descriptive essay about a walk in the forest

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A Walk In The Forest (Essay Sample)

A walk in the forest.

If you live at a place where there is a forest nearby and it is safe enough for you to walk by each day, would you traverse its woods? You may or may not go solo; in fact, you can walk with family members or friends. As long as you will not be harmed by criminals and the weather is calm, a walk in the forest yields numerous benefits. Alone, you have time to reflect and refresh your mindset, while, with others, you gain both precious quality time and exercise for a long, healthy life.

Taking a walk in the forest produces positive effects on your mind and body. Walking for at least 30 minutes a day as a form of moderate exercise is good for your mind as it releases hormones that make people feel happier. In fact, brisk walking can be as good as antidepressants for relieving mild to moderate forms of depression or anxiety since it releases endorphins that decrease stress. In addition, walking and breathing fresh air are good for your health. Strengthening your heart, walking can diminish bad cholesterol while boosting good cholesterol. Walking helps control blood pressure that can result in a stroke. Furthermore, walking decreases risks for many diseases including type 2 diabetes and some types of cancers like colon and breast cancers. Definitely, a brisk walk in the forest can offer numerous psychological and physical benefits.

If you’re particularly tired from work and trying to solve a problem but has ran out of ideas, try walking for at least half an hour in the forest to refresh your mind. The change in environment in the woods plus fresh air can reinvigorate the brain. The forest can help shift your perspective as it relaxes you and allows you to be become open to new, sometimes even, radical options. In addition, walking can give that endorphin boost you need to feel extra confident. Likewise, communing with nature can be good for your mind as it can help you feel comfortable and peaceful. Perhaps you cannot think anymore about solutions to your problems because of too much familiarity with surroundings; hence, a walk in the forest may be exactly what you require to be refreshed mentally, physically, and emotionally.

Walking with others is good for interpersonal relationships too. In the forest where quiet exists, you can talk with your family or friends and catch up. They may even be more open to sharing their experiences and feelings due to the privacy provided by the forest. Subsequently, you can have closer relationships with them. Moreover, sharing a physical activity together is great for collective health as well. Sometimes, people are lazy to walk when they are on their own. With buddies, they may be stimulated to exercise and enjoy it, producing positive emotional associations with walking and potentially enhancing the health effects of walking.

When walking in the forest, ensure safety and consider the weather. Do not walk alone if the place is known to be a haven for criminals. Better yet, get a buddy or inform the police as some can patrol the area when many citizens are walking. In addition, walk under good weather conditions to avoid injury. Heavy rains or snow apart from too much heat can make you susceptible to accidents and illness. Walk when it is a good time to walk or avoid walking altogether when the weather is bad. Walking should be good for you anyway and not harm you and your companions.

The forest should be a place for rest, relaxation, or activity, and can offer you multiple benefits that cannot be easily obtained in other places. Walking in the woods is a wonderful means to a sound mind and body. If you walk with others, it can contribute to better relationships as well. The most important thing is to be safe and to enjoy the walking process including the beauty and serenity of communing with nature.

Best Descriptive Writing Sites   Describing the beauty of nature

Describing a forest   82 comments.

Describing a forest is made easy by looking at the post below.

If you wish to access the full chapter in PDF, click here: DESCRIBING A FOREST

This extract is from the book ‘Writing with Stardust’. If you wish to know more about it, just click on any of the book images below. Enjoy the post and I hope it helps you whether you are a student, teacher or a parent.

                                             THE FOREST

                                                    COLOUR

LEVEL 1         LEVEL 2         LEVEL 3         LEVEL 4         LEVEL 5          OTHERS

1. The bamboo-brown forest was a leafy paradise .

2. The teak-brown forest was a woody heaven .

                                                SOUND

1. The aged trees had creaking branches.

2. The ancient trees stretched away from the crinkly floor.

                                             METAPHORS

1. Trees are the castles of the wood .

2. Trees are the skyscrapers of the glades .

                          ANIMAL SOUNDS OF THE FOREST

1. Snuffling boar ate under combs of feathery moss .

2. Scurrying squirrels searched for food under bristles of wispy moss .

                                  THE SHAPE OF STARS

1. Luminous petals of silver freckled the sky.

2. The stars were like lucid snowflakes of silver as they sprinkled the night sky.

EDIBLES OF THE FOREST

1. Mushrooms grew under the shady roof of the forest.

2. Berries lay ripening under the leafy dome of the forest.

                                               OTHER IMAGES

.wordpress.com/”>Writing with Stardust.

