nature center features 2 miles of loop trails.
As the party walked along the trail in the dark, Rosenthal spoke about the nocturnal habits of animals in this region including flying squirrels, skunks and foxes. Rosenthal also explained the type of prey that owls like the ones in the book series Harry Potter would hunt. “But they don’t really hunt, they just bring letters,” quipped one youngster.
There was a waxing moon, and it was not difficult to walk the trails. Rosenthal played an audio clip of some owl noises to try and get a response by any neighboring owls but there was no reply. “At least we gave it the old college try,” said Rosenthal. Everyone in the group later returned back to the Nature house for hot chocolate drinks.
“We have been to several events here at the nature center, and from time to time on bird walks that the association holds,” said Nelson Joyner. “It was pretty good,” said his grandson Saxon Joyner, a student at Lake Anne Elementary School. Sophie Du, a resident of Reston, brought her sons Joshua and Danny along to attend the event. “This event was very connected to nature, and was a very engaging program for my sons,” said Du.
The Walker Nature Center is host to many different nature and environment classes that are held throughout the year. The next evening hike program is the Full Moon Meander, it will be scheduled Jan. 15 and is open for all ages. To learn more about the programs and classes hosted by the Reston Association, visit www.reston.org.