MONHEGAN ISLAND — Tolly Kaiser paused on the trail and looked back at our group.

“I invite you to use all your senses as we cross into Cathedral Woods,” he said. “There’s a threshold that you can feel. There’s a temperature difference. The ground changes and gets a little more sponge-y. The scent changes. The color changes.”

We followed him into the dense trees. The first thing I noticed was the colder air on my skin, a reprieve in the hot August afternoon. The smell was damp and sweet and ancient. The lowest limbs of the spruce trees were brown and dry because the green upper canopy was so dense as to block the sunlight.

Kaiser stopped. In his hand was a set of laminated cards. He flipped to one that bore a reproduction of Emil Holzhauer’s circa 1930 painting “Cathedral Woods.”

“I’m g

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