By Brinton Culp, Executive Committee Member, Lancaster Group
In June, I joined my local Sierra Club Lancaster Group’s book discussion of Peter Wohlleben’s and Jane Billinghurst’s Forest Walking: Discovering the Trees and Woodlands of North America. This is the same author and translator of the bestselling The Hidden Life of Trees, among other books.
We hosted our event at the local environmental center, where nature book lovers and forest enthusiasts came out to share thoughts from the reading and stories of walking through the woods. After a lively and inspiring discussion, a naturalist led us on a short, but sensory-rich hike. She helped us identify jewelweed and enlightened us on its healing properties. She paused so we could focus on the sounds around us—the leaves rustling in the breeze, the chirping of insects, the song of the wood thrush. She encouraged us to breathe in the varied scents, from earthy decaying logs to the spicy tang of spicebush.
Attendees expressed how much they appreciated the time spent connecting with others and nature. I would encourage other groups who are looking for a relatively easy program and/or outing to try something similar. We met at the beginning of summer, but as the book notes, hiking can be a great experience in any season. It was helpful, but not required, to read the book. Those who did not still found it to be a fun and worthwhile evening.
The Book:
Our hike was right in line with Wohlleben’s goal, which he states in his closing: “If this little book has inspired you to go out hiking in the woods, then I have achieved my goal.” His “little book” is packed full of fascinating information that both the amateur and seasoned hiker will find useful and entertaining.
Chapter 1, “Total Immersion,” immediately draws in the reader through the senses as you feel the “refreshing cool,” hear the “rainwater as it drips through the leaves,” see the “orb-weaver spider suspended between branches,” and smell the “piney scents [that] come from bitter-tasting essential oils called ‘terpenes.’” In Chapter 9, “Interpreting the Forest for Children,” Wohlleben even encourages kids to identify trees by taste, but only if the accompanying adult has positively identified the species to be tasted as safe ahead of time. He’s particularly fond of fresh spruce tips, which “have a slightly citrusy taste with an undertone of resin.”
Readers can expect lots of fun facts and anecdotes. Here are a few that we particularly enjoyed:
- Acorn woodpeckers store up acorns for food. The bird pecks a hole just big enough to stuff an acorn into so snugly that other animals can’t pick it out. When the acorn shrinks as it dries out, the woodpecker will move the acorn to a smaller hole to keep it safe until winter.
- If you have to survive for a time in the forest, earthworms make a decent meal. You can lure them to the surface by drumming on the ground with a stick. Wohlleben advises cooking them up with a little salt, and “they don’t taste so bad—they’re a bit reminiscent of chicken.”
- Trees fall asleep when it’s dark, and they get fatter at night.
- The eastern hellbender, Pennsylvania’s official amphibian, is also known as the snot-otter.
During a windstorm, each tree moves in its own rhythm so that while some trees are bending, others are standing erect. Then they change places. They continuously support one another.
There’s much more to discover within the book’s pages and out on the trail. Read, hike, and enjoy!
This blog was included as part of the October 2025 Sylvanian newsletter. Please click here to check out more articles from this edition!