LEVEL 1: BASIC SENTENCES

1. The forest was nut-brown. COLOUR 2. The twigs were crunching under my feet. SOUND 3. The trees were the towers of the forest. METAPHOR 4. I heard a wildcat slinking away. ANIMAL SOUNDS 5. The morning stars shone like silver petals. THE STARS 6. Nuts were scattered on the floor of the forest. FOREST EDIBLES 7. We took the leaf-carpeted path home. OTHER IMAGES 8. The beauty of the forest comforted our hearts. SENSATION 9. The smell of the forest was pulpy. SMELL 10. We picked some berries and they tasted orchard sweet. TASTE

LEVEL 2: A BASIC PARAGRAPH The forest was tannin-brown. The grass was crispy under our feet. We looked up and the trees were skyscraper tall. Hares were scampering away from us up ahead. The morning stars were shining like silver snowflakes. Wood sorrel flecked the blanket of grass. We walked in and out of shady glades. The peace of the morning was soul soothing. The forest’s smell was fresh and organic. We picked some wild pears and they were meadow sweet.

LEVEL 3: CREATIVE PARAGRAPHS The forest we entered was oak-brown and primitive. The grasses we stepped on were crackly beneath our feet because of the recent dry spell. We were in awe of the size and majesty of the trees. Their knotted arms rose ever upwards, as far as my head could lift. They were hoary fortresses and stood proudly. The orchestra of birdsong we could hear from them suddenly stopped. A pair of jays was screeching high up in the canopy of the trees. Jays are the scavengers of the bird world. Their cruel, corvid eyes are always on the lookout for a feathered meal. In the winter, they raid squirrel stores for their nuts, often damning them to starvation. They drifted across our vision in a flash of flesh-pink and warlock-black, trying to size us up. That was the last we saw of them, as they are a furtive bird, full of suspicion. The morning stars peeped down at us like silver asters, glinting and shimmering. They looked happy in their solar-silver isolation. We could see wild basil growing freely on the clumpy, mossy mattress of the floor. The simpering wind carried a fragrance with it. It was spirit refreshing to smell the mulchy mix of the forest’s perfume. We ate a few windfall apples and they were mead sweet with a bitter twist. It was only after we got the stomach cramps that we regretted it.

LEVEL 4: ADVANCED PARAGRAPHS We were walking through an umber-brown, ancient forest. It reeked of age. Its woody incense was from centuries of snapping branches crashing to the forest’s floor and rotting silently. The composting, organic smell rose up in waves like a miasma. Every sprawling tree we passed under reminded me of a watchful guardian, a silent sentinel of the groves. We decided to venture deeper into the tangled heart of this primeval forest. We hoped that it would reveal its dark secrets to us. The further we went, the more mystical and spellbinding it became. Huge roots spread-eagled the ground, twisting like the great backs of sea dinosaurs. The foliage became thick and lush, forming an arch of fairytale-green above our heads. Arthritic boughs, gnarled with age, dripped their bounty of nuts onto the path. Briars, brambles and berry trees flanked the trail, making it impenetrable on either side. Shuffling noises came from deep in the interior, deadened by the cunningly woven web of leaves. A troupe of shambling badgers crossed the winding trail in front of us at one point. They were finishing up their early morning foraging and looked startled to see us. We arrived at a wide glade, where the trees fell away, revealing the bespeckled sky. The last of the morning’s stars were glinting like silver pin pricks, luminous and bright. An ore gold moon hung quietly in the distance, casting a honeyed sheen over the trees. We sat down with our backs against a lightning blasted tree trunk and watched it fade away. As if on cue, an avian aria erupted from the knot of trees. The solitary songbird was soon joined by his beaked companions, creating a symphony of song. The heart haunting melody was an elixir for the soul. The sap sweet fragrance of the forest washed over us and we were seduced by its comforting goodness. We placed some stinging nettle leaves into the broth we were brewing and it added a tingling, chlorophyll flavour. When we were leaving, I risked a glance over my shoulder. The forest glade looked freeze frame perfect in the enhanced light of the full dawn.

