After a morning of baking, crosswords and The British Formula 1 Grand Prix, we ate a lunch of toasted tuna sandwiches and drove out to Brookvale. In the woods opposite the ski slopes are numerous plantations of specific trees, hardwood and softwood, firs and deciduous. The areas are all labelled and give the planting date, many reaching back to the 1960s.
In January we had snowshoed from the road after climbing the snowbank but this time we could drive half a kilometre up a dirt road to the small and deserted, grassy parking lot.
A number of start and finish points are signed and, following a quick glance at the GPS and liberal squirts of insect repellent, we set off north into the trees.
On a 26c day we were immediately grateful for the shade. We looked left and right at the various woodlot signs (tree identification made easy) and kept an eye out for the gnarled exposed tree roots which had been under a couple of feet of snow and ice the last time we were here.
A number of patches of wild mushrooms, blueberries and strawberries grew in areas of sunlight. Here and there we saw insect traps which, we read, are set in order to assess what beneficial insects are attracted, and also what threats.
After a shortish but rather hilly hike of under three kilometres we were back at the car in a little over an hour.
