In the middle of a mild winter with not much snow in the hills, we chose to hike in the middle grasslands, exploring the hills, ridges, gullies, and ponds of Lac du Bois Grasslands Protected Area. In the first day, we parked at the Red Hill parking area, 5.5 km from the cattleguard on the Lac dd Bois Road. Our loop was over Red Hill then over ridges in a clockwise direction. In our second day of hiking we went around the north side of Red Hill, then climbed ridges in a longer counter-clockwise loop.

The area can be called the Red Lake Basin, as seen from the north end in the following image. A hidden pond sits at the bottom of the basin, one of several between the hills.

On a grey winter day, the colors are muted to a monochrome light. This second pond is about 1 km from the Lac du Bois Road.

It is a 1 km climb to the top of the hill on the north side. Another ponds sits at the north end of our hike, between the hills, the most southerly of the Long Lake Chain.

As we completed our 4.3 km loop, the sun started to break through the clouds on the south side of the Lac du Bois area.

This loop is best suited to a winter or early spring hike before ticks emerge, before the summer heat, and the summer’s tall weeds fill up the slopes and gullies. There are no trails. We just choose our own path, stomping a fresh track in the snow.