Every year right after Thanksgiving, the ornaments begin to appear on the small trees and larger ones too at intersection 4 in Ogilvie Town Forest. In ones and twos they arrive, and then finally a crate (this year a larger box) shows up. The holiday decorations (while defying a good photo in the three shown here) seemingly fly onto branches and then sometime in January are packed up by the elves again, and the crate disappears from the woods.

The Owl walks Ogilvie once or twice a week and never ever catches any elves, and yet they’ve been there — more ornaments twinkle and shine from branches. It is one of the great mysteries of Weston’s town land, and its magic is appealing to all, especially kids who love to trek out to find the tree. Speaking as a trustee of WFTA, the other magic is that it is Leave No Trace–a display with limited time on the trails.

If you want to find the elf tree, you can park on the shoulder near Ponyhenge (decorated for the holidays too) on Old Sudbury Road in Lincoln. Across the street, there is a gate with the small Bay Circuit Trail marker on it. You follow the BCT around the field, south to the boardwalk and up the carriage trails to intersection 4. There is a Conservation-created map available here – you will be coming into the property from the north side trail farthest to the left (Lincoln). I have also tried to show it on this GIS map screenshot – parking at the top, circled holiday tree area at the bottom. Graphics are not exactly the Owl forté.

Get outside!