On the first day of summer I headed up to Lac du Bois to do a route I had done before – south on the Upper Grasslands Track, west on the Wheeler Mountain Road, northwest on an old double track descending to Hanging Valley, then east up the valley to Lac du Bois.   The last time I hiked this was on the snow in 2021 – link to the article.

The gates around Lac du Bois now block motorized access, which is a good thing, but it also means the tracks become a little grown in over time.    I headed up the track, over the ridge and down to the unnamed pond to the south.

I usually go around the left side of the lake and continue along the track to the junction with the Wheeler Mountain Road, then I turn tight and follow the double track up and over the hill.    On this day, I took a shortcut (not recommended).   I ended up on the old road and continued on to Wheeler Pond.

There are some faint tracks heading off on either side, but they were grown over with spring-summer vegetation.    Farther along the track an old hard-to-spot double track turns off and continues to a fenceline where there is a gate that can be opened and closed after passing through.

After a short hike a single track goes down the hill heading northwest.    On this day, I tried a different route, but it ended up being difficult (also not recommended).    I worked my way down off-trail to Hanging Valley, then followed the grassy track up toward Lac du Bois for 2 km.

Lac du Bois was quiet.    The lake was murky, but there were western painted turtles sunning on logs along the shore as I completed the hike back to the start.

This is not a bad hike if we stick to the established route.    I took shortcuts which increased the adventure, but not the level of enjoyment.   Although some of this is not the route I followed on this day, it is a better route:

Some explorations work out and we find new routes to do again and some are just difficult and won’t be repeated.   I will do the loop again, but stick to the established loop, probably next year.