LEVEL 5: COMPLEX WRITING: THE ENCHANTED FOREST The enchanted forest beckoned me into its pulsing heart. How could I resist such a lush Garden of Eden? The deep, haunting ballad of its ancient song called out to me. As old as Adam, the forest was still steeped in plushness and opulence. With a light heart, I plunged into the over-arching vault of leaf and limb. It was not what I had expected. The exquisiteness of the dawn’s light had not yet lanced to the lush, green sward. Because of this, hoods of black shadow hung in the groves. Coils of vaporous mist enwrapped the shaggy heads of the oak trees. They writhed around them like a conjuror’s milky smoke, sensuous and illusory. Sieves of mist caressed the lichen-encrusted bark. Adding its phantasmal gas to the damp breath of the forest, it glided with deadly intent. It deadened sound, haunted glades and poured into empty spaces. A sepulchral silence overhung the hallowed ground where the trees dared not grow. Nothing stirred, nothing shone, nothing sang. A hollow echoing, like the hushed tones of a great, slabbed cathedral, entombed the wood. Then a finger of supernal light poked through the misty mesh. It was followed by a whole loom of light, filtering down in seams of gold. Like the luminal glow of the gods, it chased the shadows, banished the gloom and spilled into spaces where the mist once stalked. The fluty piping of a songbird split the silence just as the forest became flooded with light. A fusillade of trilling and warbling detonated all around me as the primordial forest came alive with the troubadours of the trees. I darted between shafts of lustrous-gold light as I went, admiring the butterflies. They pirouetted in the air, their wings a-whirr like little ripples of silk. The glory of the forest was revealed in the birthstone-bright light. Almond-brown trees stood serenely, awash with a tender glow. Their bark looked like riffled toast and gems of amber clasped their crusty exterior. The first blush of the morn gave the leafy bower a green-going-to-gold complexion. Idling past suede-soft flowers, I caressed them softly, getting tingles in my fingers. My ears perked up at the metallic, tinkling sound of a stream. It flashed with a tinsel tint through the lace of leaves. When the trees parted, I could see it was sliding into an infinity-pool. The pool looked like a polished mirror of silver, with skeins of swirl-white twisting slowly on the surface. A shiny spillway led to a choppier pond. Boulders colonized the edges of the pond, buffed with pillows of moss. They caused a rocky gurgling as water met stone; a swish, a clunk, a swell and a clop. Sweet fragrances, alluvial and palliative, seemed to flit in and out of my awareness. Sight and smell vied for attention in this soul-enriching dream world. I put my back against a knobbly boulder, leaning my head against the mossy pillow. I closed my eyes, let my stream of consciousness take hold, and drifted into infinity. When I awoke, I couldn’t remember my dream, but softness and silvers still lingered in the memory of it.

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Posted December 1, 2012 by liamo in Uncategorized

Tagged with best forest descriptions , describing a forest , free forest essay , teaching descriptive language , the enchanted forest

82 responses to “ Describing A Forest ”

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Hi BrinleyGrace: I hope you are well. Thanks for leaving the kind comment and I’m very glad it helped you. Cheers for now and I wish you the best. Liam.

Thank you. This helped me so much with my piece of English I was trying to do

Hi Rhia: You’re very welcome. Thanks for leaving the kind comment. Best of luck with your English assignments.

thanks for sharing this with us

Hi Abdul: I hope you are well. Thanks for the considerate comment and you’re very welcome. Cheers for now. Liam.

This was extremely useful

thanks a lot. It helped me in my essay

I am Catherine. I like it!

Hi Catherine: I hope you’re well. Thanks for the kind comment. Take care. Liam.

Thanks a lot. It really helped.

Hi ananya: I hope you’re well.Thanks for posting the positive feedback and I’m delighted it helped you. Cheers for now. Liam.

Really great written post. https://bgr.com

Hi Roberta. Thanks for the kind comment. Always appreciated. Liam.

This helped me a lot in writing my description about the forests Thank you so much Vinayak

Hi Vinayak: Thanks for taking the time to post a nice comment. Very glad that it helped you in some way. @bye for now. Liam.

Thanks, this helped with my descriptive writing for english. I hope you’re doing well.

Thanks for the great help…

Hi Divya: No bother. Glad to oblige. Liam.

great website 👍🏼

Being an amateur writer, I am extremely thankful for this. It is incredibly helpful. Ashlind.

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HOW TO LET A WALK IN THE FOREST INSPIRE YOUR WRITING

Forest writing.

Have you ever gone for a walk with a naturalist or a bird watcher? They miss nothing.

“Look! Did you see that? Here, feel the underside of this leaf.” I want to journey through life, seeing and writing about the beauty in every blade of grass under my feet, and story characters in each cloud.

All these paths lead ‘nowhere,’ yet people arrive every day to follow them. With a journey that begins at a parking lot and ends up back in the same place, no two people have the same goal for being in the woods.

Outfitted with pedometers or cameras to gather images of their grandchildren at play, they pass with a nod and a smile. I go for exercise and fresh air and ideas for writing.

