We have been walking so many Sundays that we are running out of new places to go. Going to Bois de Liesse was something of an afterthought. How interesting could that be? But it’s close by and who has a lot of time to spare this close to Christmas? So Bois de Liesse it was. Well, it turns out that 27 people and 3 dogs had a splendid walk there last Sun!
It was sunny and -3 C as we gathered by the Chalet d’accueil des Champs at 9:30 am. Of course, with our mild El Niño winter, there was no snow or ice on the ground. I mention this because once before a few years ago, we tried to walk at Bois de Liesse in December. The trails were so ice-covered and treacherous, we quickly had to abandon them and we ended up doing our “nature walk” on the adjacent streets of Dollard and Pierrefonds!
Our usual group shot takers — Linda and Monique T — were both absent. There were no other park visitors about. But as luck would have it, the day before I had received an early Christmas gift — a selfie stick! So I was able to get me and everyone else in the official group shot.
Our guest hike leader this week was longtime member Ken B. He is a regular walker of the Bois de Liesse trails and he had mapped out a route to keep us out for at least 2 hours. We set out on the familiar ski trail leading away from the chalet to the west. But then things were quickly less familiar as we found ourselves walking across a small wetland on an elaborate boardwalk. That’s when I, and several others, realized that we do not know this park as well as we think we do!
In my case, this lack of knowledge is especially egregious. I have lived only a 10-
minute drive from this park for over 25 years! I have been there many times over the years, but it has always been in the winter to go cross-country skiing. So I thought I knew the park, but it turns out the ski trails leave out a lot! Ken took us to along the trails to an observation platform overlooking the large stream. Ducks were seen walking on the ice of the partially frozen water. We then went under Autoroute 13, crossed Gouin at a traffic light and made our way along trails that hugged the north shore of the island. All of this was new to me! If you look at a map of the park, it is an odd shape, with lots of different sections, some of which you have to go out your way to find! It’s also a lot bigger than you might think.
Ken led us back to Gouin and then along Pittfield Blvd to cross over the stream to the southwest section of the park. We did a loop there and then went back under the 13 and soon reached Maison Pittfield, the main chalet on the northern side of the park. After a short pit stop at Pittfield, we continued back east. At about the 7-km mark, we were back in sight of the chalet we set out from. But we were all up for some more exercise, so we crossed into the eastern section of the park and did another 2 km.
We got back to the Chalet des Champs after hiking 9 km in just over 2 hours. It had been a delightful and invigorating outing. Many thanks to Ken for mapping out and leading a great hike!