54Kardinal
It was a beautiful sunny spring morning when we visited this sugar bush, and a great visit it was. Right at the road is a small store and the big boiler for the operation -- the aroma of maple hangs in the air as you walk in from the road. There are multiple trails through the sugar bush, all laid out on a map next to the main building. The stops include a beaver pond, "the shanty men" and "the kettle boys". We didn't go to the first, but did stop at the second and third during our walk. The 'shanty men' are working in the original building in the sugar bush, and boiling sap in a wood-fired boiler. The men working there are happy to explain how it works (it moves sap from one chamber to another as the water boils off and the syrup thickens) and what the differences are between different grades and colours of syrup. The wood smoke and fragrance of maple hang heavy in the air. Further along the trail, you reach the 'kettle boys' who are boiling sap in iron cauldrons hanging over fires, as well as making taffy and maple sugar, and displaying a wide variety of hand-made wooden toys. Expect some samples of the syrup, some great stories, and a lot of laughs during this stop. The walk on the trail finished with further progress through the forest, occasionally going over the vacuum collection lines (using handy staircases built for this purpose) and ended up back at the main building. Fresh maple syrup was available the day we were there, and the bottles were still very warm as it had just been bottled. There is no restaurant for a meal of pancakes, but the visit is a wonderful spring walk and the exhibits and staff make for an enjoyable time for visitors of all ages.
