The Lusk Cave- A 10 (ish) km Hike in Gatineau Park

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The hike out to the Lusk Caves was one of the hikes that inspired me to start my blog! But it took me until this September to finally get out there.

Not for lack of trying though! Over the years, my husband and I tried to visit the caves on more than a few occasions. The first time, we couldn’t even find the parking lot (don’t ask me how). Then, we started out but the hike felt really long, and there were tons of mosquitoes. We weren’t very prepared because we were still learning about hiking, so we turned around.

But finally, after years of reading maps, planning trips, and getting outside, I made it! And it was so much fun. This time around, I went with a friend.

Despite how pathetic my earlier attempts were, we ran into some kids at the cave who had obviously visited often (so it can’t be that hard to get there!). They had some really great tips for us and I absolutely loved seeing and hearing how confident, comfortable, and respectful they were in the outdoors. Kid goals.

Dogs are allowed on the trail to Lusk Cave, but I’m not sure they’d like it inside. We took Trail 73 out to 54, and then took 50 back.

Getting There

The trails to the Lusk Cave start at the Parent Beach parking lot. There are parking fees to access the parking lot, so make sure to bring cash or a credit card! We used the pay machine right beside the camping registration office on the way in.

The parking lot was huge, and when we arrived, we had no trouble finding a spot. I think it might be different earlier in the season when there are lots of people heading to the beach though.

You can use these coordinates to get there: 45.605304, -76.010275.

Driving in, the trail to Parent Beach was on our left hand side. The trailhead for the Lusk Cave was at the back of the lot, on our right. There was a big map posted by the trailhead, which was helpful.

The Trailhead

After getting organized, we set out on a wide gravel road, and turned to our right almost immediately. The gravel road brought us down a little hill, then up a little hill, until we were on Chemin du Lac-Philippe (which is trail 50 in the winter- the markers stay up all year).

There was a classic brown Gatineau Park sign where the trail and road met, pointing us to the left and saying that the Lusk Cave was in that direction. So we headed down the road. We had taken a good look at the map, and knew we needed to head into the forest on our right at some point, but we weren’t sure when.

We had been travelling along the road for a good while, and had begun to see campsites popping up on our left hand side. After hiking about a kilometre we came to a little campground store. We stopped to use the washrooms there before carrying on.

Not long after, there was a big set of stairs on our left hand side. There was another big map posted, and we stopped to take a look, trying to make sure we hadn’t missed a turn. Not really learning anything new, we decided to keep going.

Ditched the Road, into the Forest

100 metres past the stairs, we noticed a little footbridge built over a tiny moat leading into the forest. We wanted to start hiking instead of walking along the road, so we decided to head into the forest despite a lack of signs or markings telling us to do so.

We traveled through the forest on a well-defined path that was clearly used often. The road was on our left hand side, and for a while, the trail ran parallel to it. We had been hiking through the forest for just over 200 metres when we saw our first trail marker. They would prove to be few and far between.

We hiked along the trail single file because it was fairly thin. Although we were stepping over roots and rocks, the trail was pretty flat and made for easy hiking. At the 1.9 kilometre mark, the trail split, connecting with the road again on our left. We stayed to the right to stick with the trail. Then, a 100 metres later, we noticed a parking lot to our left. This was the parking lot for campers, and the trail connected to the lot. There was a brown sign at this junction that would have led us into the forest, had we stuck with the road.

Onto Trail 73

Heading to our right, we were on Trail 73 and spotted a “73” trail marker immediately. We found ourselves heading up a slight hill, but things calmed down again quickly.

We had hiked 2.7 kilometres when the trail began to run parallel to a rocky creek on our left hand side. After a few steps, we crossed over the creek and continued hiking on the other side. The trail continued to wind through the forest, wide in spots and then returning to a single track path with trees growing in alongside us.

Trail markers were placed well and often, making them easy to follow. The trail continued to be well established with a few little hills here and there. Overall, so far it had felt like a pretty easy hike!

After hiking 4 kilometres, we came to a three way split in the trail. There was a brown sign post here, letting us know that the Lusk Shelter was to our right, and the Lusk Cave was to our left. The trail markers switched over to “54s” at this point.

Naturally, we headed towards the cave. We crossed over a couple short boardwalks before heading down a short, steep little hill just before a third boardwalk. Five little boardwalks/bridges total, and we had arrived at the trail split for the actual cave. There was a brown direction sign here as well, and stairs on our right leading up a gentle slope.

To the Cave!

It was only 500 metres to the cave from that point. Things began to get even rockier, and before we knew it, we had arrived at the exit of the cave! We knew it was the exit mostly because of the information plaque that was posted there. So after a quick read, we headed up a set of very handy concrete stairs to look for the entrance. Next, we found ourselves above the middle of the cave, which was open to the sky.

