Go Walkabout
There’s only one way to ensure your kids inherit your love of fall hiking: get them out on the trail!
And there’s no better month for hiking in Ottawa than October, when the days are cool and crisp and the colourful autumn leaves are still adorning the trees.
The key is to make it fun. Encourage collections of acorns, pine cones and interesting rocks (bring sand buckets). Bring a picnic lunch or snacks (many snacks) to break up the walk. Set up a scavenger hunt—who can be the first to spot 10 birch trees, five chipmunks, six fallen red maple leaves, and a spider web? School-age kids will love clambering over roots, rocks and logs. Don’t forget your water bottles.
You don’t have to begin with Mount Marcy (the highest mountain in the nearby Adirondack Range), by any means. A hike with babies, toddlers or preschoolers can be as simple as a stroll around Pink Lake in Gatineau Park—a wooden boardwalk goes most of the way around, and elevation is minimal. Infants or very young toddlers are best taken in backpacks, but older toddlers and preschoolers can certainly make their way around this one on their own steam. There is parking right at the trailhead. Older kids and budding scientists will enjoy the explanations you read to them from the interpretation panels along the way.
Also in Gatineau Park, Mackenzie King Estate is a wonderland for tiny hikers. This is the former domain of Mackenzie King, the eccentric prime minister who lived there in the early decades of the 1900s. The area is open to the public, with easy hiking trails that extend away from the tearoom at the centre of the estate. There are beautiful gardens and—best of all for kids—Mackenzie King’s evocative collection of stone ruins from Canada and abroad. It’s not uncommon for weddings to take place here, so your budding princess may get lucky and catch sight of a bride strolling through the gardens in all her finery.
Closer to home, the Experimental Farm is an oasis in the city and offers a network of trails, many of them paved, that wander among interesting trees and gardens. Look for signs on the tress that explain their species. Be warned—older kids will want to climb them! You’ll also find free parking near the Agricultural Museum, and an easy 90-minute walking tour of the farm grounds begins there and winds its way past the Tropical Greenhouse, Arboretum and Ornamental Gardens (admission is free).
La Forêt La Blanche Ecological Reserve, near Buckingham, Quebec (about an hour from Ottawa) is a 2,000-hectare protected forest with hikes and trails for all ages and abilities. This is a great way to introduce your kids to a variety of endangered plants, native birds and animals, and old-growth forests (don’t forget the mini-lecture on the need to protect ecosystems). There is a picnic area near the Interpretation Centre. Trails are open daily from 10 am to 5 pm, and there is a charge of $12 per family.
So pull up your socks and find some comfy shoes. It’s time to walk, talk and discover nature with your kids.
Pink Lake
www.canadascapital.gc.ca
Mackenzie King Estate
www.canadascapital.gc.ca
Experimental Farm
www.friendsofthefarm.ca
La Forêt La Blanche Ecological Reserve
www.lablanche.ca
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Tested by Patti R., Ottawa |  |