My companion soaks up the landscape with its lady slippers and wild rabbits, which will become watercolor paintings later.

ONE PATH, MANY JOURNEYS

People in City Forest walk the same paths but travel unique journeys. And they all end up in the parking lot when they are finished.

However, some days we find ourselves walking from crack to crack on a deserted sidewalk in the rain. Or our travels may take us through a desert with no distinct trails, and we must rely on the position of the sun and the strength of a camel.

How do we live to have no regrets when we find ourselves back in the parking lot?

The answer differs for each person, but it arises from love, curiosity, and creativity.

I encourage you to take metaphorical walks with a bird watcher to see what you may be missing. They will teach you to observe with new eyes.

“What just moved? Look! Do you see the Red-winged blackbird behind the yellow birch? She wants to distract us from seeing her nearby nest. “Let’s go around this stand of hemlocks and see what we find…”

Every naturalist or avian aficionado is made of the same stuff as a writer, artist, or gourmet chef.

For years I put off creative writing   – too  ‘busy’ earning a living. Oh yes, I had other reasons.

I was afraid I might get lost in a forest of ideas. I wouldn’t have known a gerund if it flapped its feathers in front of me.

Then one day, I decided that I would strike out – no pedometer, no map, no goal other than to see what emerged along the way. And that, my friends, is how TheReflectivePen got started.

A BOARDWALK FOR WRITERS

My fear that this swamp will swallow me keeps me from writing everything that is in my heart.

That’s when I am grateful for those who have gone before and built a boardwalk. If you are one of those who have constructed a way to safely cross the ‘writing bog’ (and you know who you are), thank you.

On the other hand, if you are among the many, many people I meet who say, “I wish I could write,” I want to say, “There is a way – complete with handrails.”

The original mile-long wooden trail that crosses the bog in City Forest had nothing to keep anyone from falling into the wetlands; and also, nothing to keep trespassers from stepping off, killing the delicate flora of the preserve and destroying the habitat of the forest denizens.

Writing requires the same kind of pauses and resting places. And a willingness not to step off the boardwalk, destroying the protected wetlands.

A bog full of our doubts and fears also holds delicate blooms of rare insights we might otherwise miss. Writing asks us to be an observer, a philosopher, and a guardian of life.

GETTING LOST

I once thought I wasn’t smart enough to write because I didn’t have road signs and maps and a GPS. I spent most of my time hunting in ‘how-to’ books. However, they eliminate the fun of wandering through a forest of words, phrases, and metaphors, getting lost in ideas.

One day, in City Forest, I left the main trail to explore a bunny trail, and before I knew it, I was completely turned around with no idea where I was.

I knew which way was north and nervously headed in that direction, knowing I would come to something I recognized eventually. About 30 minutes later, the parking lot came into view like an oasis in the desert.

I later learned that a bear roamed in the restricted area I had wandered into. In my panic to find something familiar, I missed all evidence of a bear – including posted warnings on the trees.

Some signs are worth being aware of on our journey! If you are a regular follower of this blog, you will find yourself wandering along with me as I explore one path after another. That is my joy in life, and I encourage you to explore writing the same way.

Another story you may enjoy about a walk in the Maine woods is ‘ How To Leave A Legacy Story.’

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Nature Walk - Free Essay Examples and Topic Ideas

Nature walks are the perfect way to explore the beauty of the natural world around us. Whether walking through a lush forest, a quiet park, or along a beautiful shoreline, there is so much to discover and appreciate. On a nature walk, you can take in the sights, sounds and smells of your surroundings, while getting some exercise and fresh air. It’s a chance to disconnect from the hustle and bustle of daily life and connect with the peacefulness and serenity of the great outdoors. So lace up your shoes, take a deep breath and immerse yourself in the wonder of nature.

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• How to write a descriptive essay | Example & tips

How to Write a Descriptive Essay | Example & Tips

Published on July 30, 2020 by Jack Caulfield . Revised on August 14, 2023.

A descriptive essay gives a vivid, detailed description of something—generally a place or object, but possibly something more abstract like an emotion. This type of essay , like the narrative essay , is more creative than most academic writing .

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Table of contents

Descriptive essay topics, tips for writing descriptively, descriptive essay example, other interesting articles, frequently asked questions about descriptive essays.

When you are assigned a descriptive essay, you’ll normally be given a specific prompt or choice of prompts. They will often ask you to describe something from your own experience.

• Describe a place you love to spend time in.
• Describe an object that has sentimental value for you.

