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Fall in Ottawa has been really wintery this year! But we’ve also had some awesome days with beautiful temperatures. So, with a little bit of snow on the ground and sunshine all around us, I decided to head out with my brand new daughter for our first “big hike!” We got out on the very last day of fall, and decided to check out the Chapman Mills Conservation Area.

This hike was perfect for our first one because it’s short and quick for us to get to. Plus, the trail was designed to be very easy to walk along. With views of the Rideau River and the Earl Armstrong Bridge along the way, it made for a really great stroll on a beautiful day. Here’s to hiking (okay, walking) with newborns!

The trail at Chapman Mills is dog friendly, and is open in the winter (although there are signs there that warn it’s not maintained in the winter). When I went I wore my hiking boots, which would have been overkill during warmer months. It turned out they were quite handy on a few of the icy spots though.

In the spring, summer, and fall, this would be a great trail for families with young kids because it’s made up completely of gravel, with long boardwalks in other spots. I think it would be quite easy to navigate with a stroller. There were signs up warning about wild parsnip in the area, so that’s something to keep in mind and be careful of!

Getting There

The Chapman Mills Conservation Area is right in Barrhaven, making it super accessible and a great place to go for a short walk. There’s parking at either end of the trail, but I chose to park at the end of Winding Way. You can use these coordinates to get there: 45.279319, -75.702932.

The parking lot has space for about twenty cars. Even though we were there in the middle of the day on a weekday, there was still a handful of people out walking on the trails. I’m willing to bet it gets even more crowded on the weekend!

The trail starts near the back of the parking lot, beside a big sign with some information about the area. Behind this sign, there are outhouses. There is also a nice covered picnic spot that’s closer to the river, making it easy to stop here for lunch after your walk.

The Trail

The trail immediately splits, although both forks come back together not too long after, so it really doesn’t matter which you choose to take.

I turned to my left, heading towards the river (and the picnic tables). Almost immediately, there were boardwalks on the trail. Views of the Rideau River started right away too.

The trail winds along the river for the entire length of it. Unfortunately, it also follows Prince of Wales Drive. I had only been walking for 400 metres when the trail gained some elevation and had me really close to the road again. It didn’t exactly give me a feeling of becoming one with nature, but for our first time out, it would have to do! The sounds of traffic stayed with us for our whole walk.

There were a few little hills along the way, but they were gently sloped and very easy to walk up and down.

Soon enough, we crossed a lovely bridge bringing us onto a little island. A few hundred metres beyond the bridge were a couple spots with benches right beside the River. These would make a really great spot to sit and chat for a while. Since my daughter doesn’t have much to say yet, we carried on.

There were a couple cool signs along the trail that had information about the area. I stopped for a bit to read about how the habitat was being improved for different plants and animals in the area before carrying on.

The Earl Armstrong Bridge

Forgive me, but my favorite part of this walk was the bridge! As much as it was awesome to be walking by the river and amongst the cat tails, I was really enjoying the view of the bridge I was getting from beneath it. The Earl Armstrong Bridge is just such a huge structure, and it’s one that I drive over quite often. So to see it from a completely different angle was very cool.

As we approached the bridge, having hiked just under a kilometre, we reached a split in the trail. There was a map there, and at this point, turning to our right would have taken us back up to the sidewalk at Prince of Wales and Strandherd. The trail did the same thing on the opposite side of the bridge, so there are two additional ways to access the trail here.

There was one more bench overlooking the river after we had crossed under the bridge. We walked to the end of the trail, and turned around.

The trail simply ends at another parking lot, so it might make more sense just to walk out to the bridge, or the last bench, and turn around there instead.

Getting Back

The entire length of the trail, from parking lot to parking lot, was 1.5 kilometres. So, our round trip was 3 kilometres, and we were able to walk that distance in an hour. We didn’t stop for any actual breaks, but we did of course pause to take some selfies!

The Chapman Mills Trail was the perfect first “hike” for me and my little one, and would be great for a walk just about any time, given how easy it is to access. The trail and the boardwalks made for really easy walking, and the views of the bridge were stellar. We’ll definitely be back.

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