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The man who built a three-km skateway that winds through the forest around Lac-des-Loups, near Ste-Cécile-de-Masham, can’t believe the reception it’s getting.

“I feel like I’m dreaming this,” he said Saturday.

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The trail, located about an hour’s drive north of Ottawa, attracted more than 3,000 people in the first eight days it had been open.

That’s as many as Dave Mayer was hoping for an entire season.

Mayer has lived his whole life on the 100 acres in La Pêche where the trail now winds through the trees. He, his wife and sister-in-law decided to flood the forest on their property in the hope of making some extra income during the winter months when his construction business slows down.

The project was sparked last year when he saw an American TV special about a forest skating pathway in Trois-Rivières, Que. He turned to his wife and said, “We can do that.”

They got to work.

The narrow path through the dense woods is dotted with benches, bird feeders and spruce trees.