For sneak peeks of our (almost!) weekly blog posts or just to chat, follow us over on Instagram! @adventurereport
The South March Highlands Conservation Forest in Kanata is just an absolute treat. I’ve hiked every single trail in the forest now. And I cannot believe how lucky we are to have such a beautiful spot smack dab in the suburbs of Ottawa.
The trails had always been a bit intimidating to me because on the map, they looked incredibly long! But as I started chipping away at them I realized the distances were really quite manageable. And the trail work is so exceptional that it was a joy to be able to see it all.
I left the PWT loop until last, but ended up going out and hiking it late this fall. It ended up only being 7.7 km, although I thought it was going to be longer.
As with all the trails at South March, dogs are allowed.
I’m writing this a few weeks after actually having hiked it, but guessing that this problem probably hasn’t been fixed yet- some jerk has gone through the trails and taken down some of the posted signs. This can make it tricky to know exactly where you are, because the trail network is so extensive. So I recommend taking a look at the map every time you reach a posted sign. That way if you get to the next one and the number is missing (they’re numbered on the map too), you’ll still have a good sense of where you are.
The constantly varied terrain at the South March Highlands Conservation Forest is super fun!
Getting There + Our Route
The PWT Loop is deep in the South March Highlands Conservation Forest, compared to some of the other loops. Deciding to take a bit of a short cut, we parked at the Brady Avenue Trailhead. There’s tons of parking at the side of the road, and we’ve never had trouble getting a spot. You can use these coordinates to get there: 45.343146, -75.942347.
Before heading out, we had decided we were going to take Beartree to Fastout to Porcupine, then the North Dogsled Loop out to the PWT Loop.
The Ottawa Mountain Bike Association’s map of the trails.
Entering the forest, less than 100 metres along we arrived at the Beartree Trail. We turned left, admiring the stunning trail work done by the Ottawa Mountain Bike Association as we went.
The Porcupine Trail + North Dogsled
After 600 metres we arrived at a split where ALL the trail signage had been taken down. Looking at our map we knew we were at point 7 with the Boneyard Trail branching off to our left. So we carried on straight ahead to get on Fastout, and almost immediately came to the split for Porcupine. It branched off to our right, so off we went.
The Porcupine Trail was skinny and rocky, but easy enough to traverse. After hiking just 1 km we reached the split for the North Dogsled Loop. In order to get out to PWT, we turned right again! We passed point 17 and kept left, crossing over a skinny little bridge.
Then we arrived at point 19, where the trail split but only to allow an alternate route for bikers who don’t want to complete the “deer drop” feature on the trail. And if I were them I would definitely choose the alternative- it’s not a hard hike up the feature but it’s a short, steep hill down on a bike!
At the top of deer drop was point 21. The North Dogsled Trail continued on ahead of us and we continued on with it. The trail continued to be rocky with a few roots scattered here and there. Small foot bridges brought us over a few squishier spots.
These are what the posted signs in South March look like.
Onto the PWT Loop!
At 1.86 km we reached Point 37. We turned right again to hike the PWT Loop counter clockwise.
The trail thinned out considerably, and we headed downhill. At 2.08 km we reached Point 38. 38 is actually a new point not included on the Ottawa Mountain Bike Association’s map yet. There was some new trail work that had been done here. Previously, the trail would have veered off to the right to head out to the “Impaler” feature. It would have rejoined the trail further on. Now, there was a sign posted indicating that the trail to “Impaler” was an out and back.
So we stuck with the trail that carried on slightly to our left. We headed up a small hill. When we reached the top we spotted another sign that said the trail to Impaler there was closed. It had been well shut off with rocks and old tree branches. They really don’t want people on that section of the trail because it was causing a lot of damage and erosion.
Making our way!
Best Lunch Stop
At 2.3 km we found ourselves spotting a small lake through the trees, and headed down to the shoreline to check it out. There were no benches at the shoreline but there was a lovely view over the lake, so we thought to ourselves this would be a good little spot to stop for lunch or a snack… Maybe we should start bringing camping chairs when we go hiking!
The trail continued to alternate between skinny foot bridges and open rock face. At 3.1 km we passed Point 39, and headed toward the sign posted for the “Inukshuk” feature. Despite this section of trail being some of the most remote in the forest, it was still very well established and we never had trouble following it.
Then, we passed posted signs for the V-Tree as well as Dog’s Breakfast, so we knew that we were starting to loop back. Soon after, the trail appeared to split, because of the way the rock face split. Following the split to the left, the trail eventually came to an end when the rock was overtaken by forest floor again. So stick to the right here.
One of the two little lakes we visited along the PWT Loop.
Rocky Terrain
The rock through this section was really cool. It was just layer upon layer of rock, in some spots dropping off a few feet at a time. Despite this, the footing still wasn’t too technical and we were still able to move along the trail fairly quickly.
Around 4.63 km we passed another small pond on our right hand side. Just beyond that we arrived at Point 43 (where more signage had been taken down and my voice note indicates that it was done by “a big jerk.”). Looking at our map, we turned left to get onto the Bailout Trail to head back.
At Point 49, ALL the signs had been taken down. We had hiked just over 5 km at this point, and we turned left here, where Bailout became the IMBA Trail. 500 metres later we passed Point 35 where again all the signs had been removed. But we could see Point 33 on the trail ahead of us so we knew we were headed in the right direction. At 33 we turned left to head back the exact same way we had come, but we could have turned right and taken the south side of the Dogsled Loop back if we had been so inclined.
The terrain at South March is a ton of fun!
Trail Thoughts
At 5.8 km we found ourselves back at Point 37 where we had originally turned to get on the PWT Loop. Here we turned right, to retrace our exact route back. When we arrived at the Brady trailhead we had hiked 7.7 km. We were able to cover that distance in two hours. Which felt pretty fast considering we’re used to hiking with a toddler in tow!
Each of the loops at South March Highlands Conservation Forest are similar, and the best thing about them is the many different ways they can be put together so that you can have the perfect hike, no matter what you’re looking for on any particular day.
More rocks!
Other Loops at the South March Highlands Conservation Forest
Make sure to check out our trail reports for the rest of the loops in the forest!
The Rockhopper Loop -A 3.6 km Hike
The Dogsled Loop -A 4.5 km Hike
The Ridgetop/Outback Loop -A 10 km Hike
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
Our GPS Tracked route along the PWT Loop.
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.
Elevation gain along the trail.
