Hiking Trails at Petrie Island

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After paddling at Petrie Island late this spring, I decided to head back with my family to hike the trails along the island. It is my humble opinion that paddling AROUND Petrie Island is much nicer than hiking ON Petrie Island. But the island is super easy to get to, and the hiking trails provide a lot of access to the water along them, making it exciting for little adventurers. My daughter had a blast throwing sticks into the water as waves crept up onshore.

It’s also really easy hiking at Petrie Island, so if you’re looking for something that’s not too strenuous, this is a great option.

Dogs are not allowed on Petrie Island.

Getting There

Getting to Petrie Island is super easy. Just drive north on Trim until you can’t anymore, and you’ll be at the beach!

You can use these coordinates to get there: 45.505611, -75.491793.

There’s lots of parking at Petrie Island, and normally you have to pay for it. There are also washroom facilities, but because we went during COVID, neither of these were operational.

In total there are about 5 km of walking trails on Petrie Island, mostly near Trim Road. They all weave back and forth and connect to each other. We chose to hike the longest trail, which heads west away from the beach, along the shoreline.

The Trailhead

The name of the trail is the William (Bill) Holland Trail, and it began on the gravel road leading west down the island. There was a sign at the side of the road indicating that the trail had begun, although we decided to walk through the park closer to the shoreline.

It felt like there was a lot going on in this first section of the trail… There was the park, a small building, random structures that had been built but then let go to rot. It felt like someone had built these things out of love but then failed to maintain them. The overall vibe was of someone’s junky backyard. When it comes to nature, less is more people!

Then, the trail quickly spat us out onto someone’s lawn- we had only walked 300 metres. Oops, but also how cool would it be to be the only family living on Petrie Island?

We scooted quickly back onto the gravel road and continued to follow it.

Or Is This The Trailhead?

At the end of the road (500 metres along), the trail began in earnest. There was a chain across the trailhead, and a sign indicating that no bikes were allowed to go further.

The trail got quite rocky in this section, but was still flat. It was about the width of a sidewalk here, as there was a pond on either side of the trail through this section.

Soon, the trail turned from rock to dirt to sand. We could tell by how some of the plants had been pushed over that sections of this trail flooded sometimes. I think this could be a wet one early in the spring!

Private Beach (Kinda)

After hiking just 0.9 km we arrived at a section of trail that had a little beachy spot right beside the Ottawa River. Here it was sandy and the waves lapped at the shore.

Just past this spot, the Beaver trail branched off on our left hand side. We decided to stay straight to stick with the Bill Holland Trail for a little longer. A few hundred metres later, the river loop headed off to our right and we decided to follow it to stick closer to the shoreline. There was a big sign here, so the trail split was easy to spot.

We followed a thin footpath through a grassy section of the River Trail. It was wet and muddy and yucky, but did take us down to another nice stretch of sandy shoreline.

We passed over a huge fallen tree, and at 1.3 km the shoreline began to rise to a low ridge on our left hand side. We weren’t exactly sure what we were looking for, but at 1.4 km we noticed a footpath worn into the dirt on our left hand side and followed it to loop back to the Bill Holland Trail.

End of the Trail

This brought us to the end of the Bill Holland Trail, where there was a little platform and bench built. It wasn’t the most inspiring view, and I’d probably choose to rest and play at one of the sandier spots we had been before. But it’s nice to have options!

We followed the Bill Holland Trail back for a bit, and decided to loop off on the Beaver Trail when we saw it on our right hand side. Again, this got us closer to a grassy shoreline, so it was a worthwhile detour. We walked past a few fishermen on the way back. And we had seen quite a few people fishing near the bridge on Trim Road so we were beginning to think Petrie Island might be a popular spot for that as well!

When the Beaver Trail reconnected to the Bill Holland Trail, we turned to our right to head back the way we had come.

Trail Thoughts

By the time we arrived back at the parking lot, we had walked just under 3 km. It took us an hour and fifteen minutes, but we had lots of breaks for playing.

With the beach right nearby, Petrie Island makes a great place to have a short hike and then spend the day Even though we were there early, there was already a little group practicing windsurfing, which was pretty cool to watch. We decided to head home because we were there during a time when physical distancing measures were still in place, and we wanted to make room for others.

With how accessible Petrie Island is, it’s a great way to get into nature close to the city. And then dip your toes (or yourself) in the river afterwards!

I hope this trip report has enough info to get you there too. Let me know in the comments, or share and tag a friend to start planning your next adventure!

Map and Elevation Gain

Whenever I’m hiking somewhere new, I tend to wonder about who was on, and who took care of that land before me. I’ve enjoyed using this website as a place to start learning more about the indigenous people whose land I’m on: Native-land.ca.

Gear We Brought

Nothing, this trail was more of a walk than a hike!