You might also be asked to describe something outside your own experience, in which case you’ll have to use your imagination.

• Describe the experience of a soldier in the trenches of World War I.
• Describe what it might be like to live on another planet.

Sometimes you’ll be asked to describe something more abstract, like an emotion.

If you’re not given a specific prompt, try to think of something you feel confident describing in detail. Think of objects and places you know well, that provoke specific feelings or sensations, and that you can describe in an interesting way.

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See an example

The key to writing an effective descriptive essay is to find ways of bringing your subject to life for the reader. You’re not limited to providing a literal description as you would be in more formal essay types.

Make use of figurative language, sensory details, and strong word choices to create a memorable description.

Use figurative language

Figurative language consists of devices like metaphor and simile that use words in non-literal ways to create a memorable effect. This is essential in a descriptive essay; it’s what gives your writing its creative edge and makes your description unique.

Take the following description of a park.

This tells us something about the place, but it’s a bit too literal and not likely to be memorable.

If we want to make the description more likely to stick in the reader’s mind, we can use some figurative language.

Here we have used a simile to compare the park to a face and the trees to facial hair. This is memorable because it’s not what the reader expects; it makes them look at the park from a different angle.

You don’t have to fill every sentence with figurative language, but using these devices in an original way at various points throughout your essay will keep the reader engaged and convey your unique perspective on your subject.

Use your senses

Another key aspect of descriptive writing is the use of sensory details. This means referring not only to what something looks like, but also to smell, sound, touch, and taste.

Obviously not all senses will apply to every subject, but it’s always a good idea to explore what’s interesting about your subject beyond just what it looks like.

Even when your subject is more abstract, you might find a way to incorporate the senses more metaphorically, as in this descriptive essay about fear.

Choose the right words

Writing descriptively involves choosing your words carefully. The use of effective adjectives is important, but so is your choice of adverbs , verbs , and even nouns.

It’s easy to end up using clichéd phrases—“cold as ice,” “free as a bird”—but try to reflect further and make more precise, original word choices. Clichés provide conventional ways of describing things, but they don’t tell the reader anything about your unique perspective on what you’re describing.

Try looking over your sentences to find places where a different word would convey your impression more precisely or vividly. Using a thesaurus can help you find alternative word choices.

• My cat runs across the garden quickly and jumps onto the fence to watch it from above.
• My cat crosses the garden nimbly and leaps onto the fence to survey it from above.

However, exercise care in your choices; don’t just look for the most impressive-looking synonym you can find for every word. Overuse of a thesaurus can result in ridiculous sentences like this one:

• My feline perambulates the allotment proficiently and capers atop the palisade to regard it from aloft.

An example of a short descriptive essay, written in response to the prompt “Describe a place you love to spend time in,” is shown below.

Hover over different parts of the text to see how a descriptive essay works.

On Sunday afternoons I like to spend my time in the garden behind my house. The garden is narrow but long, a corridor of green extending from the back of the house, and I sit on a lawn chair at the far end to read and relax. I am in my small peaceful paradise: the shade of the tree, the feel of the grass on my feet, the gentle activity of the fish in the pond beside me.

My cat crosses the garden nimbly and leaps onto the fence to survey it from above. From his perch he can watch over his little kingdom and keep an eye on the neighbours. He does this until the barking of next door’s dog scares him from his post and he bolts for the cat flap to govern from the safety of the kitchen.

With that, I am left alone with the fish, whose whole world is the pond by my feet. The fish explore the pond every day as if for the first time, prodding and inspecting every stone. I sometimes feel the same about sitting here in the garden; I know the place better than anyone, but whenever I return I still feel compelled to pay attention to all its details and novelties—a new bird perched in the tree, the growth of the grass, and the movement of the insects it shelters…

Sitting out in the garden, I feel serene. I feel at home. And yet I always feel there is more to discover. The bounds of my garden may be small, but there is a whole world contained within it, and it is one I will never get tired of inhabiting.

If you want to know more about AI tools , college essays , or fallacies make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples or go directly to our tools!

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The key difference is that a narrative essay is designed to tell a complete story, while a descriptive essay is meant to convey an intense description of a particular place, object, or concept.

Narrative and descriptive essays both allow you to write more personally and creatively than other kinds of essays , and similar writing skills can apply to both.

If you’re not given a specific prompt for your descriptive essay , think about places and objects you know well, that you can think of interesting ways to describe, or that have strong personal significance for you.

The best kind of object for a descriptive essay is one specific enough that you can describe its particular features in detail—don’t choose something too vague or general.

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