We are super lucky to have Gatineau Park nearby. And that always becomes even more apparent to me as we start to see the first sign of spring! Spring, also known as “mud season” can be a tough time of year for hiking because everything is wet and gross. But Gatineau Park always keeps its snow a little longer than everywhere else nearby. Which makes it the PERFECT place to get out for those last snowshoe trips of the season, while everything else around us melts.

In the winter, there’s a snowshoe trail network that opens up, starting from P1 (or P2). Trails 65, 66, 67, 68, and 76 are available for snowshoeing (and fat biking!) in the winter, but are not open during the warmer months. Dogs are not allowed on these trails.

That wasn’t an issue for me, because I had big plans for after my hike, and they didn’t include my dog. Because most of the day was already accounted for, a friend and I decided to complete only trails 66 and 67. We could have added on Trails 68 and 76 to make for a longer hike, but time was at a premium. Next winter we’ll definitely have to complete the longer hike!

Getting There

The trailhead for Trail 67 starts at P1, which is at the Asticou Centre. That makes things a bit tricky, because there are numbered parking lots that correlate to the Asticou Centre. Meanwhile, we were looking for the numbered parking lot for Gatineau Park. On Google, this parking lot is called “Gatineau Park P1 Asticou.” Or, you can use these coordinates to get there: 45.449895, -75.765367.

After driving into the Asticou Centre, I approached a four way stop. Here, I turned left to get to the parking lot. Along the way, there was a large Gatineau Park sign- helpful for me to know I was headed in the right direction! There were also well disguised speed bumps- watch out for them!

The trailhead and parking lot were actually pretty easy to spot. They were right across from one another. At the trailhead, there was a port-a-potty giving it away. At the parking lot, there was a sign for P1 (with a snowshoeing man on it), but there was also a sign for Parking Lot 8 for the Asticou Centre.

The Trailhead

At the trailhead, there was a sign for Trail 67. There was also a little post box where I could pay for my daily trail pass. I had double checked the rates before leaving the house, because I always forget what they are. So, I had the exact change that I needed (ten dollars for an adult).

I put my money into the little envelope provided, dropped it into the slot, and grabbed my trail pass. Then, we strapped on our snowshoes and we were off!

The Trail started out really wide, because we were technically following trail 5. This was also the trailhead for the Pioneers Trail, which is open year round. In the winter, the Pioneers Trail is one of only a handful that are designated as a “walking trail.” This means that snowshoes are not required.

Leaving the Other Trails Behind

The first half kilometre of our hike was on fairly flat terrain, and very easy. Then, we started to head uphill. Don’t get me wrong though, it wasn’t an incredibly difficult slog- it was just enough to warm up a little bit. After 100 metres of uphill hiking, we reached the Gatineau Parkway, which was closed for the winter. Trail markers directed us to turn to our right, and travel along with the road. Because the Parkway had been turned into a cross country ski trail, we walked off to the side to make sure we didn’t damage the grooming.

After hiking 0.8 kilometres we had to cross the road to continue on Trail 67. We lightly picked our way across, and re-entered the forest on the other side. It was easy to figure out where the trail went, because there was a trail marker with a big black diamond and the number 67 for us to follow.

At this point on the trail, it thinned out considerably. Before, we were able to walk side by side easily. Now, we had to hike single file. Walking along, we were able to see a road to our left, about 100 metres away.

300 metres further along, there was another road to cross. This one was completely iced over because of the shifting temperatures over the last little while. We crossed it VERY carefully, using the crampons on our snowshoes to dig in.

Trail 66

After we had hiked roughly 1.2 kilometres, we arrived at Trail 66. Here, there was the classic brown and white Gatineau Park sign, telling us what was in each direction.

Since Trail 66 is a loop, we had the option of heading either left our right to hop on the trail. We chose to head to our right, in order to complete the loop counter clockwise.

At the 1.6 kilometre mark, we hiked across a small bridge, and headed uphill, to the top of a small ridge. The trail started to get pretty cool here, because we could see lots of neat dips and valleys on either side of us.

To Trail 65

After we had hiked 2.5 kilometres, we reached another split in the trail. Here, there was another brown and blue sign pointing in different directions. Our choices were to head to our right, or follow the trail slightly off to our left. Turning to our right would have kept us on Trail 66, but we would have been heading in the direction of Trail 65. Wanting to complete the loop of 66, we stuck with the trail we were on, and followed it downhill right after the sign.

Not long after, at the 2.8 kilometre mark, we reached the last split we would see on the trail. Here, Trail 68 linked to 66. For anyone looking for a longer hike, this would be the spot to add on Trails 68 and 76. We had other places to get to, so we went left again to stick with 66. Heading right would have gotten us on to 68. Each trail at this spot was very well marked with the black triangle markers and trail numbers.

Off Trail Exploring

Trail 66 is really cool because it’s kind of hilly, and at a lot of different spots along the trail there were hills that rose up on either side. Probably for that reason, it seemed like a lot of people wanted to go exploring off trail, or try out their snowshoes on the hillier sections alongside the trail. There were tons of spots along the trail where somebody had split from the actual trail and headed off in a different direction. Despite this, the trail was still very easy to follow, because trail markers were spaced close together. Since the trail is also shared with fat bikes, the snow on the real trail was quite packed down. Not that this is something you can or should depend on as a way to not get lost!

Heading Back

When we had hiked about 4 kilometres, we noticed some huge hydro towers to our right. Just 400 metres beyond this point, we were back at the original split. We turned to our right to rejoin Trail 67.

By the time we arrived back at the trailhead, we had hiked a total of 5.6 kilometres. We were able to cover this distance in an hour and twenty-five minutes.

Overall, these trails were not too challenging. There were a few little hills here and there- just enough to make it interesting! Plus, they were a great choice for a quick walk in the woods, and we didn’t have to go too far into Gatineau Park to get there. These trails would be a perfect choice for anyone who is still a little bit new to snowshoeing, who wanted to challenge themselves with a trail that has a little bit of length to it. Or, if you added on Trails 68 and 76, things could be even more interesting and challenging. We’ll definitely be back to do that.

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 I Brought