There was a map of the inside of the cave posted there, and again we stopped to try and figure out what we were heading into! Then, we carried on to try and find the entrance.

The entrance to the cave was fairly easy to find. And, there was a little sign posted there with “cave access” written on it. We climbed down near the entrance, and sat to have lunch for a bit before heading in.

Heading In

Before entering the cave, we swapped our hiking boots for water shoes, put on our headlamps and put everything we had brought into dry bags (okay, only I did that, since I was the one who came prepared!).

The entrance to the cave was really wide, and we didn’t have to squeeze into it at all. We had to climb over two little boulders to access the cave. We were able to touch both sides in order to help keep our balance in the ankle deep water running through the cave. There were some medium sized rocks deposited along the floor of the cave, so we stepped on and over them as we traveled along. The water was chilly, but not too cold just yet.

We had our headlamps on, but at the entrance to the cave and as we got a bit further in, there was still lots of light. The cave was open to the sky just a few metres in. Going a little bit further (maybe ten metres?), we turned a corner, and things got much darker! Without our headlamps, it was pitch black. In this spot, the water got much deeper as well. Before, it had been halfway up our calves, but going any further here it was rising up to our thighs.

Chickening Out

There was a rock ledge sticking out that we stopped on for a bit. Since there was no one around, I did a quick change into shorts and we decided to see if we could go any further. Between the water and the roof of the cave there was a few feet of space, and as we went further out the water rose almost to our hips (my shorts were still dry though!). We were bent over, and because our packs were on our backs we couldn’t stand up on our toes. So even though we saw light coming in the other side of the tunnel, we decided to turn back.

We totally could have made it, but our bums and possibly our shirts would have been soaked. I had put all my things into dry bags, but not my hiking boots. So if the water had gotten much deeper on the way, I ran the risk of them being soaked too. I could see why some people decided to just leave their packs up top and head through!

Despite not making it all the way through, our indecision and frozen toes made for a good laugh. Popping back out of the cave, we used a little towel to dry our feet off, and got back into our boots.

We headed back the way we had come, and when we descended the stairs to the trail split where we had originally turned to reach the cave, we had a decision to make. We could have gone back entirely the same way that we had come. Instead, we decided to turn the hike into a loop and head down towards Lac Philippe. So we kept straight at the split, and found ourselves descending even more stairs.

Lac Philippe

It was an easy hike down to the lake, and we arrived at Trail 50 (which runs parallel to Lac Philippe) after hiking almost 9 kilometres. We noticed there was a little bike rack where the trail in the woods met Trail 50. I thought that was pretty cool, because it meant that if you wanted, you could bike all the way down the road, and then take a short walk to the cave.

Turning to our left, we headed back towards the parking lot, enjoying how extra easy it felt to be walking along the gravel road. We also enjoyed looking over the lake through the trees.

After 10.5 kilometres of hiking, we passed by Smith Beach, and a picnic area, on our right. Then, just beyond that, we found ourselves walking through the parking lot for people camping in the area. The road split, and we stuck to the left to stay on Trail 50.

Before we knew it, we were back to the car. We had hiked a total distance of 12.6 kilometres, and covered that distance in 3 hours and 46 minutes. Of course, that included a huge break for lunch and cave exploration. I also didn’t turn my GPS tracker off as we wandered around the cave, so that definitely added some mileage to the total.

Trail Thoughts

We absolutely loved our day at the Lusk Cave, and I can’t wait to come back with my family! Although I’m going to have to wait awhile… At least until my daughter can walk well!

Despite the length of the trail, the terrain made it a relatively easy hike. And there are so many options for what route to take that you could definitely make it even easier- sticking with Trail 50 for as long as possible, or biking it, would definitely make the hike easier (although we like being in the forest).

If you really want to be able to immerse yourself in the cave, make sure you come prepared, minimally with good water shoes! I’ll do a more in depth gear breakdown below.

I’m sure that water levels are much higher in the spring, when more melt is happening. And I’m sure it’s much more crowded in the summer, when the water is a little warmer. Big kudos to the girls who brought their bathing suits at the same time we were there, and plunged in! They proved far better than I could that September is still a great time of year to visit the cave!

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

• Hiking Boots
• Wool Socks
• Hiking Pants
• Base Layers
• Long Sleeve Tops
• Cell Phones
• Bear Bell
• Mountain Warehouse Day Pack
• Two Dry Bags (for keep stuff inside pack dry in case I dropped it while we were in the cave + to carry back wet water shoes)
• Dry Bag for Cell Phones (in case we accidentally dropped them in the water)
• Water Shoes (so we could step in the water in the cave and our boots could stay dry)
• Headlamps
• Microfiber Towel (to dry off afterwards)
• Lunch
• Change of Clothes (shorts!)