With new snow falling in Ottawa at the beginning of January, I knew it was time to head over to Gatineau Park for my first snowshoe of the year! I picked a friend, picked a trail, and off we went!
Trail 70 is groomed for fat biking, and is a shared fat bike and snowshoe trail. Dogs are not allowed on this trail, according to the signs at the trailhead.
When I arrived at the parking lot for Trail 70, I realized I had actually snowshoed there before. And it sparked such a fond memory for me of that last trip. When my husband and I had snowshoed the trail years ago, there was a little boy having his birthday party in the Healey Cabin. I thought it was so sweet and such a great idea for a party, and we loved sharing the space with them. Who knew what kind of parties we would find today?
First snowshoe of the season! Yahoo!
Getting There
The Trailhead for Trail 70 is at parking lot 15 in Gatineau Park. This trailhead is shared with Trail 71, although there are no signs for Trail 71 there.
Getting to P15 is really easy when you take the 5 into Quebec. Getting off the highway, the roads quickly turned to gravel, but they were really well plowed despite the new snow. I passed a big Gatineau Park sign, and a few smaller signs with little arrows announcing the direction that P15 was in.
Signs by the road on the way to P15
You can use these coordinates to get there: 45.586048, -75.903228. I used the exit for Chemin Cross Loop and turned left getting off the highway. There are other ways to access it, but I found this way easiest.
The parking lot was huge, and had just been plowed as I arrived.
The Trailhead
The Trailhead for Trail 70 was right beside the little brown and red toll booth set up at the back of the parking lot. Before heading in that direction, I stopped to use the porta-potty. There are no fancy Gatineau Park outhouses at this trailhead, but having the porta-potty was still convenient.
Beside the toll booth was a little “do it yourself” trail pass station. I put my fee of ten dollars into one of the little envelopes provided, dropped it in the box, and grabbed my trail pass for the day. The fees might be different for you. For example, students and seniors only pay seven dollars, while any child under twelve is free!
Don’t forget your day pass!
A quick look at the giant map posted confirmed that the trail was as I remembered it from my research.
So, we strapped on our snowshoes and off we went.
The trailhead for Trail 70.
The Trail
Trail 70 starts out across an open field. There were little signs up along the way to guide us in the right direction, but with the trail being groomed for fat bikers, it was also really easy to follow along in the snow. The trail was about four feet wide, and stayed that way for the entire length of it. That made it really easy to walk side by side and chat.
View of the field from the trail.
On this particular day, the temperature was fairly mild and there wasn’t much of a wind. Other times that I’ve snowshoed here, it was INCREDIBLY cold in the field, because of the wind cutting across it. Dress warmly!
After snowshoeing about half a kilometre across the field, we reached the edge of the forest. Things started to go uphill here! The first little hill into the forest felt a bit steep. Probably because we had barely warmed up, and this was our first time out on snowshoes for the year.
Things continued uphill gradually for much of the route, but as we got back into the swing of things it felt less noticeable.
Snow on the trees along Trail 70 totally made the uphills worth it!
Split to 71
After hiking 1.1 kilometres, we reached a split in the trail with signs indicating Trail 71 was off to our right.
We stayed straight on 70, and continued to enjoy the snow on the trees as the forest changed from stands of evergreen to deciduous trees and back again along our route.
We passed by a good sized pond after hiking about 2 kilometres. Of course, at this time of year it was frozen over.
View over the pond right beside Trail 70.
The Cabins
We reached the Healey Cabin after hiking 3.7 kilometres. This is where the birthday party had been last time! Sadly, there were no parties happening today. But, the fire in the cabin was still lit, and there were still a ton of birds and chipmunks at the feeding station outside the cabin. So it was basically a party.
The Healey cabin is in a bit of an open field, so when the trails aren’t freshly groomed it can be a bit tricky to know where to go. If you face the Healey cabin from the direction you came, and then turn right, this will have you travelling in a southwest direction, and it will get you back to Trail 70.
The Healey Cabin- A beautiful birthday party spot!
We carried on, and soon came across a sign announcing that the Herridge Cabin was only 600 metres away.
Just before the Herridge Cabin, we stepped lightly over trail 50, which is a road turned cross country ski trail.
At the Herridge Cabin there was a feeding station as well, and we spent a bit of time trying to get pictures of the cute little creatures who were coming to eat. Being wild animals and birds, they chose not to cooperate!
Inside, there were actually two levels! This was a fancy cabin. The fire was lit, and we sat down at the indoor picnic tables to have our lunch, feeling comfy and cozy.
Headed thru the gate to get to the Herridge Cabin.
Heading Back
After a bit, we decided to head back, and set out the way that we had come. We saw more people out on the trail on our way back than we had seen on the way in. I suspect this is a popular trail on the weekends (we were there on a Friday morning)!
The trip back felt easier than snowshoeing out- I think we spent a bit more time going downhill on the way back.
By the time we made it back to the parking lot, we had traveled 8.6 kilometres. We were able to cover that distance in two hours and forty minutes, which included the time we spent eating lunch.
Trail 70 is an easy, beautiful snowshoe trail. It’s perfect for a low key half day trip, whether you’re snowshoeing or fat biking. Plus, there’s no better winter birthday party location (if you ask me) in all of Ottawa/Gatineau!
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!
Trail 70- I highly recommend it!
Map and Elevation Gain
My GPS tracked route on Trail 70.
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 and loss on the trail. Fun, and just challenging enough!
Gear I Brought
- Warm Leggings (it was only zero degrees!)
- Polyester/Merino Wool Base Layer
- Hiking Sock
- Hiking Boots
- Winter Jacket (Mountain Warehouse)
- Buff Merino Wool Headband
- Light Gloves
- MSR Evo Snowshoes
- Day Pack (Mountain Warehouse)
- Nalgene 32-Ounce Bottle
- Thermos (with soup!)
- Spork
- Snacks
- Compass
- SOL 2-Person Emergency Bivvy
- Headlamp
- Fire Starter Kit
- Toilet Paper and Hand Sanitizer
- Chapstick
- Money (for day pass)
