Trail 74, on a bitterly cold day in December, was stunning. It was incredibly peaceful, and everything I could want in a snowshoe trail. This trail is only open in the winter, so I took full advantage of it with a friend in late December.

There was an extreme cold warning in effect when we went out, but snowshoeing is a great activity for days like that because you make so much extra body heat. And Trail 74 is a great trail on a cold day because it has a whole lot of hills to get you working hard. Not to mention how beautiful Lac Philippe is covered in snow.

Getting There

The trailhead for Trail 74 is just west of Parking Lot 19 in Gatineau Park. We used these coordinates to get there: 45.624629, -76.010441.

The road leading in to P19, Chemin du Lac Philippe, was well plowed and had the cutest covered bridge on it. P19 itself was a smaller parking lot, with space for about fifty cars, and an outhouse that we did not use because it was SO COLD. There was a very small cabin near the back of the parking lot, with a park volunteer who made change for us. There’s a fee to access the trails, and we wanted to leave exact change at the trail head.

Immediately west of the parking lot was a wide road that headed uphill towards two big buildings, one of which was an aid station. There were signs at the parking lot that pointed us in the right direction. After walking a few hundred metres, we came across the two big buildings, and a gate on the road. The trail head was to our left, and well-marked. We put our money into the little box available, and strapped on our snowshoes. The fee to access the trails is $8.00 per person, although there are some exceptions, like only $6.00 for students.

The Route

Trail 74 winds through the forest for almost the entire length of it, and it was absolutely stunning the entire way. But, it was also tough! For the first kilometre, it felt like we were heading entirely uphill. We got a bit of a break, heading downhill over the next half a kilometre, but that felt like it didn’t last long. We were soon back uphill for the next half kilometre. Luckily, the remainder of the route on the way to the beach was downhill. Despite being challenging, those early hills allowed us to get nice and warm really quickly, which was great.

The trail was really easy to follow. It had been packed down by the people who had been out on it before us, although it wasn’t the hard pack that you get on trails that are constantly traveled in the winter. There were also a lot of trail markers to help keep us on track. It felt like there was never a time that we couldn’t see a little blue snowshoe marker.

Early on, we crossed over two cross country ski trails. Other than that, for the first three kilometres the trail ran fairly uninterrupted. When we had been snowshoeing for three kilometres, we reached the first split in the trail. At this point, we turned to our left (signs for the Philippe, Pines, and Wanakiwin shelters/yurt).

It got A LOT COLDER on this part of the trail. Whether it was because we were out of the hills and on flatter ground, or because of the lakes close by, I’m not sure. It reminded us of the importance of layering in winter though, because previously (despite the extreme cold warning) we had been snowshoeing comfortably without our hats or mitts, and had unzipped our jackets. That definitely changed after the three kilometre mark, where we started adding clothing back on (even though the sun had just come out).

Shelters and Parent Beach

We passed the Philippe Cabin on our right just 300 metres after the split. Someone had a fire going and it looked absolutely lovely. Just beyond the Philippe shelter was a big picnic area near the Lac Philippe campground, although it was closed for the season.

We carried on towards Lac Philippe itself, crossing over Chemin du Lac Philippe (closed for the season as a road but groomed for skiing). The trail was a lot wider on the east side of Chemin du Lac Philippe, and was the first time we were able to be side by side on this trail.

When we had snowshoed for 4 kilometres, we arrived at a cute little playground, signalling that we were close to Parent Beach. We headed towards the shore of Lac Philippe, and followed Trail 74 over a little bridge onto Trail 73 before settling in at the fire pit on the shoreline of the Lake.

We had traveled 4.25 kilometres to arrive at Parent Beach, and took some time to have a few snacks and enjoy the view. The whole trip out we had only seen one other small group, and we had the beach to ourselves as well. The snow lying across the Lake was absolutely pristine, and now that we weren’t walking we could enjoy the peace and quiet! Snowshoes make a lot of noise…

Getting Home

We didn’t rest too long at Parent Beach because the cold was getting to us. Heading back, we were already starting to feel a little tired. I had totally forgotten that snowshoeing is such hard work!

The first 1.5 kilometres after the beach on the way back were an uphill slog. I’m not ashamed to say that there was some huffing and puffing involved. But, with the exception of one other hill that we came to after snowshoeing for 7 kilometres, the way back felt much easier, and we felt like we were making up some time.

We arrived back at the trailhead having snowshoed a total of 8.43 kilometres. To cover this distance, it took us two hours and thirty-five minutes. Not too bad for the first trip of the winter!

I absolutely loved this trail. The peace and quiet, combined with the beautiful scenery at Parent Beach, AND the great workout? There’s just nothing more I could ask for on a cold winter day in Ottawa. Now I’m pumped to get out and check out more of the snowshoeing trails Gatineau Park has to offer.

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!

Maps and Elevation Gain

Gear I Brought

Gear I Forgot