Wolf Trail- An 8.4 km Hike in Gatineau Park

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Wolf Trail in Gatineau Park is definitely one of my favorites. Out of all the trails in Gatineau Park, I’ve done this one the most, both in the summer and the winter. There are two beautiful lookouts on the trail, and they’re fantastic in any season.

Living in Ottawa, we can get used to hikes with very little elevation gain. Wolf Trail is a really fantastic option for those days where you want to have a hike that’s a bit more challenging but don’t have time to go too far.

I honestly forget how much I like this trail until I return to it. I prefer it in the summer months because I’m able to bring my dog. The trail remains open in winter months but dogs are not allowed during these months.

Wolf Trail is also called Trail 62. On the trail itself, it’s marked as the Blanchet Trail too.

Trail 62, no wait, Wolf Trail? Blanchet Trail?

Getting There

The trailhead for Wolf Trail starts at a parking lot (p13) beside Blanchet Beach. You can use these coordinates to get there: 45.543401, -75.909481.

Payment is required at this parking lot at different times of the year. When I’ve gone in the winter, there’s been a staff at the trailhead collecting cash payments. When I went in the early fall this year, there was nowhere/no one to pay, and some people that I asked said you don’t have to pay after labor day. They also said that during the summer, there’s a pay station available. So I think the best bet is to bring at least $20.00 cash and a credit card along just in case.

P13 is actually made up of two parking lots, and the trailhead starts in the eastern lot.

The trailhead is to your left soon after you drive into the parking lot. There’s a garbage can at the trailhead, but no other facilities.

The Trailhead

Wolf Trail is a looped trail with a short out and back at the beginning of it. The trail is lovely right from the trailhead. Immediately, we started to gain a little bit of elevation (see the end of this report for elevation chart), and there was a little stream travelling downhill on my left hand side as we walked along. There are a few places on this trail that small streams intersect with the trail. Where crossing might be difficult, bridges have been erected. In a couple spots, the rocks are big enough, and flat enough, that it’s easy to use them to cross.

Built in bridge.

After 500 metres, I reached the split in the trail. There’s a sign here that lets you know the distance to each lookout, which is nice because it makes it easier to decide which way you want to go. At this point on the trail, heading left takes you 3 kilometres to the Twadina Lookout, and heading right takes you 2 kilometres to the Mahingan lookout.

Where the trail splits to form a loop- the sign includes distances to each lookout.

I decided to hike the loop clockwise on this particular trip, and stayed to the left at the split.

Hiking in this direction had us travelling alongside a ridge for a large section of the hike, so it’s shady and cool for much of the trail in this section, even on hot days.

After hiking 2.5 kilometres, we crossed Trail 1 (which is great for biking).

The Tawadina Lookout

I came across the split for the first lookout after hiking for a total of 3.5 kilometres. The lookout isn’t super well marked when you approach it from this side, but the split in the pathway is quite clear.

It’s hard to miss where the trail branches off to the Tawadina lookout (head left).

We hiked up and over exposed rock faces to get to the Tawadina lookout. We had it all to ourselves on this last trip in mid-September, and stuck around for a bit taking in the views. Even on a hazy day, we were able to see the Ottawa River snaking through the valley. It’s a pretty cool vantage point.

View from the Tawadina lookout.

The Mahingan Lookout

Heading back towards the trail the way we came, we turned to our left to continue on towards the Mahingan lookout. It was just under two kilometres before we reached the second lookout. On the way there, the trail continued to have some pretty cool rocky sections.

Some sections of the trail are a bit rocky.

There’s also a spot where the landscape changes really dramatically, and we paused look out over a marsh that has a different feel to it than the rest of the trail.

Just before reaching the Mahingan lookout, we crossed back over Trail 1. We reached the second lookout after having hiked for a total of 5.3 kilometres. This lookout has a great little bench, and we spent some time there resting. Really it was just my old dog that was resting- we moved VERY SLOWLY all day, and she was the only one needing a break.

View from the Mahingan lookout.

We had seen a bunch of very muddy dogs coming towards as we hiked, and so were curious as to the condition of the trail ahead of us. We moved on, and were soon schlepping through mud ourselves. At some points on the trail between the Mahingan lookout and the split, there was water running down the trail, making for very muddy conditions. But, it wasn’t too deep, and there were still a lot of sections of the trail here that were dry.

Mud on the trail.

Getting Home

We hiked the two kilometres back to the split, and headed to our left to return to the trailhead.

All in, this trail was just under 8.4 kilometres long. Since we were moving at the pace of a very old dog on a very hot day, it took us three hours and twenty-two minutes. This trail could be done A LOT faster than that though.

We’ve also done this trail in the winter, and it’s a nice long trek on snowshoes. The views are just as beautiful in the snowy season, so I would absolutely recommend it. The trail is still quite popular in winter, so the snow tends to be really packed down (which isn’t the most fun for snowshoeing), but it’s still a great place to get outdoors in the winter!

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!