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Recently, I put together a list of all the trails in Ottawa that are dog friendly in the winter.
One of my favorite things about writing this blog is hearing from people who read it about new trails! And after publishing that particular blog post I wasn’t disappointed, because someone told me about the Wilsondale Trails in Cumberland.
Since these are technically City of Ottawa trails, they’re also dog friendly in the winter!
Overall, I would describe these trails as “neat.” They’re easy to hike, and transition quickly from field, to a weird grassy field, to a small apple orchard, then to a real forest and back. They’re aren’t any parts of the trails that are particularly spectacular, but they still get you some time spent out in nature.
You also get some very ugly views of the back of the Cumberland Museum, so that’s… something.
Visiting the Wilsondale Trails in Cumberland.
Getting There
The Wilsondale Trails are just east of the Cumberland Heritage Village Museum. Driving out there, I realized I had never actually been on the 174 any further east than Trim Road. But that last part of the drive, right beside the river, was really quite beautiful.
When we arrived, the museum was closed. Fortunately there was a parking lot designated specifically for the hiking trails, so we stopped there, just beside the museum. There was space for about twenty cars, and a map of the trails posted right at the trailhead. There were no facilities (read: washrooms) at the trailhead.
You can use these coordinates to get there: 45.517648, -75.392156.
The Trailhead
After consulting the map briefly, we set out across the open field, directly away from the museum. We passed a wooden post marked Point 1. These points were listed on the map as well, so it was handy that we had a picture of the map to consult as we went along. Although we did notice that some new points had been added (like a Point 2A and Point 2B that showed up later).
An open field in the wintertime is the coldest place in the world, since there’s nothing to stop the wind. So we were hopeful when we reached the opposite that we would enter the treeline, but that wasn’t the case. When we reached the opposite side of the field, a small sign posted with an arrow turned us to turn to our left- sticking with the treeline, but not actually getting any shelter from it.
After only 500 metres we passed through an open section of fence and arrived at Point 2. Here, the post said that the Wilson trail was off to our left. We decided to go straight because our plan was to put together the longest route possible. So we crossed over a short bridge, and noticed that there was a footpath in the field ahead of us. Fortunately, we also noticed that on the map the trail stuck with the edge of the small creek we had just crossed over. So we turned to the left to stay with the trail. The grass in the field had been cut in such a way that there was tall grass on either side of the trail, letting us know we were on track.
Follow the little hiking man.
Away From the Field
We crossed over another small bridge, leaving the open field behind and entering a section of the trail that I can best describe as a “weird grassland.” We crossed over a short boardwalk and through another fence, and arrived at Point 3 having hiked just over 1 km. Here, we turned right, again looking to take the longest walk possible.
We headed up a small (but steep!) hill, and arrived at Point 4 just a few hundred metres later. A trail branched off to our left, but we headed off to the right, on our way to the lookout. For the first time, we found ourselves actually in the woods.
Over the bridge.
The Highly Disappointing Lookout
The trail also thinned out for the first time. Where before it had been wide enough for us to walk side by side, it was now down to single track. We reached the top of another short hill, and found… no lookout! Keeping with the trail we did come to a spot where a little bench had been built and you could TECHNICALLY see down to the river, but the view wasn’t awe inspiring.
We headed back downhill and reached Point 5, even though on the map it looks like we should have reached Point 6 first. We turned to the right and almost immediately after found ourselves at Point 6. Then we crossed over a little bridge having hiked just over a kilometre and a half.
Right after, we found ourselves at Point 7. Going straight would have made for a shorter hike so we turned right to complete the full loop at this end of the trail.
We hiked through an odd little forest of crab-apple trees, starting to loop back around the 2 km mark. Then, we reached Point 8 where we followed the trail to our right. The trail brought us back directly under the power lines, and we actually walked between two huge poles at one point.
Circling back under the hydro poles.
Realizing the Signage Isn’t Amazing
The next post we reached said Point 6 but using our detective skills we sorted out that it was actually Point 9, just posted upside down. Here, we could have chosen to head left or straight. We decided to go straight, thinking this would start to bring us back to where we had begun the trail.
We traversed a short but steep downhill section and crossed a bridge above a tiny creek. This next section of the trail was the loveliest, in my humble opinion.
Heading up the hill on the other side, we realized we were at Point 11. How?! No one knows. At the very top of the hill we saw a post for Point 12. We turned left, and then came to ANOTHER sign for Point 12. Here it said that the Wilson Trail (also listed on the map) went off to our left and our right, so we turned left again to head back to the trailhead.
Then we stumbled into the middle of a miniature railway station. Presumably part of the museum. It was a very odd thing to come across in the middle of a hike, I can tell you that! We kept the railway on our right hand side, and walked through a section that was fenced on both sides.
This was weird to find in the middle of a hike, but also kind of cool.
Realizing the Signage is Terrible
At 2.76 km we walked past Point 13 so now I KNOW these points are marked wrong. Because on the map Point 13 is at the trail intersection where the trail brings you right alongside the museum to get back to the parking lot. But in real life we walked past the back of the museum (it looked really junky and not nice) for another 300 metres before coming to another Point 13 sign.
We went straight here, walking through the museum junkyard (for lack of a better term), past a big grey building on our left hand side, and then down the museum road to the parking lot.
This was my favorite part of the trail.
Trail Thoughts
By the time we arrived back to the parking lot, we had walked roughly 3.5 km. We were able to cover this distance in just over an hour and a half (even with a toddler!) because the trail was really easy to walk along.
Overall, I did not love this trail. The terrain was kind of weird, and the museum was really messy. But hey, dogs are allowed even in winter, so I’ve got to tell SOMEBODY about it! I hope you and your dog enjoy.
(Toddlers seem to like it too).
Map and Elevation Gain
My GPS tracked route along the Wilsondale Trails.
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 route. Easy peasy!
Dogs are allowed but please please please keep them leashed. This has been a huge community problem on these trails.