29 Sep, 2010
Watching the fall leaves fall in Ottawa
Posted by andrea tomkins in: Easy ways to make kids happy|Ottawa
I think everyone probably agrees that the best time to catch the peak of fall is between now and mid-October. What I didn’t realize was the Ontario Parks website has a really great feature… you can practically track the best time to catch the best fall colours here and around the province. Check it out. It’s super-detailed. Great for people like me. :)
The NCC calls it Fall Rhapsody, and they often have events to celebrate the season. Right now they are hosting an educational program for the whole family called “Follies of the Fall Forest” (click here for info in PDF format). Fall is a big event here in Ottawa!
I like to go to:
- the Stony Swamp trails near Bell’s Corners (where these photos were taken), including the Jack Pine and Lime Kiln trails … which I wrote about for SavvyMom in ’07 and you can do some of this:
- Gatineau Park: the Champlain Lookout is a great place – where else?
- the Arboretum (near Dow’s Lake and the Experimental Farm)
- the Wakefield Steam train (I wrote about it here). We haven’t done a fall tour, but I bet it’s a great way to see the fall foliage.
- Barrhaven! The old Nepean Quarry would be a nice place for a fall walk. Mud Lake in the west end of the city would be pretty too.
- the Lusk caves ! What about Hog’s Back Falls? Less emphasis on trees but it’s so pretty there.
- ETA: twitter peeps are chiming in to add Rideau Hall, Mackenzie King Estate, Voyageurs pathway in Gatineau, Ottawa River between Beacon Hill and Orleans …
So are so many places to catch a sight of the fall splendour. Whether you’re hiking or just driving, you certainly don’t need to go far.
Where do you go for the best views of autumn in the Ottawa area?