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The Carbide Willson Ruins in Gatineau Park are a very popular spot! So I was super excited to check them out this summer. Turns out, getting to the ruins is quite easy, which likely contributes to its popularity.

We hit the trail on a sunny weekday morning and were lucky enough to get to the ruins ahead of the crowds! As much as the ruins are very much the focal point of the area, I enjoyed the rushing water and little waterfalls more. There were lots of neat little places to sit and enjoy the water running through the forest.

The trail to the ruins is open from May 15th to November 15th. Dogs are allowed on this trail and it’s nice and shady, making it perfect for a hot day! Bikes are allowed on Trail 36, but not the offshoot to the ruins.

As a bonus, I discovered that O’Brien Beach is right by the trailhead, so we stopped for a swim in Meech Lake before heading home. My daughter drank a LOT of lake water.

Getting There

The trail to the Carbide Willson Ruins is an offshoot of Trail 36, which starts at P11. P11 is also the parking lot for O’Brien Beach, on Meech Lake.

You can use these coordinates to get there: 45.526513, -75.863445. I accidentally turned onto the road to O’Brien House, because that turn off is right before the parking lot. But, there’s a big blue NCC sign that says O’Brien Beach, so keep an eye out for that and you’ll be fine!

The parking lot was huge, and pretty empty as we pulled in. We got ourselves sunscreened and organized, then headed over to the trailhead to pay (at the opposite end of the lot from where we had entered). The ticket machine accepted coins and credit cards. We paid $12 to be able to park from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

The Trailhead

At the back of the parking lot, there was a big map posted on a bulletin board. On either side of this map, there was a trailhead. To our left was the trail for O’Brien Beach. A few steps down this trail was a good sized change room.

To our right was where Trail 36 began. It was marked by a posted trail marker with a Trans Canada Trail sign underneath it. There were two outhouses right beside where the trail began (with hand sanitizer-yeah!).

We set out, and immediately crossed over the road we had mistakenly driven down. Be careful here! Then, the trail headed uphill. Having had no chance to warm up (yes, THIS is the reason), I was gasping by the top of the hill. The trail was really wide, and made up of gravel at this point. We walked beside the road briefly, and then headed into the forest. There was a black fence to our left, which soon gave way to a falling apart fence with signs indicating that shoreline restoration was being done.

Bridge Over Meech Lake

The trail levelled out for a bit, and after hiking 450 metres, we began to head downhill. Here, the trail had widened even further, giving it the appearance of an old logging road instead of a true hiking trail. After 100 metres of downhill hiking, we reached a big bridge that helped us cross over Meech Lake. Finally, the awful shoreline restoration fence had ended. There were some interpretive panels there describing the area and what was being done to the shoreline.

View from the bridge over Meech Lake.Carrying on, the trail hugged the shoreline for just a bit. It thinned out a little bit too, but it still would have been easy to walk side by side with someone. We hadn’t seen too many trail markers as we hiked along, but given how well established the trail was, it was still very easy to follow. There were a few “36” signs scattered along, just not many.

Trail Split

We passed an unofficial trail heading into the forest on our left hand side, just before coming upon a sign directing us towards the ruins. This classic brown Gatineau Park sign indicated that we had hiked one kilometre, although our GPS had only tracked 750 metres up until that point. The sign also pointed out that the ruins were to our right, and so we followed the trail branching off in that direction. There was a “no bikes” sign posted there.

There was tons of brush down near the trail split, which didn’t make for the loveliest hiking. As we continued along, it became apparent that this trail was used often, and not used well. In some spots the trail had widened so much it was the width of a road. The pattern of earth along the middle of the trail made it very clear that water sluiced down it in the spring months. And the established foot paths on either side of the trail made it clear that people on this path were not “Leaving No Trace” while they hiked. No matter what condition a trail is in, or how wet it is, you should always do your best to go right down the middle so that you don’t contribute to widening it (and depleting the forest floor).

There were no trail markers at all on the way to the ruins, but the path was so well-established it would be (nearly) impossible to get lost.

The Ruins!

We continued downhill, crossing over some rocky terrain. When we had hiked only a kilometre, we began to hear rushing water on our left hand side. Almost immediately after, we began to catch glimpses of the ruins thru the trees. We walked past an old foundation on our right hand side, and traversed a few more big rocks on the trail before reaching the ruins. Checking our GPS, we noticed that we had hiked just over a kilometre. It had only taken us half an hour to get there.

While the ruins themselves were neat to see, it was the little waterfalls that I liked best. The sound of running water gave the whole place a very relaxing feel, and there were lots of little rock ledges that could safely be sat upon for a break. The whole area felt quite accessible, and I could see why photographers loved to visit this spot.

We sat down in the shade to relax and watch the water for a bit before heading back. Due to the shade (and probably the volume of visitors) there wasn’t any grass to hang out on, but we had a blanket to spread over the dirt.

Trail Thoughts

Heading back, we began to run into more and more people. My suspicions that the area might get busy were confirmed.

By the time we returned to the trailhead, we had only hiked a total of 2.6 kilometres. We were able to cover that distance in an hour and twenty minutes, but that included a good amount of time spent at the site. For such a short, easy hike, the Carbide Willson Ruins are a stellar destination.

Then, we went to the beach! The O’Brien Beach was lovely. It was perfect for my daughter to practice her swimming and walking because it was quite shallow a long ways out. The water looked really clean, and the lake bottom was nice and sandy.

Having the option to hike and swim all in one spot was amazing, and I’m so glad we decided to take full advantage of it.

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!

Map and Elevation Gain

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.

Gear We Brought