Using this map we parked on Pleasant Valley Road and headed north on the white Franklin-Parker trail. First we took the spur to visit the Farrelly tree, a spur which we don't remember from eight years ago. Returning to the F-P trail, we continued north, making a left on Orange, taking that all the way to Yellow. It was around here where we began noticing huge swaths of burnt forest, with a pungent odor in the air. This was especially true of the hill where the Wood Badge Lodge sits. The entire area, but not the lodge or the bathrooms, was burned. Wow, what a fire we thought! Heading west on Yellow, we made a right on Green, which we took north, with burnt forest on both sides of the trail. Eventually we met up with the white Franklin-Parker trail, which we took all the way back to the car. Nearly the entire extant (up until Orange), had burnt forest on either or both sides of the F-P trail.

After I got home I learned that controlled burning had taken place here last month. They sure did a thorough job! But, as they are trained to do, they left the vast majority of trees untouched, though some were burned. It will be a bit of time before the remmants of this controlled burn are no longer seen.