Eagles Nest Park is situated at the top of a huge cliff that towers over the town of Bancroft, ON. It’s a pretty cool spot, and hiking there gets you some great views. If you go in the winter and start at the bottom of the hill, it’s also a really great workout! That’s exactly what we did when we were there recently.

The park has been receiving a major facelift recently, from what we saw the last time we were there. We’ve hiked in this area on a number of occasions, but it was only during our last hike that we saw brand new signs, and new trail markers in the area. There’s also some work being done to the “plant identification trail.” It looked like different plants and trees were being tagged, and we enjoyed confirming what they were as we hiked along.

In the winter, you can sometimes luck out and see people ice climbing on the cliff. I still prefer to hike to the top. The trails at Eagles Nest are open all year, and dogs are allowed year round too, although we’ve only hiked it in the winter. In the summer, Eagles Nest Park Road is open and you can drive to the top. In the winter though, the road isn’t plowed.

Getting There

To get there, we drove through Bancroft. Right before we had to make our final turn, there was a sign for Eagles Nest Park on the side of the road. It would have been tough to miss. We parked on Eagles Nest Crescent, knowing that we would have to hike up Eagles Nest Park Road. It was still covered in snow when we went, and that was fine by us.

You can use these coordinates to get there: 45.078328, -77.858652.

Parking on Eagles Nest Crescent is just like parking at the side of the road anywhere. There are no facilities: No outhouses, no garbage cans, nothing but people’s houses and lawns. At the top of Eagles Nest Park Road, there is a parking lot with a waste disposal unit.

Starting Out

We set out up Eagles Nest Park Road, in our boots. There was still some snow and ice on the road, but things were melted enough that we didn’t think snowshoes were the right choice. After a few steps, we stopped and slipped into our crampons, for a little extra traction. They helped a lot.

Eagles Nest Park Road is a favorite of mine to walk up, because it’s super steep. It’s a good workout from the very beginning of the hike.

We had looked at maps of the area online before starting our hike, because normally we just hike all the way up the road and directly to the lookout. This time though, we knew that we wanted to take the longest route possible through the woods. We figured out we were going to be turning left into the woods to do so.

After hiking uphill for half a kilometre, we passed a road to our left that was gated. We wondered for a second if this was the turn we were supposed to take, but decided that it wasn’t, and carried on. Soon after, we passed a turn into the forest on our right. Taking this turn would have brought us onto the Bruce Collins Trail, but we weren’t interested in that trail for today.

Into the Forest on the Christie Trail

We only had to walk a few hundred metres more, and then we were at the split for the Christie Trail. This was the trail we wanted to take, and it was well signed, so we couldn’t have missed it. There was a map at the split that showed us where we were, so we felt super confident heading into the forest there.

We were hoping we would catch a break on elevation gain, but we weren’t that lucky! We continued to head uphill for another hundred metres. Things levelled out a bit after we had been hiking for a total of 0.8 kilometres.

Soon after, we reached what I called the “Canadian Tire” lookout. It’s actually called the Red Pine Lookout… It was a great view of Bancroft, but not as scenic as some more remote places are. Literally, Canadian Tire was across the street. It was cool to be looking at it from at least a hundred metres above the street though.

We didn’t spend too much time at the lookout, and just 100 metres beyond it, we came to a neat section of the trail where a boardwalk brought us alongside a small lake. The views here were better, and there was a bench available, making it a great spot for a break. There were also some signs with information about the area, and it was really great to see indigenous knowledge being put on display. One of the signs had information about the plants in the area and how indigenous people knew how to use them for medicine, food, and day to day use (like making baskets).

Beyond the Lake and the Lookouts

Leaving the lake, we came across some signage at the 1.2 kilometre mark that directed us to carry on straight to reach the parking area. Knowing there was parking right before the lookout at the top, we followed the signs, but after hiking for 1.4 kilometres, we reached another split in the path.

At this point, we chose to turn left to set out on the Gerry White Plant Identification Trail. This particular trail was pretty cool. It was clearly a work in progress, with tape still marking some of the trees. But, there were identification tags on a number of the trees, and a few placards had been put up to help identify some of the plants and bushes. I think this section will be really great when it’s all finished, but for now we enjoyed checking out the tags on the trees as we hiked along.

The Plant Identification Trail brought us right to the Hawk Watch Trail. As we got closer (nearer to the top) it got colder, and WAY windier. We were glad that we hadn’t left behind all our winter gear.

We ended up bypassing the parking lot completely. At the 1.8 kilometre mark, we turned to our left to head to the lookout. It was only a short distance from this turn to the lookout, where there’s a big platform that had been built to look out over the valley from. If you scan the cliff when you’re down at the Tim Hortons, you can see this platform.

A few hundred metres beyond the first lookout is a second, where we also stopped to take in the view. A short walk after that brought us back to the parking lot.

Getting Back

We decided that we would head right down the road in order to get back to the bottom, because we were running a bit late for Easter dinner.

100 metres lower than the parking lot at the top is a second, smaller parking lot. Here, the Christie Trail comes back to the road. Making our way down the road was easy hiking, and we found ourselves back at the bottom of the road soon after leaving the parking lot.

All in, we had hiked 3 kilometres from the bottom of the hill, through the trails, and back down. We were able to cover this distance in an hour and ten minutes, including the time we spent at the lookouts and reading some of the signs and information available.

What’s Great About This Hike

I think this is a really great hike for people who are visiting the area and really want to soak it in and get a good look at the town. It’s also fantastic for anyone who is just getting into winter hiking and wants to challenge themselves a little bit. There’s enough elevation gain that it counts as a good workout, but its short enough that you don’t feel like the trail is never ending. For families with little ones, I think this could be a cool “mountain” to climb. Especially if you stop for a coffee and a treat afterwards, and point out the huge cliff you just climbed up together!

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

Gear We Brought