Nature Bulletin No. 86   October 5, 1946
Forest Preserve District of Cook County
Clayton F. Smith, President
Roberts Mann, Supt. of Conservation

****:AUTUMN STROLLS

Take a walk. Get out in the country these cool crisp days and see Jack 
Frost' s paintings on the leaves-masses of crimson and maroon on the 
sumac, bright yellow on the maples, deeper yellow on the hickories, 
purple and red on the oaks. The cattails and bulrushes in the marshes 
are a rich tobacco brown. The meadows are clothed with russet, pale 
blue, purple and gold.

Take a walk. Wander through the timber, scuffling your feet through the 
rustling carpet of fallen leaves. Sample the red haws, wild crabapples 
and wild grapes. Try munching the meat of an acorn from a gnarly-
branched bur oak. Keep your eyes and ears open and you'll see a 
pheasant, or a flock of crows, or juncoes flashing through the bushes. 
The squirrels are busy gathering acorns; muskrat houses dot the sloughs 
wild ducks are resting or standing on their heads to feed in the ponds. 
Soon the geese will come; then winter.

Take a walk. Wear old clothing of some hard smooth cloth that the burs 
and stick-tights can't cling to. Wear stout comfortable shoes. Forget 
your hat. Stick a sandwich or two in your pocket and "travel light". 
Take it easy. Have fun. Relax. Sit down once in a while and be utterly 
quiet, watching and listening for the wild creatures.

There are 175 miles of trails in the forest preserves -- trails that can be 
reached in less than an hour's ride by streetcar or bus from the heart of 
Chicago. Write to Clayton F. Smith, President, Forest Preserve District, 
535 County Building, Chicago 2, for a trail map that shows where to go 
and how to get there.

Get outdoors. Use your feet and eyes and nose and ears as they were 
intended to be used. Get out of that squirrel-cage. Get going.