I had two main destinations in mind when I boarded the shuttle bus to Gatineau Park on a gorgeous fall morning, the kind of day that compels city dwellers to jump in their cars and head for the largest green space in the region.
My sights were set on Pink Lake because I hadn’t visited there in years and Champlain Lookout because it offers a spectacular view of the Gatineau Valley, with the Ottawa River in the distance.
And, of course, I wanted to see how the annual display of fall foliage was doing after the National Capital Region’s dry, hot summer.
However, I didn’t want to drive myself there. Fortunately, the National Capital Commission has been running
free shuttle buses to Gatineau Park
since May, largely in hopes of keeping traffic to a minimum on the parkways. It’s important to note the shuttles have a pick-up/drop-off stop in Ottawa on weekends only. On weekdays, excluding Wednesdays, you can hop on a shuttle to the park from the Visitor Centre in Chelsea, but it does not travel to or from Ottawa.
During the
NCC’s Fall Rhapsody
, the
shuttle runs every 20 minutes
.
I set off from the city on a warm, sunny, bug-free Saturday, only slightly dismayed to see the shuttle was a noisy, diesel-spewing rattletrap of a school bus. Pindegen Park at Wellington and Booth was the pick-up point, and it was impossible to miss. A pop-up shelter marked the spot, and a summer student was there to hand out maps and answer questions. The shuttle ride was first-come, first-served.
About two dozen people clambered aboard the yellow limo and off we went to pick up folks at the Canadian Museum of History and Montcalm Street in Gatineau before arriving at the south entrance of the park, where a few more people got on. Perhaps because it was early in leaf-peeping season everyone got a seat; overflow buses were not needed.
I had originally planned to ride the bus to the Visitor Centre and then backtrack to my points of interest. But it was going to be more than an hour to get to the centre, and I was already feeling a little carsick by the time we pulled into the parking area at Pink Lake. I needed some fresh air, and decided to get off and do the trail circling the lake.
It was a fairly busy day on the path, with foot traffic that included tourists, families, couples, a group of nuns and an older fellow equipped with a bear bell — although the only forms of wildlife I saw were red squirrels, frogs and fish.
The walk was lovely until I heard a big splash. Everyone knows you can’t swim in this ecologically fragile gem of Gatineau Park so my first thought was that something — or someone — had fallen into the lake.
I rounded the corner and my jaw dropped: A young man was frolicking in the shimmering blue-green water as his friend snapped photos.
Another passer-by attempted to admonish him. “You’re not allowed to swim here,” she told him firmly. “That’s literally the whole reason for this.”
I knew she was referring to the trail infrastructure of stairs and viewing platforms, not to mention the ample number of signs explaining the delicate nature of the lake.
If you read the signs, you would know that Pink Lake is considered a “meromictic” lake. Put simply, it means the layers of water do not mix, a natural phenomenon resulting in big differences between the bottom and top layers, with different forms of life in each layer.
But the perp shrugged off the environmental concerns. “It’s so beautiful I could not hold back,” he insisted. “I can’t wait ’til next summer.”
News flash, buddy. You won’t be able to swim there next summer, either. Pink Lake has been off-limits to swimmers since the late 1980s.
For decades prior to that it was a site of regular bush parties for several generations of young folks, including those of us who hung out in downtown Ottawa. I remember parking along the road, lugging cases of stubbies through the woods and having a grand time leaping off the cliffs into the cold water.
Those shenanigans ended in 1988, when the NCC, fed up with the garbage, soil erosion and trampled vegetation, shut down access to the lake. Once they realized how rare and sensitive it was, they picked up the trash, planted trees and built the trail, dotting it with signage advising people to stay on the path and out of the water.
The hike around the lake took about an hour, but involved some steep staircases and a few inclines where you’d have to pick your way over rocks and tangled roots. The views were amazing, naturally, framed by the blue sky and green-blue water. (Pink Lake, by the way, is named after the Irish family that once farmed the land, not for the colour of the water.)
The loop completed, I returned to the shuttle stop to wait for the next bus, which arrived quickly.
Most passengers were en route to the Visitor Centre but I wanted to see Champlain Lookout, the highest point of elevation on the route, at 1,100 feet (35 metres). Along the way, the driver stopped at Mackenzie King Estate, the King Mountain trail and the Mulvill Lake/Lauriault trailhead, making it a long ride for those bound for Chelsea and the Visitor Centre.
With the Gatineau Parkway open to traffic in the afternoons this fall, Champlain was another busy spot. People sat on the wall to take selfies showing the bird’s-eye view behind them. It’s also a good vantage point for fantastic sunsets, although the shuttle’s timing doesn’t make it feasible to get there and back as it doesn’t run past 5 p.m.
One young couple waiting for the bus told me they had tried to Uber to the park, but the driver couldn’t figure out how to get past the construction at the lower entrance, so they got out to walk. The shuttle bus meant they didn’t have to walk all the way back.
Unwilling to sit in a Chelsea traffic jam (even on a bus), I abandoned the idea of riding all the way to the Visitor Centre. Instead, I took the return shuttle back to Mackenzie King Estate, thome of Canada’s 10th prime minister. It’s always worth a visit to see the ruins that King installed and to check out his gardens.
The parking lot at the estate was teeming with idling cars and frustrated drivers, despite the efforts of NCC attendants to keep traffic flowing. Again, I realized how fortunate I was not to have to negotiate that lot, nor deal with the bicycles, motorcycles and other vehicles jockeying for positions on the parkway. Still, thanks to the traffic circles and construction zones, it was a long and bumpy ride on the bus back to the Ontario side.
As for the leaves, most in the park were already a riot of colour. Trees on the south-facing slopes were well into their fall finery, popping with oranges, yellows and reds, while areas receiving less sun over the summer still sported a healthy amount of greenery. The colour meter on the NCC website showed that Gatineau Park was already in the middle of the process during the last week of September, almost a month ahead of last year.
The shuttle runs until Oct. 26. I recommend getting on it as soon as you can. Don’t wait until the leaves drop.
(Lynn Saxberg is on a mission to find the best things to do and experience in Ottawa. Do you have a hidden gem she should try? Let her know at
.)
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