RIVERWOODS – The temperatures are still hovering in the 30s, but as far as Ryerson Woods is concerned, spring has officially arrived: It’s maple tapping season.

Late last month, Lake County Forest Preserve volunteers ventured into the woods armed with buckets, hand drills and spiles – metal spouts – to begin collecting sap to convert to maple syrup. The sap had been stored in the tree roots all winter; with warmer weather on the horizon, maple trees are accessing that sap in the early phases of creating the buds that will then transform into the signature five-point leaves when that warm weather arrives.

Since 1977, the forest preserves have been creating their own maple syrup and hosting an educational program to accompany that process, environmental educator Jennifer Berlinghof said.

“It’s a long-standing tradition here,” Berlinghof said. “It’s kind of the very, very beginning of spring. People are kind of looking for an excuse to get outside for a little bit.”

The maple syrup hikes, she said, are one of the most popular programs Ryerson Woods offers. These hourlong programs are offered for three weekends in March each year. This year, the hikes began March 10 and will run each weekend through March 25. Eight time slots are offered on Saturdays and Sundays, and Berlinghof reminds the public that advance registration is required via the Lake County Preserves website to secure a spot.

The hike is broken up into two parts: a 30-minute lecture about maple syrup and sugar maple trees followed by a walk to view Ryerson’s tapped maple trees currently collecting sap.

The program is family-friendly and has become a tradition for many families in Lake County.

Antioch resident Katie Kobb came out March 10 with her husband and two children. As her children hurried along the wooden boardwalk toward the final stop on their hike – the evaporator – she recalled her memory of taking the same hike when she was a child.

“When I was in first grade, we came on this field trip,” she said. “I remember it with my mom. I saw it on a website and I said, ‘Aw, we should take the kids.’ I thought it would be something fun and different.”

On the final leg of the tour, forest preserve volunteer Rachel Utt holds up a garland of empty gallon milk jugs, explaining to her audience that it takes 40 gallons of tree sap to create a single gallon of maple syrup.

Programs such as these are important, she said, because they “bring it a little bit closer to home when [people] buy the maple syrup off the shelves – especially with wondering why it’s so expensive compared to other types [of syrup].”

“It kind of helps people understand why they’re paying so much more for something that tastes relatively similar,” she added.

Maple tapping season typically lasts between two to six weeks each year, Utt told the group. Eventually the sap will turn cloudy, transitioning to the next phase of the tree’s life, which, in the maple syrup world, is called “turning buddy” and signaling the end of maple tapping season.

At that point, Utt said, the tree is pulling up nutrients as well as sap in order to create leaf buds.

Berlinghof said she loves the moments when she is out in the woods by herself, tending to the trees and monitoring their buckets of sap. Her favorite part of this particular program, though, is seeing the families heading out there to experience nature for themselves.

“I really enjoy the way that it gets people outside,” Berlinghof said. “It gets them connected to something in the natural world and people are just out having fun with their families and really enjoying nature.”