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I’ve been on the lookout for universally accessible trails recently, so the Pioneers Trail in Gatineau Park rose quickly to the top of my list last summer! It’s just taken me this long to get the post up on the blog…
I headed out with my daughter in tow to check it out, and it was lovely!
The Pioneers Trail is also open during the winter, and groomed for walking. So you don’t even need snowshoes. And your dog can join you any time of year!
The Pioneers Trail is a nice, easy, universally accessible green trail. Except in the winter when it’s more white.
Getting There
The Pioneers Trail starts at P3 in Gatineau Park. It’s a nice big parking lot so when we arrived midday we had no problems finding a spot. You can use these coordinates to get there: 45.439924, -75.762237.
After a quick lunch break at the picnic tables behind the (closed) information centre, we were on our way. The Pioneers Trail starts near the entrance to the parking lot, beside the information centre. There was also a huge map in the area, so we could make sure we knew where we were, and washrooms.
There was a small sign marking the beginning of the trail, so we knew we were headed in the right direction.
We followed the path to our right, and immediately crossed over the Gatineau Parkway.
The beginning of the Pioneers Trail.
The Trail
Then we briefly connected with a bike path that also crossed over the Parkway. The bike path carried on straight ahead of us, but we turned onto the gravel pathway on our right hand side to stick with the Pioneers Trail. The path was nice and wide, and it would be easy to walk side by side with someone.
After 100 metres, we reached a split in the trail. The Pioneers Trail is actually a loop, so at this point we had to decide if we wanted to hike it clockwise or counter clockwise. For no real reason, we headed to our left to hike clockwise.
At first, the trail was quite sunny as we hadn’t entered the forest yet. The pathway was framed with grasses and flowers much more reminiscent of a meadow than anything else. There were beautiful purple flowers (that were actually a weed), and awesome yellow flowers all around. I thought it was great, but for someone with seasonal allergies, this area might be a disaster.
A beautiful disaster!
Into the Woods
Not too far along the trail, we entered the forest, and the trail became much shadier. It also became even wider than it had been previously, but stayed flat and well groomed. We spotted a few interpretive panels as we walked along, describing the different trees growing around us.
We passed a couple of benches on our way, which would make a nice spot to stop and drink coffee.
After a gentle downhill at the 800 metre mark, we passed a trail on our left hand side branching off into the forest. This trail seemed unofficial, and was covered in grass, so we stuck with the gravel pathway to return back to where we had come.
After hiking 1.3 kilometres, we were back at the original split.
Even though the trail isn’t too long, there are spots to sit and rest.
Trail Thoughts
Returning the way we had come, we arrived back at the parking lot and checked our GPS. All in all, we had hiked a total of 1.4 kilometres. We were able to cover that distance in just over 20 minutes, but we were moving pretty fast because I was afraid my daughter was going to fall asleep while we were out there! The Pioneers Trail turned out to be a nice, easy walk in the woods that’s great for anyone year round. Wheelchairs and strollers would both do well on this trail (except maybe in spring when everything is wet from the thaw), and bigger kids would be able to walk it no problem.
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
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
No special gear needed, as this is more of a walking trail than a hiking trail.
